The central government has vowed to improve the lot of the millions of children “left behind” in rural areas by their parents and put new systems in place to safeguard their rights over the next five years. But one child welfare advocate described the proposals released by the State Council on Sunday as too long in coming and toothless…

An estimated 61 million children have been left behind to fend for themselves while their parents live and work in other parts of the country…The State Council’s proposals are designed to cut that number, in part by urging parents to take their children with them or arrange adult supervision…The proposals…also outline a more active role for schools, community authorities and other government-affiliated organisations…They would provide services and support, and also report cases where children may have been abused or have gone missing. The plans would involve an overhaul of existing laws and systems to strengthen parental supervision…

Cases of left-behind children coming to harm have made headlines repeatedly in the past decade. In one shocking case last year, four rural children in Bijie, Guizhou province… killed themselves by drinking pesticide…