§ LAW · MINORS PROTECTION LAW
Law on the Protection of Minors.
中华人民共和国未成年人保护法
Adopted September 4, 1991; comprehensively revised December 29, 2006 and
October 17, 2020 (the latter adding the “Network Protection” chapter);
amended October 26, 2012. The current text took effect June 1, 2021.
DCC has not reproduced the full text. Key provisions cited in DCC briefs:
- Article 39 — schools must establish a student-bullying
prevention-and-control system, train staff and students, immediately stop
bullying, involve parents of both sides in determination and handling, and
report serious incidents to public security and education authorities.
- Article 64 — the state, society, schools, and families shall conduct
internet-literacy education for minors.
- Article 70 — schools shall use the internet reasonably in teaching;
minor students may not bring smartphones and other smart terminals into
class without school permission, and devices brought to school are subject
to unified management.
- Article 71 — a school that discovers a minor student addicted to the
internet shall promptly inform the parents or other guardians and jointly
educate and guide the student.
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§ 01 · MINORS-PROTECTION
Minors' online protection is usually framed as a job for parents and platforms. Three model cases — a Guangzhou Internet Court judgment on defamation in a parent–school WeChat group, a Supreme People's Procuratorate case where procuratorial recommendations pushed a school to build bullying-control systems after a privacy video spread, and a Zhejiang case where a predator used an unauthorized school-named 'confession wall' account to reach students — show Chinese courts and procuratorates deliberately pulling schools into the frame. JunHe's education team distills the school's three statutory functions: internet-literacy education (Minors Protection Law Arts. 64 and 70, Online Protection Regulations Art. 16), cyberbullying prevention and response (Minors Protection Law Art. 39; School Protection Provisions Art. 21), and internet-addiction intervention (Minors Protection Law Art. 71; Regulations Art. 40). The liability stack for schools that do nothing: administrative correction orders and sanctions under Regulations Art. 51, plus civil supplementary liability under Civil Code Art. 1201. Four recommendations follow: documented literacy and AI-content-discrimination education, a staffed-up 'rule-of-law vice principal' mechanism, a full discover–stop–report–handle bullying protocol, and compliance with device-management and anti-addiction requirements. With 196 million minor netizens at 97.3% penetration, the authors argue schools are the 'main battlefield' whether they like it or not.