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Opinion

Rules needed for new professions

(China Daily)
Updated: 2010-02-24 13:53

Three new careers, including that of certificated psychological chaperones, will be born in Shanghai after Spring Festival. Proper laws, sound professional practices and strict monitoring are needed to ensure the development of psychological chaperones' profession, says an article on Red Net. Excerpts:

The job market in Shanghai will see the introduction of three new professions - certified psychological chaperones, marriage consultants and employee supporters - in a few days.

Psychological chaperones are people with professional psychological knowledge who visit homes to offer company and psychological help to senior citizens, children, the intellectually challenged, dying people and other patients. But many people have questioned the morality and legality of such professionals.

The profession has long been popular in the West, where such psychological chaperones are well-educated and highly skilled and governments regulate their services. But in China, many people have been running such services illegally because a large number of the so-called professionals have little or no training.

Many people even allege that some prostitutes have been operating under the garb of psychological chaperones.

That does not mean the profession should not be developed in the country. Society today needs properly trained psychological chaperones. What the government needs to do is tighten regulation and monitoring on the profession so that people are not cheated and unwanted elements screened out of the profession.