The Chinese government has begun to implement a series of measures
to provide education for its 3 million migrant children who
accompany their rural parents to cities in search of a better life.
Thirteen-year-old Nie Mengling, from central China's Hubei
Province, has been in Beijing for three years while her parents
make a living selling fruit.
Nie, who has got straight "A"s in her primary school graduation
exams, said unlike her parents she would like to become a scientist
when she grows up.
In
Chinese cities, migrants who lack registration for permanent local
residency do not enjoy the same privileges as other local dwellers
in employment, education and social security.
Migrant workers have to pay extra fees if they want to have their
children educated in public schools. If they cannot afford them,
their children either have to go to schools run by other migrants,
or simply get no schooling at all.
Huangzhuang Primary school, where Nie attends, is one such school
run by migrants. Chen Enxian, the headmaster, said: "Migrant
workers will try their best to send their children to school. They
don't want them to become illiterate."
According to statistics from Beijing educational authorities, there
are now 123 schools set up by migrants accommodating over 17,000
children in the capital city.
These schools teach between 20 and 3,000 students each and charge
about 300 yuan (US$36.1) each term.
When migrant children go to public schools, their parents have to
pay 500 yuan (US$60.2) in tuition fees each term, plus 1,000 yuan
(US$120.5) for selection of the school and 1,000 to 30,000 yuan
(US$3614.5) as sponsorship.
According to statistics from Dr. Han Jialing, of the Beijing
Academy of Social Sciences, the monthly income of the 31,000
migrant families in Beijing averages around 1,000 yuan. About 20
percent of these families get less than 500 yuan per month, while
the income of about 43 percent of families varies between 500 to
1000 yuan.
Chen Enxian said: "The parents of some of my students are rich
enough to have mobile phones and cars, but they prefer to send
their children to migrant schools, because children are often
laughed at by their urban peers and teachers in other schools."
"Migrant schools are cheap and affordable for migrant workers. And
children here don't suffer from the discrimination they face in
public schools, because they have similar family backgrounds."
Zhao Shukai, an expert with the Development Research Center under
the State Council, said: "Their children, as the second generation
of migrants from villages to cities, will have to face an
unfamiliar world when attending public schools."
"For young and sensitive minds, unfair treatment may leave them
indelibly scarred. Traumatic experiences may later turn in
adulthood into hatred and alienation towards urban life," he
said.
"Without education, the second generation was likely to become
illiterate and law-breakers, which would be disturbing."
Wu
Qing, a representative of the People's Congress of Beijing
Municipality, said: "Every child should be able to enjoy education
and equality. It's their right stipulated in the Constitution and
the government should look after their interests."
After a temporary regulation on compulsory education for migrant
children was published in April this year, Beijing's educational
authorities decided to cut charges for teaching migrant children in
public schools in the upcoming school year.
Fees for primary school will be reduced to 200 yuan (US$24.1) from
the previous 500 yuan, and for secondary school to 500 yuan, a 50
percent drop from the previous charge.
Li
Guanzheng, deputy director of the Beijing Education Commission,
said three measures would be taken to improve schooling for migrant
children. They would be admitted into public schools, special
schools would be set up for them and the management of public
schools would be entrusted to migrants.
Other cities have implemented more substantial reforms for
migrants. Liu Qian, who immigrated from Henan three years ago to
Shijiazhuang, capital city of north China's Hebei
Province, is one of the first to benefit from local reforms in
residence registration policy.
Liu, who has just completed registration procedures for permanent
residency in the city, said his child finally can go to a public
school without additional fees.
Ningbo, a major port city in east China's
Zhejiang Province, has lifted the limit on rural people
applying for registration as permanent residents.
Guangdong Province in south China is preparing to register its
residents according to where they actually live and abolish those
policies discriminating between urban and rural dwellers.
Zhao Shukai said: "The problem of the education for migrant
children is mainly a result of the out-of-date residency
registration system and that of the segmented governmental
management of education."
"The free movement of human resources is an inevitable response to
the demand of the market economy," Zhao said.
It
is estimated some 40 million rural workers in China will move to
urban areas in the next five years.
(Xinhua News
Agency July 10, 2002)