Education in The People's Republic of China - Education For Migrant Children

Education For Migrant Children

Following the large-scale movement of Chinese rural population to the cities, the children of these migrant workers either stay as left-behind children in the villages or they migrate with their parents to the cities. Although regulations by the central government stipulate that all migrant children have the right to attend a public school in the cities, the public schools nevertheless effectively reject these children by setting high thresholds such as school fees and exams or by requesting an urban registration (Hukou). Providing an alternative, private entrepreneurs established since the 90s semi-official private schools that offered schooling to migrant children for lower fees. However, this system contributed to the segregation between urban and migrant children. Furthermore, these schools often have a poor teaching quality, provide only school certificates of limited value and sometimes even do not comply with safety regulations. Since the beginning of the 2000s, some local governments thus started campaigns to close these private schools, but nevertheless in many cities these schools still exist. Although Chinese scholars have conducted case-study research on migrant children and their schools, there is a lack in studies with a nation-wide scope.