OPINION> Commentary
Migrants' children need more access to education
By Xiong Bingqi (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-08-07 08:48

A spokesperson of the Beijing education authority told a press conference on August 2 that the capital city has admitted about 400,000 children from families of the floating population into the city's compulsory education institutions. This number equals about 50 percent of that of local children of the compulsory education age.

The floating population, sometimes also called "migrant workers" or "city-bound rural workers", refers to people seeking jobs in cities other than their hometowns for various reasons. Because of the regional disparities in administrative rules and laws, the floating families are often unable to enjoy the same access to public services in their host cities as the local dwellers.

Beijing has obviously taken numerous measures to overcome the long-term and common problem of accepting so many children into its local education institutions. According to the spokesperson, Beijing education authorities had several successful experiences from the process.

The potentials of public schools were tapped so that they could accept more students, especially those from the floating population. New schools were planned and built in communities where the floating families are concentrated. Financial support and directions and trainings in education practices were given to private schools absorbing children from floating families.

All these practices should be lauded for their substantial results. Yet, an issue of greater importance surfaces as we feel relieved that so many children from the floating population could receive compulsory education in our capital city. The question is whether these kids are being educated properly.

Figures in 2007 suggested that only 65 percent of children from floating families could enter public schools in Beijing. The other 35 percent of them either go to expensive private schools, or enter the schools opened specially for floating families, many of which do not have proper teaching faculty or facilities; some are even not qualified educational institutions.

The third category of children is far from getting proper education even though they are attending schools. Considering the huge number of the children from floating families in the metropolis, even a relatively low percentage of them would form a group that could not be ignored.

On July 30, a State Council conference demanded that arrangements should be made to ensure the children of migrant workers get proper education. The hosting cities should try to admit them into local public schools without charging extra fees.

This rule actually requires all cities to offer equal access to education to children of floating families along with local children. With access to public schools, these children could have an education of guaranteed quality.

Judging from current conditions, accepting children of floating families into public schools is the most convenient and feasible solution to ensure the quality of their education. And the financial input of the government for the compulsory education is indispensable for that.

A mechanism should be established so that the central government's education fund should be paid to local governments according to the actual number of students who enjoyed compulsory education in each region.

In other words, host cities of the floating population should get the State money paid to educate the children of floating families after they admit these children into their public schools.

Currently, this money is earmarked to localities by the central government in accordance with the registered number of school-age children without considering their actual moves. Such an arrangement obviously makes the cities unwilling to accept children of the floating families into their public schools without getting expenses from the central government.

Therefore, changing this arrangement is the most substantial support to enforce the central government's orders to ensure equal access to compulsory education of guaranteed quality for all children.

On the one hand, the central government should boost its financial input into education, especially compulsory education, which would increase the proportion of central government investment against that of local governments. Thus, the regional disparity in development of education could be bridged to a large extent.

On the other, the practicing system on student identity management, launched by the Ministry of Education in 2007, should be used as a good platform for changing the direction of the government's education expenses.

This system requires all children of school age should be admitted into compulsory education institutions regardless of their original addresses. Their student identity information was gathered and managed by the education authorities.

Thus, any changes in students' schools or addresses could be gathered in time as information for the central government to re-target its education expenses to different localities in accordance with these changes.

Besides, children of floating families have to return to their home provinces or cities if they want to participate in the National College Entrance Examination even after going to school in their current cities after 12 years. Such a restriction should also be removed to ensure equal educational opportunities for all.

The author is a researcher with Shanghai Jiao Tong University

(China Daily 08/07/2008 page10)