Access to School: Education Equity of Migrant Children in China
Background Since the late 1970s, a mass migration of people from rural to urban areas in China generated due to the development of market economy. Millions of rural laborers moved to cities, especially to eastern coastal cities like Shenzhen and Shanghai where economy reform first took place, in order to seek better jobs with higher income. (Hongwei Hu et al., 2014) By 2008, 225 million migrants work in cities in China, which accounted for approximately 20% of the total labour force in China. (Fang Lai et al., 2013) And this number is estimated to continue to increase in the future. (Zhang Yan&Wei-Xiao Bing, ) Migrant Children, which refers to children of …show more content…
Thus, migrant school seems to be an economic choice to ease financial burden in the migrant families compared to high cost of public schools. Furthermore, migrant children are more likely to have sibling, since the one-child policy is less strictly implemented in rural areas where migrants came from, which led to a greater financial burden to the family. Actually, most parents mentioned fee as a primary reason of choosing unofficial migrant schools. (Charlotte Goodburn, …show more content…
but China’s unique institutional arrangements, that is strict household registration, impedes population mobility and distinguishes China from other developing countries(Yaolu & Hao Zhou, 2013). Migrant workers are disadvantaged in their urban life in many respects, so are their children. Given the diverse fieldworks in public schools and migrant schools in China, it is not necessarily accurate to conclude that
Migrant workers’ school choice are largely influenced by administrative factor, financial problem and practical reasons. Tedious process and unattainable documents of enrollment to public school locks out many migrant families. Although current policies support migrant children’s educational right to urban public school, these policies are not actually practical or not totally implemented at local level. High cost of public school and random enrollment policy also preclude migrant children from getting urban education.
Migrant children also tend to choose migrant schools because they would be psychologically or physically isolated in public school. The academic gap and language differences creates more pressure as
Background Since the late 1970s, a mass migration of people from rural to urban areas in China generated due to the development of market economy. Millions of rural laborers moved to cities, especially to eastern coastal cities like Shenzhen and Shanghai where economy reform first took place, in order to seek better jobs with higher income. (Hongwei Hu et al., 2014) By 2008, 225 million migrants work in cities in China, which accounted for approximately 20% of the total labour force in China. (Fang Lai et al., 2013) And this number is estimated to continue to increase in the future. (Zhang Yan&Wei-Xiao Bing, ) Migrant Children, which refers to children of …show more content…
Thus, migrant school seems to be an economic choice to ease financial burden in the migrant families compared to high cost of public schools. Furthermore, migrant children are more likely to have sibling, since the one-child policy is less strictly implemented in rural areas where migrants came from, which led to a greater financial burden to the family. Actually, most parents mentioned fee as a primary reason of choosing unofficial migrant schools. (Charlotte Goodburn, …show more content…
but China’s unique institutional arrangements, that is strict household registration, impedes population mobility and distinguishes China from other developing countries(Yaolu & Hao Zhou, 2013). Migrant workers are disadvantaged in their urban life in many respects, so are their children. Given the diverse fieldworks in public schools and migrant schools in China, it is not necessarily accurate to conclude that
Migrant workers’ school choice are largely influenced by administrative factor, financial problem and practical reasons. Tedious process and unattainable documents of enrollment to public school locks out many migrant families. Although current policies support migrant children’s educational right to urban public school, these policies are not actually practical or not totally implemented at local level. High cost of public school and random enrollment policy also preclude migrant children from getting urban education.
Migrant children also tend to choose migrant schools because they would be psychologically or physically isolated in public school. The academic gap and language differences creates more pressure as