Beijing plans to build five to ten schools next year for the
children of the city's migrant workers, according to Beijing
Education Bureau.
These schools, with lower tuition fees, will be built on the
borders of urban Beijing -- a region that is home to the majority
of the migrant population but has few public schools, said the
bureau.
Officials from the bureau said the funds from the government
budget -- 6.8 million yuan (US$819,277) -- have already been
allocated.
Besides building the new schools, the city government will also
use the money to improve the facilities of the existing 299 schools
for children from migrant families. Most of them fail to receive
government approval, largely due to safety concerns.
The government has only granted 23 approvals at present and the
number will increase to 43 by the end of this year.
Beijing has 235,000 children of migrant workers and about ten
percent cannot attend public school, either because it is too
expensive or because it is too far from where they live.
Public schools in the city are urged to enroll more children
from migrant families, who were required to pay higher tuition fees
for public school education in past years. The additional fees were
a result of the negative impact of the country's decades-old
household registration system.
As the system has eased in recent years, children from migrant
families do need not pay higher fees now but continue to face
difficulties in public schools.
Two large Chinese cities--Wuxi in east China and Shijiazhuang in
north China--have set up a system this year to keep track of the
children of migrant workers in the city.
The system used a database to register every migrant child under
the age of 16 in a bid to ensure they get proper education and
sufficient health care.
(Xinhua News Agency December 20, 2004)