China's boom and impact on its children

Let's start off with some good news; China waives school fees for 150m rural children. The government's initiative is to tackle the problem of rural poverty and trying to close the gap of education between the rural hinterland and the central city schools.

At the same time the Human Rights News reported that Beijing's municipal authorities closed some 50 schools for children of migrant workers in an attempt to discourage migrant workers to stay in the capital so close to the Olympic games in 2008. Similar activities have been reported now in Shanghai.

The results of these activities are somewhat predictable. We will see migrant worker's children staying behind in the rural provinces while the parents are seeking jobs to support the family in the cities.

Last week's Wall Street Journal covered an article from Loretta Chao on the impact of families as parents move to the cities for work while the school children stay behind.

She reports that Chinese authorities estimate, that of the 200 million migrant worker's children some 30% are watched after by their grandparents or other relatives while some 22 million!!! children stay home alone.

China's rural children are continuing to struggle with defunct families until the same level of education received in Beijing and Shanghai can be enjoyed in the farmland.

Please see below my earlier post on a visit to some rural schools in China

http://janmeise.blogspot.com/2006/12/rural-schools-in-china.html

other interesting articles on this topic:

http://time-blog.com/china_blog/2007/01/migrants_and_money.html