Migrant children: The forgotten among China's next generation
Author(s): Colton Margus
Posted: 2009-6-24
Source:www.chinaelections.net
Source date:2009-6-24
Number of hits:336
A short bus ride to the Northwest outskirts of Beijing's Haidian district will take you to what appears to be an urban village. Then, over a canal of trash rather than water and past a construction site set to become overcrowded housing, you will find a structure that looks neither safe nor new, a school for Beijing's growing population of children whose parents are not registered as Beijing residents.
One's hukou, or household registration, provides all sorts of roadblocks to city newcomers in China, not the least of which is the inability to enjoy the public school system along with the established city-dwellers. Not originally from Beijing? You can forget sending your son or daughter to one of the already overcrowded public schools in the city. Instead, migrants resort to subpar schools, privately established without government backing, financial or otherwise. Despite this hurdle, however, migrants are everywhere in Beijing, having become the lifeblood of China's sky-bound economy – and their children still need to go to school.
The poor condition of the Beijing migrant school is clear just upon setting foot in one, particularly when contrasted with the school system for students fortunate enough to have a Beijing city hukou. The difference in the quality of education serves as a quintessential example of the growing income disparities within China. English teachers at the migrant schools, for example, barely speak English, and each classroom, whether it be for a first or fifth grade class, is made to accommodate a wide variety of ages, some students starting late, others staying as long as they can. In addition, to suggest that the students are generally a bit hungrier than they ought to be is a grave understatement. A study conducted in Beijing by researchers from both the University of Hohenheim and the Chinese Agriculture University concluded that migrant children are more at risk of malnutrition than their local counterparts, with an even more pronounced risk among migrant girls.
The obvious solution would be to remove the hukou system entirely, forcing integration of schools as a means of combating the inherent inequalities between the old and new city dwellers. Such a change may be difficult to make, however, as it would likely face a great deal of opposition from registered urban residents who just don't see a reason to pay for it. After all, they already think too many migrants are coming into the cities, and they fear that providing pro bono services to incoming workers and their children will only increase the flow of these not so ideal neighbors. The act of incorporating migrant children into the main public school system would not be an easy task either: it would almost immediately require a vast number of new facilities and could even displace numerous local children until the system becomes fully integrated.
Migration to the cities is inevitable, such that failing to provide adequate education to new residents by implying that they 'don't belong' does not dissuade migration, but it certainly accentuates the inequalities of urban life between registered residents and newcomers. Numerous differences in quality of life are already quite visible, with the hukou system having created essentially two populations living within the same urban space.
In Beijing, one need only ask a cabdriver, street vendor, guard, or construction worker "Are you a Beijinger?" The vast majority are not, further indicating that the China miracle quite literally depends on its intra-national migration. The number of such migrants in China is estimated by China's National Bureau of Statistics to be over 225 million, the size of the United States population in 1980. If these Chinese migrants had their own country, it would be the fifth most populous in the entire world. In other words, one cannot accurately consider the future of China without recognizing that migrant workers, drawn from their villages throughout rural China by the promise of the East, will play a pivotal role in that future.
The nature of their role has yet to be seen, and education will undoubtedly play a big part. Today, it is not uncommon for Beijing migrants to turn to prostitution and what is called "black cab" or unregistered taxi driving for lack of alternatives with comparable pay. Though there is hope that the children, raised within the city, will have greater opportunities before them than their parents had, the current state of their unofficial schooling system is not promising. With an education that cannot realistically be expected to carry them to the next level, high school, let alone college, migrant children in the city often lack both the incentive and the means to achieve a better life, and returning home is just as unlikely.
According to the Rural Education Action Project (REAP), there are more than 300 migrant schools in Beijing alone. The children in these schools represent China's next generation, just as much as the children of the urban elite who so enjoy China's apparent rise. What appears to be a kind of systematic discrimination carried out because urban residents are either unable or simply unwilling to share will have long-term repercussions on society as a whole. Extremely different opportunities afforded to people in very close proximity is, after all, not good for social stability.
Short of completely abolishing hukou registration, some have suggested providing, first through nonprofit contribution and then perhaps through the government, economic incentives to increase the quality of both teacher and student. An idea currently being explored by REAP, for example, is that paying teachers to attend intensive training programs may be a solution to the teacher quality problem. Principals, however, almost unanimously believe that efforts which essentially make teachers overqualified for the less than desirable job will simply result in those very teachers actively pursuing a better one.
In addition, one can imagine that merit-based scholarships might improve motivation within the classrooms. Certainly it would seem that students would work harder should good grades translate into hard, disposable income. This concept could be applied to teachers, as well, who might provide to their students even more of an incentive to excel should they have a financial stake in their students' success.
So long as schools remain so segregated by hukou status, the respective populations will not have the capacity to integrate, and, as a result, the cities will be forced to face the problems which arise when very different socioeconomic classes are made to share and live in the same environment. With a future inherently dependent on an educated and integrated urban population, school is the natural place to combat the disadvantages that threaten both China's social and economic potential.
Author(s): Colton Margus
Posted: 2009-6-24
Source:www.chinaelections.net
Source date:2009-6-24
Number of hits:336
A short bus ride to the Northwest outskirts of Beijing's Haidian district will take you to what appears to be an urban village. Then, over a canal of trash rather than water and past a construction site set to become overcrowded housing, you will find a structure that looks neither safe nor new, a school for Beijing's growing population of children whose parents are not registered as Beijing residents.
One's hukou, or household registration, provides all sorts of roadblocks to city newcomers in China, not the least of which is the inability to enjoy the public school system along with the established city-dwellers. Not originally from Beijing? You can forget sending your son or daughter to one of the already overcrowded public schools in the city. Instead, migrants resort to subpar schools, privately established without government backing, financial or otherwise. Despite this hurdle, however, migrants are everywhere in Beijing, having become the lifeblood of China's sky-bound economy – and their children still need to go to school.
The poor condition of the Beijing migrant school is clear just upon setting foot in one, particularly when contrasted with the school system for students fortunate enough to have a Beijing city hukou. The difference in the quality of education serves as a quintessential example of the growing income disparities within China. English teachers at the migrant schools, for example, barely speak English, and each classroom, whether it be for a first or fifth grade class, is made to accommodate a wide variety of ages, some students starting late, others staying as long as they can. In addition, to suggest that the students are generally a bit hungrier than they ought to be is a grave understatement. A study conducted in Beijing by researchers from both the University of Hohenheim and the Chinese Agriculture University concluded that migrant children are more at risk of malnutrition than their local counterparts, with an even more pronounced risk among migrant girls.
The obvious solution would be to remove the hukou system entirely, forcing integration of schools as a means of combating the inherent inequalities between the old and new city dwellers. Such a change may be difficult to make, however, as it would likely face a great deal of opposition from registered urban residents who just don't see a reason to pay for it. After all, they already think too many migrants are coming into the cities, and they fear that providing pro bono services to incoming workers and their children will only increase the flow of these not so ideal neighbors. The act of incorporating migrant children into the main public school system would not be an easy task either: it would almost immediately require a vast number of new facilities and could even displace numerous local children until the system becomes fully integrated.
Migration to the cities is inevitable, such that failing to provide adequate education to new residents by implying that they 'don't belong' does not dissuade migration, but it certainly accentuates the inequalities of urban life between registered residents and newcomers. Numerous differences in quality of life are already quite visible, with the hukou system having created essentially two populations living within the same urban space.
In Beijing, one need only ask a cabdriver, street vendor, guard, or construction worker "Are you a Beijinger?" The vast majority are not, further indicating that the China miracle quite literally depends on its intra-national migration. The number of such migrants in China is estimated by China's National Bureau of Statistics to be over 225 million, the size of the United States population in 1980. If these Chinese migrants had their own country, it would be the fifth most populous in the entire world. In other words, one cannot accurately consider the future of China without recognizing that migrant workers, drawn from their villages throughout rural China by the promise of the East, will play a pivotal role in that future.
The nature of their role has yet to be seen, and education will undoubtedly play a big part. Today, it is not uncommon for Beijing migrants to turn to prostitution and what is called "black cab" or unregistered taxi driving for lack of alternatives with comparable pay. Though there is hope that the children, raised within the city, will have greater opportunities before them than their parents had, the current state of their unofficial schooling system is not promising. With an education that cannot realistically be expected to carry them to the next level, high school, let alone college, migrant children in the city often lack both the incentive and the means to achieve a better life, and returning home is just as unlikely.
According to the Rural Education Action Project (REAP), there are more than 300 migrant schools in Beijing alone. The children in these schools represent China's next generation, just as much as the children of the urban elite who so enjoy China's apparent rise. What appears to be a kind of systematic discrimination carried out because urban residents are either unable or simply unwilling to share will have long-term repercussions on society as a whole. Extremely different opportunities afforded to people in very close proximity is, after all, not good for social stability.
Short of completely abolishing hukou registration, some have suggested providing, first through nonprofit contribution and then perhaps through the government, economic incentives to increase the quality of both teacher and student. An idea currently being explored by REAP, for example, is that paying teachers to attend intensive training programs may be a solution to the teacher quality problem. Principals, however, almost unanimously believe that efforts which essentially make teachers overqualified for the less than desirable job will simply result in those very teachers actively pursuing a better one.
In addition, one can imagine that merit-based scholarships might improve motivation within the classrooms. Certainly it would seem that students would work harder should good grades translate into hard, disposable income. This concept could be applied to teachers, as well, who might provide to their students even more of an incentive to excel should they have a financial stake in their students' success.
So long as schools remain so segregated by hukou status, the respective populations will not have the capacity to integrate, and, as a result, the cities will be forced to face the problems which arise when very different socioeconomic classes are made to share and live in the same environment. With a future inherently dependent on an educated and integrated urban population, school is the natural place to combat the disadvantages that threaten both China's social and economic potential.
