A report in last week's
Nanfang Weekend once again brought
into the limelight the issue of education for children of migrant
workers.
The story recounts the experiences of three children after their
school, Nanyuan Xingzhi, was closed in February. The school,
located in Beijing's Fengtai District, is non-government-run and
was established specially for the children of migrant workers.
One of the three children featured in the article was eventually
squeezed into a nearby public school after his mother made more
than 80 visits, repeatedly implored the headmaster and handed over
a not inconsiderable sum of money. The second child was transferred
to another non-government school in another district, 15 kilometers
from his home, while the third was forced to leave her parents and
return to her family's hometown.
These youngsters are just three among several thousand children
whose chance of an education was snatched away when a total of 16
non-public schools were ordered to shut after the Spring Festival.
Fengtai's education department ordered their closure because they
were built without the approval of the education watchdog.
The department was not entirely at fault and acted in line with its
responsibilities to ensure proper school facilities, ones that
comply with the relevant rules and regulations.
But its responsibility should not end simply with the closure of
the schools. Its role as a guardian of education does not allow it
to turn a blind eye and deaf ear to the needs of anxious and
helpless children and their parents.
These non-public schools are invariably shabby in the facilities
they offer and lacking in high quality teaching. Local education
authorities may list a thousand reasons to close them down, but
when carrying out the clear-cut policy, they should also bear in
mind the need to provide an education for the children
affected.
Only a very few are fortunate enough to be admitted into public
schools, which are already full to capacity and have closed their
doors to children of migrant workers. Therefore, the closure of
these private schools amounts to slamming shut the doors of
education for many such children.
Education authorities are responsible for providing better
conditions for these children to realize their right to an
education, as stipulated in the Nine-Year Compulsory Education Law.
The closure of these schools, however, should not, and was not
intended to be, the ultimate goal.
Rough statistics indicate the number of school-age children of
migrant workers stands at around 70,000 in Beijing. And these
private schools came into being in response to the pressing need to
educate these children.
Local education authorities are entitled to provide them guidance
and help to improve the quality of teaching and facilities, but the
brutal resort of shutting them down ought not to be the final
answer.
A
document issued by the State Council in January laid down just such
requirements to education authorities nationwide.
The example of Fengtai is not unique, given the gigantic population
of transient workers. But, in the future, when dealing with similar
cases, local education authorities, we trust, will always treat as
paramount the education of the children concerned.
(People's Daily April 19, 2003)