China's Project
Hope, a social charity program that helps rural students, will
finance 15,000 students from migrant farmer worker families in 27
cities to go to school in the next half year, the China Youth
Development Foundation (CYDF) has
said.
Each child will receive a grant of 600 yuan (US$73) before
September 1 this year, when a new school term begins, said Zhang
Chuanyuan of the CYDF, adding that the money can basically meet a
student's academic needs.
After a public bidding held?on Thursday, the CYDF chose 27
cities to receive aid, including Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen,
Nanjing, Shenyang and Ningbo, which attract migrant farm workers
seeking jobs, Zhang said.
"One of the criteria for a city to be chosen was whether local
government gives migrant children equal treatment for education as
local children," said Zhang.
Statistics from the CYDF show that about 20 million children
flow into cities from the countryside with their parents each
year.
About 80 percent of these children pay an average of 856 yuan
(US$104) more than local students, said a survey conducted by the
CYDF.
The CYDF started the "grants for migrant children" program early
in January this year and carried out trials in six major Chinese
cities, including Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, in the first
half year. So far the program has helped 4,200 migrant students to
attend school.
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(Xinhua News Agency August 7, 2004)