M. A. GULEVA

Postgraduate student of ISAA MSU

Keywords: China, education, migrant children

With a population of 1.34 billion. According to the latest data, there are more than 200 million migrants ⁱⁿ China2. For a long period of time, too little attention was paid to the education of their children. This situation is due to the system of urban and rural registration of the population. Currently, migrant children do not have access to education in public schools, as they do not have a local residence permit.

As the number of rural residents who have left their native villages for the cities in search of work has increased rapidly in recent years, some experts have begun to talk about the emergence of a new social stratum in China and, as a result, new challenges facing society.

MIGRANTS - A NEW SOCIAL STRATUM?

To begin with, who falls under the term "children of migrants"? According to 1998 data from the Chinese National Education Committee, these are children between the ages of 6 and 14 who live with their parents or guardians in a temporary place of residence for more than half a year. However, in recent years, many Chinese documents refer to teenagers under the age of 17 as migrant children. This allows us to assume that the age limit for them has been raised after all. The number of such children was 12.12 million, including 8.74 million under the age of 14 (see Table 1).

Among the migrants who arrived in cities, 78.74% are residents of rural areas. Children make up 12.59% of the total flow of rural migrants to cities. Of this number, 5 million receive compulsory 9-year education in various educational institutions.

The main flow of migrants and their children goes to the eastern regions of the country (see figure 1). The share of migrant children in this part of China is 65.32%, while in the Center and West these figures are 20.2% and 14.48%, respectively. This situation is quite understandable and, of course, is associated with the high level of development in the eastern part of the country.

TRENDS IN THE EDUCATION OF MIGRANT CHILDREN

In recent years, the number of migrant children attending school has increased to 95.68% for children aged 6-11 and 94.37% for those aged 12-14. It is noteworthy that the number of female students is only a small fraction behind the number of male students, which may indicate positive results of the policy of providing equal chances for education in the country. The proportion of migrant children who have never attended school is slightly higher than that of urban children, but it is worth noting that the gap between the two indicators is not as large as it used to be. On average, this number ranges from 1.5 to 3.5% of the total number of children.

However, in figure 2, we can see that the older the children of migrants get, the less often they continue their education. At the age of 15-17 years, no more than 46% of young people study in various educational institutions, while among urban teenagers this figure reaches 82%. This is mainly due to the fact that migrants simply cannot afford to study at higher levels of education, since a certain academic fee must be paid for each academic semester. Therefore, teenagers at this stage most often stop studying and start looking for a job to ensure their living in the city.

WHERE DO THEY STUDY?

There are two ways to enroll migrant children in schools. They either pay a school fee and enroll in a public school, or study in schools specially created for migrants.

In fact, it is often difficult for migrants to get into public educational institutions, as they require a whole range of documents (including the so-called "Three Certificates").:

Table 1

Age structure of migrant children

Source: Chengshi nongmin gong ziyui jiaoyu de xin jinzhan (New achievements in the education of urban and rural children). Publication of the Academy of Social Sciences of the People's Republic of China, prov. Jilin, 07.2008, p. 163.

Figure 1. Geographical distribution of migrant children in the country.

Source: Chengshi nongmin gong ziyui jiaoyu de xin jinzhan (New achievements in the education of urban and rural children). Publication of AON of the People's Republic of China, prov. Jilin, 07.2008, p. 164.

parents ' employment document, medical certificate and residence permit). This, in turn, increases the requirements for admission to school, and many migrants who do not have all the necessary documents on hand do not automatically have the opportunity to send their children to a state educational institution3.

Due to the fact that the distribution and development of compulsory 9-year education is partly the responsibility of local authorities, the number of students enrolled in public schools is always strictly regulated "from above". Therefore, the influx of a significant number of migrant children puts serious pressure on local schools.

When Chinese migrants send a child to a public school, they must pay a tuition fee of 500 yuan for each academic semester, plus about 1,000 yuan as a " sponsorship fee." According to estimates by professors at the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences, the average monthly income of 31,000 families of Chinese migrants in Beijing is about 1,000 yuan (- $150). About 20% of these families receive less than 500 yuan, while almost 43% of families have monthly salaries ranging from 500 to 1,000 yuan.⁴ Therefore, for most migrants, such contributions are too high and they are not able to pay them.

In this situation, admission to schools for migrant children is the only way to get an education. They have lower tuition rates than public schools (350-500 yuan), less stringent admission requirements, and are most often located near areas where migrants live. However, these schools have their drawbacks. We will return to them later.

It is much easier to enter primary school than secondary school. This is due to the fact that local governments insist that migrant children receive education in their homeland. Teenagers are forced to leave alone, because their parents can not leave the job they found with great difficulty. In addition, there is no guarantee that there is a local secondary school in the village where these children come from. Often, local authorities do not have sufficient funds for their construction. And if there are schools, then there are 60-80 people in classes, which affects the quality of training. This is why very often a compulsory 9-year education is actually at best a 6-year one.

Such a situation cannot suit Chinese migrants. In general, these are people belonging to the lowest social stratum. They work in construction sites, markets, and manufacturing and receive extremely low wages. This is not enough to give their children a full-fledged education. But it is education that is considered the main opportunity to improve your social status.

PROBLEMS OF EDUCATIONAL INFRASTRUCTURE AND QUALITY OF EDUCATION

Among the migrants living in Beijing and Wuhan, there was about-

Figure 2. Proportion of urban and migrant children continuing their education at different levels of education.

Source: Liushou yu ludong ertong jiaoyu wenti yanjiu (Analysis of educational problems of migrant children). Edition of the Academy of Social Sciences of the People's Republic of China, 05.2008, p. 179.

a survey was conducted, which revealed the main shortcomings of the schools where their children study.

If we summarize the survey results, we see the following picture. Schools for teaching migrant children are usually very poorly equipped, with no libraries, sports facilities, or reading rooms. Teachers in these educational institutions are often very poorly qualified. School administrations, due to the lack of teaching staff, invite their relatives and acquaintances who have no teaching experience and are sometimes illiterate themselves (more than 60% of them). It is obvious that the quality of children's education is extremely low. With such a wealth of knowledge, they have almost no chance of entering a higher secondary school or university.

Thus, the children of migrants find themselves in a kind of trap. On the one hand, compulsory 9-year education should be distributed everywhere, and local authorities should pay for it. On the other hand, children of migrants do not have registration, which means that they do not have the opportunity to study with their urban peers. No one is responsible for the education of these children.

MIGRANT CHILDREN - SOCIAL ORPHANS

A significant part of migrants are unable to take their children with them, so they leave them in their native villages with relatives or friends, while they go to work in large cities.

These children, as well as their elderly grandparents who also remain in the villages, have formed another vulnerable social stratum in Chinese society. As of 2010, there were already more than 87 million citizens whose breadwinners cannot live with them5.

According to the report of the National Women's Federation "On the situation of migrant children of the PRC", abandoned children are children under the age of 17, one or both of whose parents moved to another district to work, leaving their children in their native village. By 2010, there were already 58 million of them, including about 40 million children under the age ^of 14.6 This category of children makes up 28.29% of all peasant children in China. Thus, on average, there is one abandoned child for every four peasant children. Most of them are children aged 6-11 years (about 35%), followed by children under 5 years of age (27.05%) and adolescents aged 12-14 years (20.84%). Adolescents between the ages of 15 and 17 make up an average of about 18%.

If we talk about the places of residence of these children, it is mainly in the Central and Southern Provinces of China, such as Anhui, Henan, Guangxi, Hubei, Guizhou and Jiangsu.

To date, migrant children who remain in rural areas have received more educational opportunities. As of 2009, boys and girls accounted for 92.58% and 92.01% of students, respectively.

Table 2 shows that approximately 96% of all migrant children between the ages of 6 and 14 receive a 9-year compulsory education, and about 80% of adolescents aged 15-17 receive it. It is interesting to note that the share of rural teenagers receiving education in schools is slightly lower than the share of their peers whose parents were forced to leave for work. This also applies to the proportion of children who have left school prematurely: among ordinary village children, these figures are slightly higher than among migrant children.

Some analysts attribute this to the fact that migrant parents are trying to follow more closely

Table 2

Education data for rural and migrant children (in%)

Source: Liushou yu ludong ertong jiaoyu wenti yanjiu (Analysis of educational problems of migrant children). Publication of AON of the People's Republic of China, 05.2008, p. 181.

to ensure that their children receive an education and in the future have the opportunity to get a good job. They send money to the countryside, which is why migrant children sometimes have better educational opportunities than their rural peers, whose parents are exclusively engaged in agriculture.

According to the report on the situation of abandoned peasant children published by the National Women's Federation, the academic performance of children whose parents have left for work is quite unstable. According to the latest data for 2009, about 27% of children were "excellent" students, 59% had good grades, and 14% showed extremely low results.

Due to the fact that children do not have a full-fledged family atmosphere in which they would not only be taken care of, but also monitored for academic performance, mentored and educated, every year more and more children suffer from mental disorders. In 2010, there were repeated reports in the press of suicide attempts by children whose parents were away from home, and the number of teenagers caught in criminal activities also increased.⁷

Most often, children stay with one of their parents, or with grandparents, who, most likely, are illiterate and, forced to support the farm, do not have the opportunity to monitor the education and upbringing of their grandchildren.

Fathers in such families in most cases work in cities, which negatively affects family life. According to sociological studies, 48.9% of women left on the farm can not withstand heavy physical work, so more than 50% of all divorce proceedings in Chinese villages are caused precisely by the situation in which the head of the family is working for a long time and does not live with his family.⁸ Farmers are forced to go to the cities in search of work, because they cannot feed their families. Their land is often taken away. The growth of urban development is the main reason for this, and the peasants are left without the necessary compensation in this case. For many years, the earth was the only source of livelihood for these people. Thus, able-bodied rural residents have no choice but to leave their relatives and take hard, low-paying jobs far from home.

WHAT ARE THE WAYS TO SOLVE PROBLEMS?

Education is one of the most important components of the development of a modern society, a harmonious and stable society. Therefore, all segments of the population should have the opportunity to acquire knowledge and apply it for the benefit of the family and society.

Chinese experts believe that the scale of migration flows requires the participation of the Chinese government in solving migrant problems. Among the ways to solve the problems of education of migrant children are the abolition of collecting fees from migrants in public schools, the guardianship of specialized schools for migrant children by the Ministry of Education and local governments. It is necessary to improve the educational infrastructure, promote the provision of schools for migrant children with qualified teaching staff and, equally important, create a legal framework for the functioning of these educational institutions.

Speaking about the education of migrant children, we can also note positive aspects. There are a number of special programs: "We will open the doors of schools for migrant children", "Stimulating the development of education for migrant children", etc. Together with the World Bank, loans are provided to provide educational services to migrants, to build and equip specialized schools. In 2009 alone, the Chinese Government allocated about $250 million for this purpose.

Various programs have been implemented since 2003 to provide education to migrant children who remain in villages, including::

- creation of special educational institutions-boarding schools, where children can not only study, but also live for the required time;

- organization of groups of volunteers who conduct home-based educational consultations for children who are unable to attend classes;

- conducting various training events, etc. ⁹

These and other measures should help migrant children become more socially protected and ensure that they have an equal opportunity to receive a full-fledged education.

* * *

Given the growing number of migrant children and the scale of existing problems in their education and upbringing, it is obvious that the State needs to address this problem. In a few years, these teenagers will enter adulthood and work for the development of their homeland. That is why today the issue of providing them with quality education is the key to the growth of China's future.

¹ The Most Surprising Demographic Crisis // The Economist, 05.05.2011.

² Guanzhu and ludong renkou de suqiu - http://news.xinhuanet.com/comments/2011-07/19/c_121687212.htm

^{Wang Xiaoyan} 3. Education of peasant children: problems and suggestions. Beijing, 2010, p. 140.

^{Yan Fei} 4. Education Problems With Urban Migratory Children in China - www.thefreelibrary.com

⁵ The economic situation in China has given rise to a multi-million-strong army of" left on the farm " - http://www.epochtimes.ru, 15.07.2010.

⁶ Liushou yu ludong ertong jiaoyu wenti yanjiu (Analysis of educational problems of migrant children). Publication of AON of the People's Republic of China, 05.2008, p. 177.

⁷ Quanguo fulianbian 2009. Quanguo nongmin liushou ertun zhuankuang yanju baogao (Report on the situation with the education of children of peasant migrants) / / All-China Federation of Women.

⁸ The economic situation in China has created a multi-million-strong army of "left-behind workers"...

⁹ Jiejue nongmin liushou ertong jiaoyu wenti de chuanquang (Addressing the education of migrant children in rural areas). Publication of AON of the People's Republic of China, 04.2010, pp. 150-153.

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