Beijing's education dilemma

Last week, 50 parents mobbed the offices of the Tongzhou district education bureau to receive word of whether their children would be allocated places at public schools. They went home more than just a little disappointed. This week, in another high profile case for Beijing's education system, a teacher at middle school in the capital has been accused of physically abusing a student, while simultaneously insulting him over his rights to education as a migrant. The school seems perfectly happy to accept the physical abuse as the lesser of two evils, but has stalwartly denied shouting at the student that he had "no money, no power and no hukou" (household registration).

Migrants and education are the twin pillars of Beijing society. Education levels define property prices, social status, future potential and ultimately, the trajectory of your life. Likewise, migrants run the city, and according to the 2010 census, make up more than 7 million of Beijing's population, a figure that is undoubtedly much higher now.

Many travel to Beijing seeking their fortune while bringing their families along for the ride, but without a hukou they are not entitled to a public education, and without a lot of cash and a full set of papers, they are unable to enter one of the capital's private schools. They normally end up turning to unlicensed "migrant schools" which have dubious qualifications, in an effort to make sure their kids get a start in life.

Except that doesn't work either. These schools have been a target of the authorities for quite some time. The lack of licensing and the questionable standard of the education they provide are certainly big factors, but they are normally closed down due to safety concerns, whether structural, or because of the environmental surroundings.

In August last year, the city knocked down around 23 migrant schools, leaving some 14,000 kids back out on the streets just before the new term in September. I don't doubt that the schools had their safety problems, but is there really no alternative?

The people that come to Beijing seeking a future, end up caught in a vicious cycle where their children are forced to live the same manual-labor-intensive lives, scraping by on a pittance each day. Meanwhile, the students the city is trying to protect at the capital's public schools will grow to depend on this population even more to take care of the everyday running of the city, only to go on to repeat the alleged mistakes made by the school teacher this week in discriminating against the lower classes.

I don't doubt that it's an impossible situation, and my god, the people in Beijing's Municipal Government must have the patience of saints and the logistical abilities of a German engineer in order to have gotten education availability to the level it is at now. A city of 20 million people is not a pleasantly sustainable idea, but making the availability of education a matter of social class is never going to help matters, especially when the people who are upset are the ones running the city.

To quote Fight Club: "The people you are after are the people you depend on. We cook your meals, we haul your trash, we connect your calls, we drive your ambulances. We guard you while you sleep. Do not... f**k with us."