Migrant children in Beijing to take gaokao

The Beijing education authority will develop a detailed plan to allow migrant children to take the national college entrance exam, the gaokao, in the capital, according to the 2013 work plan from the Beijing Municipal Commission of Education released on Jan 21. 

Part of the plan is aimed at improving equality in education. The plan will protect the rights of migrant children receiving education. 

According to the plan, the authorities will develop a policy allowing migrant children to take the gaokao in Beijing. 

The authorities will create a special fund to guarantee migrant children receive compulsory education in Beijing, and create a management regulation for migrant workers' schools. 

Beijing released a plan in December 2012, allowing migrant children in Beijing to attend local vocational schools in 2013 and allow them to be matriculated by universities after graduating from vocational programs in 2014. 

The plan has been criticized by migrant workers and some scholars, who have called it an insult to migrant children. 

The Beijing education commission explained it is a transitional plan and a further detailed framework will be provided later. 

Sun Xiaobing, director of the Department of Policies and Regulations at the ministry of education, said on Jan 17 during a web chat, that Beijing's policy is a transitional one, and will improve over time. 

Zhou Yanping, 42, an editor in the publishing industry, hopes her 15-year-old daughter can sit in her gaokao in Beijing in three years time. 

However, the Shanxi native who resides in Beijing has already sent her daughter to an international school and prepared the girl to attend overseas universities. 

According to Xinhua News Agency, Beijing has a population of 20 million of which 7 million are migrants. The population of migrant children in Beijing from grade one to nine has reached 419,000, accounting for 40.9 percent of all students.