Children from poor regions generally suffer more psychological problems and health issues than those from cities in China, according to a latest report on education.
Released by the 21st Century Education Research Institute on Monday, the report was based on interviews and questionnaires to over 500 principals and teachers in 88 primary schools in the rural areas of 20 provincial regions in central and western China.
Nearly 60 percent of students in those regions had problems with forming emotional attachments to others, while some 45.7 percent had low self-esteem, according to the report.
It added that about 30 percent of those students were unhappy with their lives and 47 percent was unsociable. Some of them also had behavior issues, such as a lack of concentration, running away from home, or even theft.
Another 35 percent said they hate attending school.
"Many children in rural areas are left-behind children whose parents are away for work, which leave the children more likely to feel insecure," Zhu Danna, chief program officer of BEAM Alliance, an NGO working to support teachers in schools in rural areas, told the Global Times Tuesday.
Zhu added that many children in rural areas live in boarding schools, but the shorthanded staff seldom have time to take care of the children's psychological needs.
The report also found that children in poor regions do not obtain enough nutrition. Nearly 20 percent of them only consume meat once a week, while over 20 percent suffered from water intoxication.
Meanwhile, juvenile delinquents are getting younger. The report said about 35 percent of the surveyed offenders were 16 years old, 31.2 percent were 15 and those aged 14 increased to 20 percent in 2014 from 12.3 percent in 2001, citing an earlier research conducted in 12 provincial regions in 2014.
The report cited inappropriate family education as the main cause of the rise in juvenile delinquency, followed by peer pressure and a lack of understanding of the law.
It also discussed the roadmap of China's education reform in 2015, which would focus on tackling education problems faced by rural areas and improving the quality of national education.
