GAPS AND CHALLENGES
However, many gaps remain.
For megacities under pressure to control population growth, local governments push policies based on scores linked to parents' jobs, educational background and property, etc., according to Qin Hongyu, a researcher with 21st Century Education Research Institute, a non-profit organization on public educational policy.
"The score indices are favorable for advantaged groups but unfair to rural migrant workers' children in getting equal education," he said.
"The local government does not provide sufficient education services compatible with the demands of the permanent population. If the supply is not increased, newcomers and grassroots locals have to compete for education resources. This is a real problem," said Zhang Mei, a university researcher who has lived in Beijing for nearly 20 years.
The couple have no local hukou in Beijing and try their best to get their daughter enrolled in a public primary school.
The academic records of the children of migrant workers are another problem. As migrant workers are busy working, they have little time to take care of their children or guide their learning.
Tan Ping, 16, is not interested in continuing classes at a public junior middle school in Beijing. He wants to drop out and find a job to support the family.
His father and mother are migrant workers from Shandong and Anhui provinces, respectively. The mother suffers a serious kidney illness. Tan has two younger brothers who study in a private school, relying on social aid. The five-member family live in a two-room brick house in the capital.
Tan said he planned to find a job to relieve pressure on his family.
Like Tan, many children of migrant workers lack a comfortable environment to continue learning after school, usually living with their parents and siblings in shabby, crowded houses, a factor leading to poor academic results.
The education quality of many private schools, which have difficulty recruiting good staff, cannot match public schools.
A university survey tracking 1,866 students in 50 junior middle schools for migrant workers' children in Beijing found only 39 percent of students continued their education in senior middle schools and only 6 percent entered university.
A sense of isolation is another challenge. The circles of friends of these children are often other migrant workers.
"Policy barriers can be removed overnight, but psychological gaps will take two to three generations to overcome," said Li Tao, founder of Facilitator, a Beijing-based organization devoted to improving the lives of migrant workers and their children.
