Cheaper Educational Fees Boost for Migrant Children

2002/10/01

Under a ruling issued on September 1, the children of migrant workers in Beijing now have the right to enter public-run schools at lower trans-regional schooling fees than currently paid by their parents. At primary schools, the fee is down from 500 yuan (US$60) to 200 yuan ($24) per term, while at junior high schools the cost per term is halved from 1,000 yuan ($120) to 500 yuan.

An official census in 2000 showed that more than three million people from other parts of China are now living in Beijing, of whom five percent are children who have to undergo compulsory education. By the end of last year, there were some 150,000 migrant children in the city, of whom 104,000 were studying at Beijing's public-run schools after paying the trans-regional schooling fees. Less than 5,000 were studying at private schools, and the majority of the balance at schools run by migrant workers themselves.



	Article featured in Beijing This Month, October 2002 Publication sponsored by Information Office of the Beijing Municipal Government, Beijing Municipal Bureau of Tourism