More Regions to Reform Migrant Education System

More Chinese provinces and municipalities have announced education reforms that would allow children of migrant workers to enter senior high schools and sit college entrance exams locally.

Educational authorities in Ningxia, Shanxi, Hubei, Sichuan, Gansu, Henan, Shaanxi and Jiangsu announced in recent days their respective plans to ensure that children following their migrant parents to cities can enjoy the same rights in education as their urban peers.

The announcements came after 13 other provinces and municipalities, including Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong, published similar plans amid nationwide cries for fairer educational opportunities for children of migrant workers.

China currently has more than 250 million migrant workers living in cities. An estimated 20 million of their children have migrated to the cities, while some 10 million are left behind in their rural hometowns.

China's household registration system used to confine kids to attending schools in their home provinces. A 2003 regulation amended this by allowing migrant workers' children to receive the country's nine-year compulsory education in cities where their parents work.

However, children of migrant workers continued to face the problem of having to return to their hometowns for further schooling when they were about to enter senior high schools or at times of college entrance exams.

In early 2012, the Ministry of Education asked Chinese cities to formulate plans regarding further education and college entrance exams for migrant workers' children.