A total of 118,000 migrant workers have attended free training courses after work in east China's Ningbo City since last March, local newspaper Ningbo Daily reported.

Ningbo's construction industry has been flourishing in recent years. Just in the urban area, there are more than 400 construction corporations, which attract lots of migrant workers.

To help migrant workers become new qualified citizens in Ningbo, the local construction committee issued a notice last March, saying that there must be a school for migrant workers in four districts, including Haishu District, Jiangdong District, Jiangbei District, and Gaoxin District, when a construction site occupies more than 8,000 square meters or when the total project costs more than 10 million yuan (US$1.47 million). Till now, in these 560 schools for migrant workers, there are 118,000 "students" and more than 1,600 teachers.

These schools usually begin lessons when the project starts working. There are teaching facilities like blackboard, desks, TV, DVD, etc, in their class room, which is also their dining room or meeting room.

(CRIENGLISH.com July 16, 2008)