Migrant children's education issue

Migrant workers have built a modern Beijing.

But the community's rights sometimes have to give way to the city's development.

Until very recently, Cuigezhuang, in Beijing's Chaoyang District, was home to an estimated 30,000 people.

The vast majority were migrant workers and their families.

But the local government ordered their evacuation to make way for urbanization.

For the children living at Guigezhuang, the most disappointing news is that all eight schools in the town have received demolition notices. The schools used to provide about five thousand places for children of migrant families. Across Beijing, some 30 such schools are to be demolished, affecting at least 20 thousand students.

The country (knows it) cannot afford to lose this generation.

Guangdong and Shanghai are two of the places that have slowly begun to integrate migrants into the social security network. This includes access to public schools.

This year, Shanghai will become the first city to provide free education to all school-age children of migrant workers.

But migrant children elsewhere still face many barriers. Fees, distance, and an uncertain life are keeping them outside the public schools.