Migrant Children and Their Educational Prospects in Today’s China

Abstract

Mitigating the issues of long-standing separation, loneliness and vulnerability, as well as providing the access to decent education, healthcare and social services to migrant and left-behind children become urgent subjects in today’s society. Through the surveys and questionnaires designed on the basis of secondary data and reports published by the national government and world-renowned agencies, we explored the hardships facing both migrant and left-behind students in Shanghai and Sichuan rural county. We ascertained the fact that micro factors such as family financial conditions or students' ability to self-adjust to a new life environment as well as macro factors like the hukou system, the underdeveloped economy of villages, and the interactions between migrant communities and local communities, all commonly result in the barriers that the migrant children must face. Therefore, so as to effectively assist migrant students in overcoming their educational problems, the program has to be designed with a broad perspective wherein micro and macro factors are all considered.