Migrant worker's children face anxious wait over schools

Tongxin Experimental School

Four schools for migrant workers' children in Beijing have been ordered to shut down on the grounds that they fail to meet safety standards. It is thought that around 3,000 students will be affected.

The Tongxin Experimental School is among the four schools which received a directive ordering them to close from the local authorities of Jinzhan Town, Chaoyang District.

The school, which provides pre-school and elementary education services for 658 students, said that it received a written order from the Department of Education and Health of Jinzhan Town on June 19. In the letter, the department said that the school was threatened by serious safety risks concerning its building, issues related to fire protection, and electricity and hygiene. In addition, the letter stated that as the school was not in possession of the necessary licenses and certificates, it must close immediately.

Commenting on the department's ruling, the school's headmistress, Shen Jinhua said: "Since our school opened, we have passed all the safety inspections by town-level and district-level governments. We have been improving our management system and safety regulations. How come they said we faced serious safety risks?"

Meanwhile, the school's buildings and canteen have all passed assessments and inspections, which have been recognized by the local authorities, Shen said.

In an open letter, the school also questioned the legitimacy of the order, arguing that the Law of Compulsory Education stipulates that only county level, or higher, government can take charge of matters regarding compulsory education. As a result, Jinzhan does not have the right to close elementary or junior middle schools which fall into the category of compulsory education institutions.

Xu Can, a lawyer at Beijing Deking Law Firm, expressed similar doubts about the order's legitimacy and said that Jinzhan may have exceeded its powers in this instance.

The Department of Education and Health of Jinzhan said that all students from the four closed schools would be accommodated in a newly-built school. However, Shen Jinhua expressed his concern that the new school can only accommodate about 1,500 students, which means that half of the students may have nowhere to go.

The new plans would also affect parents, as the new school is located some distance from where they live, making pre- and after-school care of their children a real issue. The extra burden of care could fall on grandparents, and parents could also be hit by a greater financial burden due to higher tuition fees and the additional red tape they must deal with to get their children into the new school.

In 2011, Beijing closed about 30 schools for migrant workers' children, which affected around 14,000 children and caused wide-spread social concerns.