Future uncertain for private migrant schools
Print Edition
PRINCIPALS of special private schools for migrant children are worried they might have to shut down as demand for places shrinks.
They say more and more students are either enrolling in public institutions or leaving the city.
“We used to enroll about 80 new students a year, but we might not get 30 this year,” said Ma Siguo, principal of the Shanghai-Qingpu Union School, one of 148 private schools for migrant children in the city.
“Our school had a total of over 1,100 students between 2005 and 2006, but there are only 320 now,” he added. “The number has been decreasing since the city began to ask local public primary and middle schools to take in migrant children.”
The school has 16 classrooms, but half of them are empty now.
The decrease has resulted in less state funding and consequently lower pay for teachers.
Sun Kefu, a Chinese teacher, told Shanghai Daily that his monthly income has fallen to about 3,000 yuan from over 4,000 yuan several years ago.
“Many teachers have left, including all our music and sports teachers, and the only art teacher is also going to quit next semester,” said Ma. “Their jobs are temporarily taken over by teachers specializing in other disciplines. I cannot imagine what a school would be without songs, sports and smiles.”
According to Ma, there were more than 17,000 migrant children attending special private schools in Shanghai, but it has decreased to between 7,000 and 8,000.
“The largest private school for migrant children in Qingpu now has more than 700 students and the smallest only has about 30,” he said, “And only seven of the 23 (migrant) schools in the district have first graders.”
“Without enough new students, we will have to close up in two or three years,” he added. “A school could not run well with too few children.”
First set up in 1998
The story of private schools for migrant children in Shanghai began in 1998, when individuals set them up to ensure migrant children received nine years of compulsory education. Operators at that time only needed permission of the authorities in their home province. Ma set up a school in Qingpu in 1998.
“Many of my friends wanted to have special schools so that their children could stay with them and be educated for affordable fees as it was expensive to enroll their children in local public schools,” he said.
“Meanwhile, my son was also about to enter primary school at that time and I thought it would be good for him to stay with me.”
Ma started with 48 students and enrolment peaked at more than 1,100 seven years later. The overall number of special private schools for migrant children rose to about 500 by 2000.
However, Ma admitted that there were problems with the new schools, including security risks and poor education standards. This attracted the attention of the local education bureaus, which strengthened the administration of the new institutions.
In 2008, the Shanghai Education Commission launched a three-year plan to enroll 60 percent of migrant children into public primary and middle schools to improve educational equity and bring special private schools into its administrative sphere.
At that time, migrant workers only had to show valid residence permits or employment certificates to enrol their children in local schools.
Nearly 62 percent of migrant children were enrolled in public school by 2008 and by 2010 the figure was 80 percent, according to commission statistics.
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