A Solution through Peer to Peer Help

Background:

Migrant children in big cities in China have been considered as underprivileged or disadvantaged group. One quarter of the migrant children in cities do not have a chance to go to school. For those who go to migrant schools, they cannot receive quality education because of the lack of funding and teaching resources. Those who go to public schools, on the other hand, are very often treated differently by their fellow students, if not by the school, and suffer from psychological distress. So far most programs I have read about helping migrant children are focused on mobilizing social resources to provide a better education environment for them. The migrant children themselves as a valuable resource to help the problem is more or less neglected.

Rural children have very different life experience from urban children in China. Generally, children in rural families start to help their parents with daily choirs and farm work at an early age. They learn engineering and gardening skills and knowledge in their daily lives and are often equipped with practical life skills that urban children do not have chance to acquire. Rural children have been closer to nature than to technology in most of their lives and they perceive differently from urban children. Those who migrate with their parents from city to city are more likely exposed to different cultures. Migrant children are precious with their unique background, life experience and skills, which should be recognized by the society, and the children themselves should be brought to realization of the fact.

Questions and Objectives:

• Migrant children are getting more and more social attention, but they are treated as a special group most of the time. Is there some way to help them discard the feeling of being disadvantaged in the city and embrace their self-esteem in realizing their values?
• What is valuable about migrant children’s background?
• What skills do migrant children have that urban children do not have but need and vice versa?
• What is the foundation to bring urban children and rural children together?
• What are ways to bring urban and migrant rural children closer?

Based on the questions, the objectives of the solution are:

• to provide a platform to bring urban and rural children together through peer to peer help for mutual benefits;
• to build a harmonious relationship between migrant and urban children and further between urban and migrant urban families;
• to build a social network that is dedicated to ensuring every child have the equal share of education and social care.

Program:

Projects such as community gardens, craft art workshops and galleries can be initiated by non-profit organizations across the city in different neighborhoods. Students from both public schools and migrant schools run the projects by themselves.

The projects are aimed to provide space for migrant children and urban children to collaborate on tasks that allow them to socialize and help each other. The vegetables and plants of the community gardens can be sold through their little garden stores. Craft art workshops bring students together to do craft work after school. The gallery exhibits students’ works and function not only as a cultural showcase but also a fund raising department.

The profits made from the projects can be used as funding for migrant schools or to launch more projects. Diverse group of volunteers with different skills can join the projects to provide help with gardening skills, craft skills or organization of events. When parents volunteer, it improves communication and understanding between migrant and urban families while at the same time build a harmonious relationship between parents and children. Local government provides favorable land and space using policies for the program. Businesses can also participate to hold events and contests.

Result:

While encouraging the integration of migrant children and rural children through peer to peer self-help projects and empowering students with various skills, the micro-scale network built by students helps to bridge the culture gap and grow trust and understanding. The program also inspires civic engagement and helps to build a stronger community.

Images retrieved 15 Jun 2009 from http://picture-book.com/node/102

CAI – Arts and Sports Programs

CAI (Children’s Art Initiative) is a program of the Promise Foundation,  a Nevada non-profit corporation. It was launched in Beijing in 2006 with an aim to provide migrant children with a healthy growth environment through access to creative arts and sports.

CAI establishes arts and sports education programs in migrant schools and organizes summer camps for migrant students in Beijing. Students participate in activities such as painting, dancing, performance and sports programs such as soccer and basketball. CAI volunteers bring students on trips to art galleries and exhibitions. Arts and sports competitions are held to further motivate students. In 2008, CAI partnered with Shaonianertong Magazine, the media partner for United Nations Environmental Program, to enter students’ art works into the “International Children’s Art Competition.” In fall 2008, CAI introduced a girls basketball program in four migrant schools in Beijing. There were over twenty volunteers from China and other countries participated in the program to teach and organize inter-school competitions.

The program is hoped to improve art education for migrant students, build their self-confidence through arts and sports, teach students the value of teamwork and develop their leadership skills. Domestic and international volunteers with various skills join the program to teach arts and sports, organize camps and competitions and help with fundraising and marketing. Corporations such as Nike, Nokia, Cummins Inc, Blick Art Materials, Nestle Waters and Royal Bank of Scotland provide fiancial and volunteer support. CAI also receives donation from the society through programs such as Music Instrument Bank, Firstgiving.com and GoodSearch.

By launching the arts and sports program in migrant schools, CAI addresses the problem of underdeveloped arts and physical education in migrant schools. CAI has a vision that “every child will be empowered to reach his or her greatest potential”.

CAI Webpage: http://www.cai-china.org/site/index.php/en/home

TECC’s “More for Migrant Kids”

Technology & Education: Connecting Cultures (TECC) is a registered Non-Profit Organization in California, U.S. and Hong Kong, China. University students from the U.S. and China teach computer, Internet skills, English, and other relevant skills to disadvantaged communities such as migrant children in cities. TECC aims to improve education in a cost-effective, sustainable and scalable model through technology and an international student network.

The project “More for Migrant Kids” is a program of TECC which was launched in 2005 in Shanghai, China. Through the program, TECC volunteers provide extracurricular programs to migrant students. Students from Shanghai Jiaodong Technology University and Fudan University volunteer to mentor the migrant students in primary schools by giving reading, writing and computer workshops. Over the past year, TECC has held arts and science workshops in 13 classes of migrant students from five primary schools in Shanghai. International academic institutes such as Stanford School of Education provide student volunteers with expert curriculum and teaching guidance . There are both on-site teaching and long-distance education. Non-profit organizations partner with TECC to provide technological support such as donating computers and providing internet access. TECC also arrange donations of books, computers and other supplies from the society for students in migrant schools. Special events for migrant children, such as painting competitions, field trips to museums and summer camps are organized to develop students’ interests in art and culture.

The number of children as well as university student volunteers in MKK has been increasing since the launch of the program. Emphasizing on extracurriculum training, MKK is seeking solutions to the education problem of migrant children by leveraging technology as a teaching tool and a univeristy student network as the main teaching source.

Promote Education Through Arts

Artists are involved in the campaign to provide education opportunities to more than 5 million migrant children in China who have  no hope of getting into school. “Bricks”, “Barbed Wire” and “Glass” are three installation art pieces advocated and sponsored by Ogilvy Beijing and New Citizen Program. The art pieces are placed outside popular art galleries and attract lots of public attention.

The art installations are created to symbolize the hard situation of migrant children caused by system deficiency and social discrimination. Each  installation includes information on the campaign along with a phone number for audience to call to donate money. There has been enough money raised to build a new school and enroll 950  students so far.

Image courtesy of Adfest

New Citizen Program

“New Citizen Program” is launched by Narada Foundation, a non-government organization founded in 2007 under the supervision of the Ministry of Civil Affairs of China. The objective of the program is to improve the growth environment of migrant children in China.

“New Citizen School Project” is a sub-project of “New Citizen Program”. The aim of the project is to construct non-profit schools to provide migrant children with equal opportunities of receiving quality education. The project explores a new school-running approach: schools are run by non-governmental sector, funded by the social organizations, subsidized by the government and supported by citizens as volunteers. The local governments provide the financial aid of no less than 30% of the local public education funding to the compulsory education of migrant children. The governments also make favorable land using policies for schoolhouses construction.  Volunteers can choose to work with one or more local NPO. The Foundation cooperates with non-profit organizations in launching and supporting projects on moral cultivation, psychological health guidance, art training, social interaction guidance, volunteer teaching, research and policy support. The profits from projects bidding are donated to the construction of schools. The program also attracts university students by holding educational projects contest in partnership with China Youth Development Foundation. Mainstream media are also involved to provide publicity and fund-raising support.

The program effectively mobilizes social resources to address the problem of migrant children’s education. Narada Foundation has an objective for building 100 schools for migrant children in 5 to 10 years.

Narada Foundation organization framework

http://www.naradafoundation.org/english/index.asp?cc=1

Statistics about Migrant Children in China

200 million migrants in China (Xinhua, 2008)

20 million migrant children in China (China CSR, 2007)

Beijing is home to 5 million migrant workers and 500,000 migrant children (Xinhua, 2007; Global Envision, 2007)

360% increase in migrant children population between the ages of 5-14 from 1997-2004 (China News Agency)

9.3% of the migrant children (over 1 million) fail to attend school

Dropout rate of the 8-year-old migrant children is 0.8%, whereas the dropout rate of the 14-year-old migrant children rises to 15.4%

19.7% of the 9-year-old migrant children are still in the first grade

Statistics. Retrieved 29 My 2009 from http://www.cmc-china.org/index.php?page=statistics&hl=en_US

and http://www.naradafoundation.org/english/whatwedo.asp?cc=3&aa=1

Migrant Children Education and the Household Registration System

Household Registration Booklet

Images retrieved 28 May 2009 from http://www.lifeofguangzhou.com/node_10/node_37/node_84/2009/03/31/123846816462526.shtml

The Chinese government has made great efforts to bridge the big education gap between rural and urban areas. However, the education for migrant children in urban cities is a newly emerged problem, which does not fall anywhere between this gap.

Sine 1980s, the number of migrants in the city has been increasing and the growth is accelerating. Currently there are more than 150 million migrants working in urban areas (Zhang et al, 2008). Among them, more than 90 percent of 16 to 20 years olds are out of school and work as laborers in cities. According to China National Bureau of Statistics, the population in urban areas in China raised from 26.4% to 43.0% between 1990 and 2005. With more and more young adults migrating to cities, the number of migrant children is increasing. According to the Fifth National Census, there were 19.8 million school-aged migrant children in China (Xinhua, 2008). Their education demand is huge.

However, the household registration system prevents the children from receiving proper education. The system started in 1958. Households were required to register according to their actual place of birth or residence. Two types of household registration were issued: agricultural and non-agricultural. The system was originally developed to restrict unauthorized migration from rural areas to cities and therefore caused a clear division between urban and rural residents. Nowadays, although the government does not enforce the rules against migration anymore, the system still affects many aspects of the life of rural migrants. As social security welfare systems are based on the household registration system, rural migrants were denied access to public services in cities including education and medical care. Before mid-1990s, migrant children could not enroll in public schools because of the household registration system. Even now, urban governments have rules for migrant children to enroll in public schools. Migrant families are asked to apply five or more certificates in order to send their children to school: temporary residence permits, work permits, proof of residence, certificates from the place of origin and household registration booklets. However, it is hard for migrant families to obtain all the certificates in most cases.

For migrant children who entered the public schools, their family has to pay extra fees while most migrant families are low-income families. The difficulty for migrant children to enter public schools resulted in the emergence of private migrant schools, which, however, are not a good choice for the migrant children because of the poor teaching quality, poor facilities, undeveloped curriculum and higher tuition.

Providing education to migrant children is vital to China as the population is huge. It will take time and efforts to correct the inequality, but with social collaboration, it can be expected that migrant children will receive better education in the near future.

reference

Xinhua News Agency. 24 March 2008. “China’s Migrant Children Increase in Number, Visibility.” Chinagate.com.cn.

Zhang, Linxiu, Xiaofei Li, Scott Rozelle and Jikun Huang. 2008. “China’s Labor Transition and the Future of China’s Rural Wages and Employment,” Working Paper, Center for Chinese Agricultural Policy, Institute of Geographical Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.

“Education for Migrant Children”. http://www.reapchina.org/Financia-Aid.asp?btype_id=89.

Reflections on “Raising the issue of China’s troubled teens”

A group of teenagers on the street

Image retrieved 21 May, 2009 from http://news.163.com/08/0429/10/4AMK75OU0001124J.html

“My parents spend most of their time working in factories. They seldom pay attention to me. They don’t even know I steal.” - Teenage suspect Xiao

Studies show a high percentage of delinquency and minor crimes in big cities in China are committed by teenagers who come from migrant families.

Beijing Municipal Higher People’s Court revealed the result of a study about teenage crime in the city. Over the past three years,  40 to 80 percent of delinquency in Beijing were committed by non-local teenagers. In Shanghai, study shows between 2004 and 2007, offenses by teenagers from areas other than Shanghai raised almost 70 percent whereas local youth crime rate remained almost unchanged. In the cities of Suzhou and Wuxi, also in Jiangsu province, non-native teenagers are responsible for 87 and 80 percent of juvenile crime respectively. Kunshan, a city known for its large number of migrant workers, has more than 90 percent of juvenile crime rate, with offenders almost all from poor migrant families.

The fact behind the figures is poverty and a lack of education. These poor migrant families are usually from under-developed rural areas in China. They move to cities for job opportunities but because the local schools charge extra fees for children without local household registration, and the migrant families cannot afford the high tuition, the children are left lack of care and education. They wonder around the streets, exposed to unhealthy magazines, affected by negative lifestyle, and seduced by criminal gangs. They leave school too early to form moral consciousness to resist the negative influences.

Local governments are making policies to encourage building special schools for the migrant children. However, the education quality of these schools are poor and the some of them are not even legal. They cannot ensure that their students receive proper education.

It is not easy to solve the education problem of migrant children in large cities in China. The local household registration system is strict and cannot be changed in a short period because of the large population and uneven development between rural and urban areas. The “troubled teens” can become a serious social problem in China if they are left as they are. The Chinese government is doing its best to solve the problem, but the situation will be hard to change without collaboration from enterprises and each member of the society. It would be helpful to establish some volunteer system in which people with different professional background can arrange various educational activities for these children. Public school teachers may work out a schedule to take turns to give classes to the children. Students from teacher training colleges can be organized to work for those special schools. The schools can be sponsored by entrepreneurs, governments and organizations. What we really need here is love and social responsibility.

Reference

Xie, Chuanjiao. “Raising the issue of China’s troubled teens”. China Daily. 2009.  http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2009-05/07/content_7751772.htm

1 Kg More

Children and 1kg more volunteers

Image retrieved 21 May, 2009 from http://www.sustainable-everyday.net/ccsl/?p=55

1 Kg More is an NOG in China dedicated to providing help to the kids in remote areas of China. The group was founded in 2004 by Andrew Yu, now has more than 10,000 volunteers participating and is affecting more than one million people in China directly and indirectly.

1 Kg More encourages travellers to bring 1 kg of used books, stationary or clothes to donate them to the schools and children in rural areas along their journey. Through three simple steps, “passing”, “communicating”, and “sharing”, the program helps to improve the poor education condition in rural area, encourage materials and resources reuse, enhance the connection between urban and country citizens and accelerate the flourish of local economy.

There are only three full-time employees for 1kg.org, their official website. The website posts the information about rural village schools such as location, contacts, financial status and needs that have been collected by the volunteer. Besides, it is also an online communities for volunteers to share their experience.

Different from traditional NOGs, 1 Kg More does not direct the work of volunteers but is operated through social collaboration and social responsibility, therefore it encourages each individual volunteer’s initiative and creativity.

UNESCO Statistics

• 10.5 million children still die every year worldwide;
• 29,000 children under the age of five die every day, nearly 4,000 simply because they lack safe water and sanitation;
• 12 million children worldwide have been orphaned by AIDS;
• 146 million children regularly go hungry;
• 640 million lack adequate shelter;
• 250 million work as cheap labour, 2 million as prostitutes;
• Conflict has claimed the lives of 2 million children in the last ten years, leaving 6 million wounded and disabled;
• 300,000 children worldwide are forced to carry a gun; and
• 72 million children are still out-of-school.

UNESCO. (2007). Statistics. Retrieved 14 May, 2009 from http://portal.unesco.org/shs/en/ev.php-URL_ID=11412&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html