By: Jessica Ties
Impunity Watch, Asia

BEIJING, China – The Chinese government has shut down 24 schools that had served the children of migrant workers in Beijing and has resulted in 40, 000 students being forced to scramble for new placements just two weeks before the new semester was scheduled to begin.

The 24 schools affected were located  in the Daxing, Chaoyang and Haidian districts of Beijing which have long been home to migrant workers.

While the district government closure orders stated that the school closures were due to”…illegal construction, illegal operation, and safety concerns”, many are skeptical of the government’s motives.

Some of the skeptics suggest that school closures were caused by property developers who are anxious to continue expanding Beijing, while others believe that the school closures are a ploy to force migrant workers to leave the city. Fueling the latter suspicion is the memory of plans made last year by eastern Beijing’s Chaoyang district, in which 3,900 students were affected by the school closures, to ask approximately one million migrant workers to leave the city to alleviate strain on “social security and pollution.”

Under China’s residence permit system, the hokou system, the government designates each citizen based on their place of residence and determines which social services individuals are eligible to receive. Under the hokou system migrant workers living in Beijing, which numbered approximately five million, generally remained registered in their hometown making their children ineligible to register in Beijing schools. As a result, the children of migrant workers are only permitted to attend private schools that are often unapproved and unregistered.

In the Haidian district of Beijing, New Hope School was demolished on August 10 but official announcements were not made until eight days following the demolition. New Hope School had approximately 1,000 students ranging from kindergarten to ninth grade, all of which were forced to find placement elsewhere.

Following the  school closure’s, officials assured students and their parents that they would find placements for the children who were displaced. Some individuals; however, do not believe that the government will maintain it’s promise.

Geoffrey Crothall, the director of communications for China Labour Bulletin expressed his skepticism of the government’s promise by stating that, “…they set the threshold for school placement qualifications so high that the vast majority of migrant families cannot meet the requirements.” This concern is exemplified by the fact that only 70 students out of the 1,000 who were displaced from New Hope School have been able to gather the required documentation to have their children placed in the Beijing school system.

The requirements are so difficult to meet that of the approximately 1,000 students displaced from the New Hope School, only 70 have been able to gather the required documents to have their children placed in the school system.

For more information, please see:

The Wall Street Journal  –  Will School Closures Prompt Migrants to flee? – 19 August 2011

MSNBC – In Beijing, 40,000 Students Stranded – 18 August 2011

Radio Free Asia – Anger Over Migrant School Closures– 18 August 2011

Reuters – Closure of Migrant Children Schools in China Sparks Anguish – 18 August 2011

BBC – Migrant Schools Closed in Chinese Capital -17 August 2011