Debate Question
Migrant students in China
Over the last three decades, migrant students in China have experienced different education problems that have led to a raging debate (Li, 2010). As the population of migrant children continues to increase, the Chinese education sector faces challenges to improve the standards of education across the country, especially for migrant children. Despite the government’s strategies for improving education, current studies have shown inequalities in the access of education, especially how most migrant children in the rural areas cannot join public school education in urban cities(Kwong, 2014). The current issues within the Chinese education system center on the debate about whether or not children of migrant workers should be allowed to sit for the gaokao examination in the cities where their parents work.
The main concern arising from the debate is that different universities might have varying gaokao score requirements for children with varying hukou (China Daily, 2012). Critics argue that children of migrant workers should not be allowed to sit for the college entrance exams in the cities where their parents work since this would require extensive measures by the local government. In simple terms, the varying gaokao-score requirements would mean that the university enrollment quotas for urban cities and provinces be adjusted each year. Moreover, migrant children should not take the gaokao in the cities where the parents work since exam papers tend to vary from one place to another(China Daily, 2012). Hence, even if a child of a migrant worker gets the chance to sit for the examinations, they can only be enrolled in the college, based on the gaokao-score requirements in their hometowns but not the cities.
On the other hand, those on the negative side of the debate suggest that migrant-populations and education resources vary considerably amongst the urban cities in China. The rapidly growing migrant population would require the municipal government for the cities to adjust their education policies and resources to accommodate the rising influx of migrant population in urban cities. Similarly, this has necessitated the central government to make different plans that are compatible with each city, which could affect long-term educational plans for most cities. Although the positive side of the debate argues for the need to enhance the effectiveness of these laws, critics claim that this would lead to the congestion of students in schools. In contrast to rural schools, urban schools are designed to accommodate a limited number of pupils(Li, 2010). Consequently, allowing the migrant students to take college entrance exams in the cities they live with their parents will only increase student population in urban cities, resulting in the schools’ resources being overstretched
In conclusion, the government’s efforts to provide quality and universal education in urban areas have not been successful, and migrant students continue to face various challenges, including low standards of education and discrimination in the learning environment. Critics against the government’s initiative of allowing migrant children to take college entrance examinations in cities where they live will only increase their discrimination in urban cities in addition to overstretching the available academic resources allocated to schools in urban areas.
References
China Daily (2012). Migrant exams for Migrant Children. Retrieved from: http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/opinion/2012-09/04/content_15733692.htm
Kwong, J. (2014). Research report: education migrant children: Negotiations between the state and civil society. The China Quarterly. 180, 1073-1088.
Li, Y. (2010). Progress in education for the children of rural migrant workers. In Yang Dong Ping & Chai Chun Qing (Eds.), The China Education Year Book 2010, volume 2 (pp.175-187). Leiden Boston Publishing Company.