Tuesday, September 26, 2006
Won't Somebody Think of the Children? Beijing Closes Schools for Migrant Kids in Pre-Olympic Clean-Up
I apologize that, after a long hiatus all i can offer is some liberal clap trap whining, but I thought I should forward this as evidence of the "new China." This is my "executive version" for the sophisticated yet busy kevinamiles.com reader.
From Human Rights Watch
(New York, September 25, 2006) – Over the past two weeks, Beijing municipal authorities have shut down more than 50 schools for children of migrant workers , Human Rights Watch said today. The schools' closure – part of a campaign to close all unregistered schools for migrants by the end of September – threatens to leave tens of thousands of children without access to education.
The campaign, which began four months ago, appears designed to discourage migrants from staying in the capital. In mid-September, city officials discussed expelling a million migrant laborers from Beijing for the duration of the Olympic Games.
On July 12, 2006, the Beijing Municipality issued the "Notice of the General Office of the Beijing Municipality People's Government on the Work of Strengthening the Safety of Non-Approved Migrant Population Self-Schools." That document set a deadline of September 30 for the "clean up and rectification" of all unregistered schools through "dispersion, standardization and closure." According to the document, 239 unregistered migrant schools in Beijing provide education to more than 90,000 children.
In some cases, the Beijing authorities have dispatched large numbers of police to close particularly popular schools. On August 29, more than 90 policemen forced the evacuation of the Weimenkou school of Shijingshan district. Petitions to the Beijing Commission on Education, signed by hundreds of parents in support of certain schools and denouncing the brutality of the closures, remain unanswered.
The Beijing government has justified the wave of closures on the grounds that many migrant schools are unregistered and substandard. They quoted the lack of qualified teachers, inadequate or dangerous facilities, and noncompliance with hygiene regulations. However, school operators say that the authorities arbitrarily refuse them registration or impose unreasonable conditions, such as possession of half a million yuan, about US$63,000, effectively preventing them from gaining legal status.
The director of a school closed last month, which had served about 1,000 students, told Human Rights Watch, "All of this is because of the Olympics. They close the schools not because the schools are no good, but because they do not want this to attract further migration to Beijing. Of course I have applied for a permit to the government, but they never give it to you. Above all, they want to control and limit the development of
these migrant schools."
(New York, September 25, 2006) – Over the past two weeks, Beijing municipal authorities have shut down more than 50 schools for children of migrant workers , Human Rights Watch said today. The schools' closure – part of a campaign to close all unregistered schools for migrants by the end of September – threatens to leave tens of thousands of children without access to education.
The campaign, which began four months ago, appears designed to discourage migrants from staying in the capital. In mid-September, city officials discussed expelling a million migrant laborers from Beijing for the duration of the Olympic Games.
On July 12, 2006, the Beijing Municipality issued the "Notice of the General Office of the Beijing Municipality People's Government on the Work of Strengthening the Safety of Non-Approved Migrant Population Self-Schools." That document set a deadline of September 30 for the "clean up and rectification" of all unregistered schools through "dispersion, standardization and closure." According to the document, 239 unregistered migrant schools in Beijing provide education to more than 90,000 children.
In some cases, the Beijing authorities have dispatched large numbers of police to close particularly popular schools. On August 29, more than 90 policemen forced the evacuation of the Weimenkou school of Shijingshan district. Petitions to the Beijing Commission on Education, signed by hundreds of parents in support of certain schools and denouncing the brutality of the closures, remain unanswered.
The Beijing government has justified the wave of closures on the grounds that many migrant schools are unregistered and substandard. They quoted the lack of qualified teachers, inadequate or dangerous facilities, and noncompliance with hygiene regulations. However, school operators say that the authorities arbitrarily refuse them registration or impose unreasonable conditions, such as possession of half a million yuan, about US$63,000, effectively preventing them from gaining legal status.
The director of a school closed last month, which had served about 1,000 students, told Human Rights Watch, "All of this is because of the Olympics. They close the schools not because the schools are no good, but because they do not want this to attract further migration to Beijing. Of course I have applied for a permit to the government, but they never give it to you. Above all, they want to control and limit the development of
these migrant schools."
----
Human Rights Watch's China page: http://www.hrw.org/doc?t=asia&c=china
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The government simply doesn't want poor migrants with their uncoothness embarassing the motherland. They want to remove the poor families to show the world how "modern" China is. It's as if LA in 1984 went on a witchunt for illegal immigrants so visitors wouldn't think the city was too "brown." Yes, one can argue that closing down some schools isn't a witchhunt, but it's definitely not very cool
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