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Getting ahead of the left-behind problem
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POVERTY-STRICKEN parents in China often head to large cities to make a living, leaving children behind with relatives or alone to fend for themselves. The so-called “left-behind children” have become a serious national problem.
Most people believe these children exist only in impoverished areas of provinces like Guizhou, Sichuan and Gansu. Not true. Zhejiang, one of China’s most prosperous provinces, has an estimated 260,000 “left-behind children,” accounting for 3.3 percent of the non-adult population.
Zhejiang officials have enacted new regulations that ban the practice of leaving children 16 years or younger on their own. Parents who violate the rules are subject to prosecution.
Before leaving hometowns to seek jobs elsewhere, parents must submit details of their place of work and information about relatives or other guardians who will be taking care of the children. Local authorities will periodically visit children left behind to ensure that they are living in safe, supervised conditions.
The new regulations put many migrant workers in a bind.
“Nobody wants to leave children behind, but I have to earn more money for my kids’ future,” said Wu Lizhen, who comes from Suichang County in southwestern Zhejiang Province and now works in Hangzhou with her husband. “The only way to do that is to work in big cities.”
Wu said her children couldn’t go to school in Hangzhou because the family has no local residency status.
“Special schools for migrant children are available here, but the educational quality is not as good as our schools back home,” Wu said. “And who will take care of the children here when we are working night shifts?”
The situation is more critical when parents leave China to work overseas and get home to see their children only once every few years.
In Wencheng County, an estimated 25,000 residents have gone abroad to work, with 7,300 children left behind. In Qingtian County, an estimated 6,620 children live with relatives while parents work offshore. In some cases, the children were born overseas and sent home to live with their grandparents.
“They left me when I was only three years old,” said a 15-year-old boy who declined to be identified. “I have only met my parents twice. I feel awkward when talking to them on the phone. They want me to join them in Italy when I am older, but I don’t want to go there.”
The Zhejiang Civil Affairs Bureau has completed a project to log the information of all “left-behind children” in the province. The data will help authorities target aid where it is most needed and identify trouble spots.
Follow-up tracking will be conducted every September when the new school term begins.
Education has a role to play in helping children left behind. Hangtou, a town located in the western mountainous area of Jiande County in Hangzhou, has 5,443 “left-behind” children. The local school district is encouraging female teachers to act as surrogate mothers, helping the children with homework and daily activities like bathing and haircuts.
However, personal hygiene is a minor problem compared with the psychological damage these children may suffer. Media reports from around China have detailed the dangers and emotional stress faced by “left-behind” children.
Last year, two children left to fend for themselves in Guizhou were murdered in their home. Four “left-behind children” aged 5 to 13 died after drinking pesticide. Four years ago, five children died of carbon monoxide poisoning when burning charcoal for warmth in a roadside dumpster.
In Zhejiang, many “left behinds” are reported to be addicted to video games, smoking and even drug-taking. Their social behavior is often belligerent.
In the next three years, the government plans to build 100 centers for “left-behind children,” offering them extracurricular activities and physiological counseling.
It’s all part of Zhejiang’s project to establish a general welfare system for children, including “left behinds,” orphans and the disabled. According to the Chinese Children Welfare Policy Report from Beijing Normal University, Zhejiang’s efforts ranks it first in the nation.
“Social help from schools and governments is important for left-behind children, but the best way to solve the problem is to develop local economies,” commented a netizen named Sowii. “Subsidy and financial aid policies should be adopted to entice these parents to return home.”
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