Millions of children learning to live alone after parents move for work
Print Edition
XIN Xin, 14, did not expect any gifts on International Children’s Day yesterday, as he has lived a life he describes as “pretty much like an orphan.”
Born in rural Henan Province in central China, his parents took him to Zhengzhou, the capital, but left him there when they moved again for work.
“When they told me I was to be left alone, I thought they were joking,” he said.
But after three years, he is used to life without them. He gets up at 6am, goes to school by bus and, after school, returns to a private boarding site where students without parental care are given accommodation.
China has 270 million migrant workers, a fifth of its population. The Ministry of Education says around 10 million children are brought to cities by migrant worker parents, but when they find new jobs, many of them are left behind.
Sometimes at night, Xin Xin is found under his quilt, crying. “I just miss my parents,” he said.
He can talk to them on the phone. “Although they are unable to help with my studies, their voices are comforting,” he said. “They work very hard to make money, and I won’t let them down.”
Nong Lanfang left her 11-year-old daughter and 8-year-old son in Nanning, capital of south China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, when she and her husband moved to Huizhou in neighboring Guangdong Province to work.
“I know it’s not good to leave them alone, but we have no choice,” Nong said. They could not find a school in Huizhou, and they deemed the rural school back in their hometown to be “inferior.”
The children are being looked after by their grandmother.
Sun Yu, 15, stayed in Zhengzhou with his younger sister as they could not bear being held back another grade. Their parents work in Shijiazhuang, 400 kilometers away.
“I was held back a grade when my parents moved here a few years ago,” said Sun. The transfer left him with few friends. Sun said he was old enough not to miss his parents, believing studying hard was the way to repay the family. Their grandmother is in Zhengzhou to take care of them.
There are no statistics on rural children taken to cities and abandoned there.
At No. 76 High School in Zhengzhou, 80 percent of students are children of migrant workers, and there are nearly 300 in the same situation as Xin Xin and Sun Yu, according to Chen Guangrong, the school’s vice president.
Some are in boarding class like Xin Xin, others under the care of relatives, Chen said.
Parents leave their children in cities instead of back at home because of what they see as better educational opportunities.
Cities may have better facilities, but they also harbor more temptations.
Teacher Song Junmei said children without parental care tend to have problems like truancy, fighting, Internet addiction and drugs.
Psychologist Wang Xiangnan wants the government to work out the size of the problem and address the issue.
“These children are an emerging phenomenon that needs public attention. Lack of family values in an urban environment may lead to disaster,” he said.
Wang is urging on volunteers, such as university students, to do all they can for these children to help them deal with their problems.
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