Beijing (AsiaNews/HRW) – In the past two weeks, the municipality of Beijing closed down more than 50 private schools for migrant children with a view to shutting them all soon. On 25 September, Human Rights Watch (HRW) denounced the move as a bid to "discourage" migrant workers from staying in the capital while the 2008 Olympic Games are on. The government responded yesterday by saying it shut down the schools to "protect" migrant children.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said "banning schools that don't meet national standards is just to better guarantee their right to education." He continued: "The Chinese government attaches great importance to education for the children of migrant workers."

Qin said the tens of thousands of pupils affected by the provision could go to public schools, but HRW said many did not meet the criteria to do so.

"Beijing is spending over five billion US dollars to prepare for the 2008 Olympic Games, yet at the same time it's denying a basic right to migrant workers' children, most of whom are unable to access state-run schools," said Sophie Richardson, deputy director of the HRW Asia Division.

"The reason private schools [now closed] exist is precisely because the government has failed to provide free and compulsory education for all as it is obligated under domestic and international law," said Richardson. "Before closing down the only education to which migrant children have access, the government should guarantee their ability to enroll in state-run schools."  

For years, the children of more than 120 million peasants, who migrated to work in big cities and are deprived of residency, have been excluded from public schools. As from September 1, a law states that children of migrant labourers must be enrolled in local state-run schools, but administrative and financial hurdles abound:  in Beijing, only registered migrants who can produce the necessary "five certificates" – a temporary residence permit, work permit, proof of residence, certificate from the place of origin, and household registration booklet – are eligible.

According to the municipality, 63% of the estimated 370,000 children of migrant worker families living in Beijing attend state-run schools while "only" 90,000 attend 239 unauthorised private schools. HRW claimed that an estimated 90% of migrant families do not have all five documents and anyhow, the cost of state schools can be prohibitive for migrants. On July 12, Beijing approved a document setting a deadline of September 30 for the closure of unregistered schools. Many schools have long accused Beijing of arbitrarily refusing to grant them registration or imposing unreasonable conditions, such as possession of half a million yuan (about 63,000 US dollars).

Dozens of police were dispatched 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.   

HRW said a "campaign" was under way to "discourage migrants from staying in the capital". The agency was referring to a discussion in September among city officials to expel a million migrant labourers from Beijing for the duration of the Olympic Games.  

The director of one of the schools told HRW: "They close the schools not because the schools are no good, but because they do not want this to attract further migration to Beijing."