148 7 Marginalised Children and Universal Basic Education
public high school when they graduate from junior secondary. This is the second
choice of most parents and students who want access to university. The Beijing
government has also set and issued regulations for the temporary schooling fee for
the migrant children. These are RMB 200 for each primary child every semester,
RMB 500 for junior secondary student and RMB 2000 for senior secondary. The
proportion of migrant students in secondary school in Tongzhou is much smaller
than at primary school level as a result of the residency issues and cost and is less
than 10 % of all students.
Three issues stand out. First there is a high mobility rate and low graduation
rate for migrant students. Though the overall number of migrant students is grow-
ing analysis at school level shows that the numbers in each grade can fluctuate
widely from year to year. The main reason is that these migrant students are often
may enroll only for a year or two before changing location. Generally there are
more children enrolled in the lower grades and a proportion of older children are
sent back to their home areas as they approach secondary level. In Majuqiao the
numbers flowing through each grade fluctuate by as much as 50 % year on year
with consequences for the continuity of education. Local students do not have the
same fluctuations in numbers because their enrolment patterns are stable.
The second issue is that migrant students are perceived to have learning prob-
lems more often than local students. The evidence from this study is that though
the majority of migrant students in Tongzhou are able to adjust to their new envi-
ronment and can be effectively integrated into new classes, some find it difficult.
There are several reasons. The pace and level of teaching in Tongzhou schools is
much more intense than in rural areas where migrants originate. This means that
keeping up with work is an issue and that the grade a child is placed in may be
too challenging for some if it reflects their chronological age alone. Almost every
migrant student has problems matching their knowledge and capability to the
urban curriculum. Some children have had a very limited exposure to school. Most
migrants have little or no experience with English unlike the local students.
For example a case mentioned by a Grade one Chinese teacher, is that of a
migrant boy who had learned 100 new words in his former school, but only half
of the learned words were same as those in Majuqiao primary. After many efforts
collaboratively by teachers, parents and the boy himself, he has gradually caught
up with the curriculum. One-to-one tutoring is offered by some class teachers as
a common method to bridge the gap and also to improve students’ performance.
Performance disparities within the migrant groups are a problem noted by teach-
ers, as is the impact on achievement of lack of parental interest and motivation.
The third issue is that, as noted above, gaining access to the next educational
stage is a problem for migrant students. Migrants in Tongzhou have only two
choices after junior secondary: students with good performance go back to their
hometown senior secondary; others go to technical secondary schools. The stu-
dents who go to technical schools pay the same tuition as local students, but they
do not have the same welfare benefits such as monthly subsidies. Those students
who do not have Beijing residence identity are not allowed to join the senior sec-
ondary entrance examination in Beijing for University entrance. Thus a Grade