By Huang na, Lin Yin and Han Jing
Dachen, a town in Yiwu known as “the home of China’s shirts”, recently opened a new school especially for children of migrant workers that charges very little in tuition fees.
As Dachen is home to many migrant workers, the Zhalinyunxi School offers workers’ children a place to learn.
The building that houses the new school used to be the Zhalin Middle School and was built in 1981, having four floors with five classrooms on every floor. Because the school is far away from the factory’s accommodations, the new school will also serve as a boarding school.
When the new school first opened, it didn’t charge any tuition fees. “As a new public school, is will charge low tuition fees, which just covers teachers’ salaries and some basic expenses,” said Fu Qinzhao, the headmaster.
Compared to other schools specifically for migrant children, the school’s conditions are nice, he added. “After the summer holiday, we will clean the school. It will totally change into a new school.”
Fu, who was previously the deputy headmaster at another school in Dachen, got the appointment as the headmaster of the school on Aug 28.
He knew he had a lot to do to get ready for the new school year. He first persuaded his families to post advertisements to enroll new students.
Then, he tried to contact with Dachen officials. He hoped they would help inform the appropriate people at nearby factories so that the workers would know about the new school.
Last, he needed to look for some good teachers.
“Since we had a late start, most children were already enrolled in other schools, but we have enrolled more than 30 students in different grades,” Fu said.
After a few weeks of rushing around, the school finally opened on Sept 13.
“The headmaster has done a lot of work,” said Wu Zhongqiang, the deputy director in charge of the operation of private schools from Yiwu City Board of Education.
At an education forum in August in Yiwu, the mayor, He Meihua, said that in next five years Yiwu will invest 1.8 billion yuan ($282 million) in education. “Every child in Yiwu should have the right to a good education,” he said.
According to statistics, by the end of last year, there were more than 52,000 migrant children in the area, with 23,000 being educating in private schools.
“In Yiwu, there are 23 private schools. But compared to the public schools, they are in poor condition,” Wu said.
He said that establishing public schools is an important way to give these children a chance of a better education.
