Beijing school for migrant worker children closed

Beijing’s biggest school for children of migrant workers closed on Monday because the landowner terminated the lease over the land’s “illegal” use, and some of its students and teachers were moved to other schools, the education authorities said.

“The property lease granted by the landowner, Beijing Jindu Landscaping and Afforesting Co Ltd, to the Huangzhuang school ended on Monday,” Meng Yun, head of the local education authorities teaching and working committee in Beijing’s Shijingshan district, told the Global Times on Monday.

About 500 students and 50 teachers have been distributed to three other schools, Meng said. “We will make sure every student can receive an education.”

Security personnel cordoned off the Huangzhuang School and police cars patrolled the area on Monday.

Parents reportedly gathered in front of the school gate Monday morning to ask about the relocation.

Located in west Beijing’s Shijingshan district, the Huangzhuang school opened in 1998, which included a kindergarten, primary school and middle school for 1,900 students, most of whom are migrant workers’ children.

A notice released by the Jindu company on Thursday said the company cut ties with the school due to the “illegal” use of the land.

A person familiar with the matter told the Global Times that the 7,800 square meters the school rent from the company should be reserved for urban greening.

Since many of the migrant workers in Beijing do not have standard jobs in the city and do not have a local household registration, it is difficult for their children to enroll at public schools, chinanews.com reported. Low-cost private schools have become the parents’ only choice.

“My child has transferred schools three times,” a mother of a primary school student of the school told the Global Times.

Feng Yun, a mother of two primary school students, had a similar experience. This is the second time her two children had to transfer to a new school.

The tuition fee will be increased from 3,900 yuan ($573) per year to 4,500 yuan, Feng said. “We have no choice,” she said. The Jindu company promised to give 2,000 yuan to every teacher and student who agree to relocate.