Project
Supporting schools for children of migrant workers in Nanjing
Background
With China's increasing urbanization and industrialization, more and more rural people are leaving their long-cherished farmland and rushing to big cities to realize their dreams of a better life. This new tide of cheap migrant labor has brought more than 100 million farmers flowing into China's cities and the massive buildings, and the roads and flyovers that characterize China's newly developed urban centers are a direct result of their sweat, patience and hard work.
Migrant workers serve urban residents, but they are seldom served in return. On the contrary, they face enormous problems, and one of the greatest of these is the dilemma of providing education for their children.
In China's current education system, the guarantee of free education through the ninth grade applies only to those who attend school in areas linked to their residential registration. If a child goes to school outside that designated area, the family must pay an assortment of fees that vary from 1,000 to 4,000 yuan. These costs are much greater than the migrant peasants can afford.
Awareness of this problem is growing among the general public, and some individuals are showing an increased interest in schooling for the children of migrant workers. The opportunity to profit from a huge potential market has motivated the establishment of some private primary schools for migrant children, while philanthropy has motivated the establishment of others. Cognizant of the overall problem, the government sees the necessities of those privately run schools. Unfortunately, many of the schools exist in conditions of absolute poverty and lack qualified teachers or administrators; wherever this is true, it remains unlikely that migrant children will receive an adequate education.
Amity's Support for CMW Schools
Because Amity stands in solidarity with the poor and marginalized and because we believe that education is a basic human right, we are now channeling energy and resources to projects that promote better education for the children of migrant workers.
At present, there are 30 registered schools for migrant children in the city of Nanjing. Most of these schools suffer from a shortage of proper desks and chairs, not to mention simple sports and educational equipment. The lack of qualified teachers and school administrators is critical. Amity plans to support ten of these severely disadvantaged schools through the following measures:
- Sponsorship of a 5-day leadership development seminar for the principals of the 10 schools;
- Provision of an Amity library for each of the ten schools;
- Provision of simple sports equipment for 10 schools;
- Provision of musical instruments for 10 schools
- Provision of 20 computers for 2 - 3 schools;
- Sponsorship of a training program for 50 young faculty members (5 from each school) in such subjects as psychology, pedagogy, Chinese language, teaching methodology, teaching practicum.
You can support the development of this project by contributing:
- A book for a library ($5)
- 4 classroom lights for a school ($8)
- A basketball for a school ($10)
- A fan for a classroom ($12)
- A tape recorder for English class ($20)
- A electronic piano ($150)
Photos of a school for migrant workers' children in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province
