UK Department of International Development (DFID) and the World Bank (WBG) Study
The Education and Training of China’s Rural Migrants
The rapid industrialization and urbanization has driven gigantic amount of rural
workers in China out of farming industry and into urban areas. It is estimated that as
many as 15 million per year of such migrant workers are to migrate cities and find
jobs in non-agriculture sector. However, the poor education they have received and
low skills they possess have seriously hurdled their way into urban employment and
poses huge challenges to China’s social stability and sustainable development. This
report will focus on the education and training situation of china’s rural migrants
l The average education achievements of China’s rural residents
China possesses the largest population in the world and Chinese education has
made a great achievement in the past decades,
1. The average educations of Chinese residents are among highest in the 9
developing countries with big population. In 1949, the percentage of the
illiterates is above 80%. Since then, the illiterates have been reduced by 230
millions. In 2000, the total illiterate rate has dropped to 6.72% below, and
the people at age of 15~ 50 dropped to 4.8% below (Ministry of Education,
January 4, 2004). In 1949, the percentage of School-aged Children Enrolled
for female children was only 15%, and in 2002, this rate was 98.53%. In
1951, the female students only accounted for 28% of the total, and 47.2% in
2002, higher than 47.23%, the rate of the world on average at same time.
(Ministry of Education, January 4, 2004).
Table 1 Percentage of Graduates of Junior Secondary Schools and Primary
Schools Entering Higher Level Schools, Percentage of School-aged Children Enrolled
Year
Percentage of graduates of
Junior Secondary Schools
entering Senior Secondary
Schools (%)
Percentage of graduates
of Primary Schools
entering Junior
Secondary Schools (%)
Percentage of
School-aged
Children
Enrolled (%)
1957
39.7
44.2
61.7
1965
70.0
82.5
84.7
1975
60.4
90.6
96.8
1978
40.9
87.7
95.5
1980
45.9
75.9
93.9
1985
41.7
68.4
96.0
1990
40.6
74.6
97.8
1995
48.3
90.8
98.5
2000
51.5
94.9
99.1
2001
52.9
95.5
98.3
2002
58.3
97
98.6
Note: The data in the table is from China Statistical Yearbook
2. The quality of the rural people has been enhanced greatly by the
implementation of programs like “Generalization of Compulsory 9 Years
Education”, “Two Basics” (Basically realized the Generalization of
Compulsory 9 Years Education, Basically eradiate adult illiterates), “Rural
Vocational Education” and “Adult Education” and etc. By the end of 2002,
the coverage rate of 9-year compulsory education reach 91%, and the
percentage of primary school graduates entering junior secondary school
reach 90%. The farmer training system at three levels of county, township and
village has been established. In the past five years, specialized secondary
schools have trained 13 million rural students and 460 million farmers
(Ministry of Education, Sep. 2003) which created a great deal of model rural
farmers.
3. The quality of teachers has been improved. So far more than 22 provinces
have established duty and responsibility standards of teacher of regular
secondary school and primary schools. The percentage of teachers with
required degree in primary school reaches 97%, and 86.5% in regular
secondary school, and the number of part time teacher was decreased to 110
thousands in 2002(Zhou Ji 2003).
4. The new system of rural education administration has been established, which
is another most important break through in rural education history after “two
basics” program. This new system emphasize the responsibility of county
level on compulsory education of rural residents rather than township or
village level, which can improve the financial and housing situation of rural
schools. By the end of May 2003, more than 98% of the
counties/cities/districts have taken back the administrative right of wage
management and more than 94% of them taken back the right of personnel
management of schools. The financial appropriation by different levels
increased greatly. For example, the financial appropriation for compulsory
education was 43 billions in 1997, accounting for 54.8% of total compulsory
education expenses, and it was 99 billions in 2002, accounting for 78.2% of
total, which was a increase of 1.3 times. This reform represents a fundamental
transformation of “rural education by farmers” to “rural education by
governments” (Zhou Ji, September 2, 2003)
l The differences in terms of average education achievements between
migrant rural residents and non-migrant, migrant rural residents and urban
residents
Although china’s education has made a great achievement, there is still a big and
enlarging gap between the rural and urban residents. The rural labour receives less
education, i.e. 40% of the rural labour received primary schools education or less, and
48% of the junior secondary school education. The average duration of education for
rural labour is 7.3 year, 3 years shorter than urban labour. The budget for rural
primary school students is only 29% of urban students in 2001, and the budget for
junior secondary school student is 31% of the urban counterparts (Chen Zhili,
September 19, 2003)?
There are 2 migrant workers out of every 3 industrial workers. But in 2002, no
one of the 101 Most Skilful Worker Prize winners is from rural migrant workers (Xu
Yuqing, December 30, 2002)
We can found from the following table that in 2002 rural areas possess 84% of
the primary school and only 50% of the regular secondary schools(RSS) and 15% of
the senior secondary schools(SSS), and the student enrolment of primary school in
rural areas is 67% of total and 40% of regular secondary schools and 11% of senior
secondary schools, and the percentage of graduates of primary schools in rural areas is
67%, and 41% of regular secondary school and 10% of senior secondary schools.
Table 2.
No.
The basic situation of education of China by regions
Item
Urban areas
Counties and
Townships
Rural
areas
Total
80067
% of
U
Total
C R
1
No. of RSS (units)
14798
25534
39735
18% 32% 50%
2
No. of SSS (units)
(5996)
(7089)
(2312)
3
Student enrollment of RSS
(person)
17127112
32797540
4
Student enrollment of SSS
(person)
(5946777)
(9025532) (1865796) (16838105) 35% 54% 11%
5
New student enrollment of
RSS (person)
5981900
11723082
11585039 29290021 20% 40% 40%
6
New student enrollment of
SSS (person)
(2345345)
(3645291)
(776413) (6767049) 35% 54% 11%
7
No. of graduates of RSS
4608870
8852240
9175190 22636300 20% 39% 41%
8
No. of graduates of SSS
(1449707)
(1989907)
(397991) (3837605) 38% 52% 10%
9
No. of teacher and staff in
regular secondary schools
1332492
2098518
1903831
5334841 25% 39% 36%
10
No. of full time teachers in
regular secondary school
1019637
1710083
1646582
4376302 23% 39% 38%
11
No. of primary schools (units)
25950
46949
384004
456903
12
Student enrollment of primary
school (person)
17212547
22937748
81416791 121567086 14% 19% 67%
13
New student enrollment of
primary school (person)
2868086
3713389
12946506 19527981 15% 19% 66%
14
No. of graduates of primary
schools
3250742
4501415
15767083 23519240 14% 19% 67%
15
No. of teacher and staff in
primary schools
1047051
1298172
3995052
6340243 17% 20% 63%
16
No. of full time teachers in
primary school
905160
1155547
3718146
5778853 16% 20% 64%
(15406) 39% 46% 15%
32954062 82878714 21% 40% 40%
6% 10% 84%
Note: The data in the table is from China Statistical Yearbook
According to the data from Ministry of Labor and Social Security, which is based
on the Sample Survey on Rural Migrants done by Rural Survey Organization of
National Bureau of Statistics of China (the following data are from the same source as
this if not specified), there is great difference between migrant resident and non
migrant rural residents. Generally, the migrant rural residents received much more
education and training than the non–migrants as a whole.
In 2002, the illiterate rate of total rural labor force in China is 16%, on contrast,
the same rate of migrant residents is 2%, much lower than the total, and is even much
lower than the rate of whole China (6.72%, 2000 National Population Census). The
proportion of migrants finished primary school education is 17%, much lower than
the same proportion of 37% for total rural labor force. The proportion of migrants
finished regular secondary school education is 66%, much higher than the same
proportion of 41% for total rural labor force. The proportion of migrants finished
senior secondary school education is 12%, much higher than the same proportion of
7% for total rural labor force. The proportion of migrant finished senior secondary
school education is 12%, much higher than the same proportion of 7% for total rural
labor force. The proportion of migrants finished specialized secondary school
education is 4%, higher than the same proportion of 1% for total rural labor force.
The proportion of migrants being trained is 21%, higher than the same proportion of
9% for total rural labor force.
Table 3. The Situation of Rural Labor Force Working Outside
2001
Total(person)
2002
% of total
Total(Person)
% of total
Total
28038
33256
Eastern Areas
9378
33%
12315
37%
Middle Areas
10997
39%
12426
37%
Western Areas
7663
27%
8515
26%
Male
18833
67%
22579
68%
Female
9205
33%
10677
32%
Total
484
2%
558
2%
Illiterate and
5027
18%
5507
17%
Primary School graduate
18414
66%
21858
66%
JSS graduate
3045
11%
3854
12%
SSS graduate
831
3%
1189
4%
Specialized Secondary
237
1%
290
1%
Specialized subject
graduates and above
4700
17%
7106
21%
trained
23338
83%
26150
79%
Semi-literate
School Graduate
Table 4. The Situation of Rural Migrants
2001
2002
Total(person)
% of total
Total(Person)
% of total
Total
46391
100%
48916
100%
Eastern Areas
23367
50%
24322
50%
Middle Areas
14096
30%
15227
31%
Western Areas
8928
19%
9367
19%
38373
83%
40179
82%
Female
8018
17%
8737
18%
Total
821
2%
778
2%
8271
18%
8315
17%
Male
Illiterate and
Semi-literate
Primary School graduate
28003
60%
29833
61%
JSS graduate
6369
14%
6767
14%
SSS graduate
2237
5%
2449
5%
686
1%
774
2%
4218
9%
4896
10%
42173
91%
44020
90%
Specialized Secondary
School Graduate
Specialized subject
graduates and above
trained
Table 5
The education and technical quality of rural labor force by regions
2002
Total
% of C
East
% of E
186518
100%
70547
100%
68239
100%
47732
100%
Semi-literate
13509
7%
3378
5%
3755
6%
6376
Primary School graduate
56956
31%
19488
28%
19640
29%
17828
JSS graduate
92702
50%
36896
52%
36426
53%
19380
SSS graduate
18380
10%
8271
12%
6802
10%
3307
13%
37%
41%
7%
School Graduate
3907
2%
1950
3%
1280
2%
677
1%
Specialized subject
graduates and above
1064
1%
564
1%
336
0%
164
18163
10%
8208
12%
5505
8%
4450
168355
90%
62339
88%
62734
92%
43282
0%
9%
91%
Total
Middle
% of M
West
% of W
Illiterate and
Specialized Secondary
trained
untrained
l The regional difference of education achievements
According to the same data resource, there is also a big difference among the
regions. Migrants from eastern areas receive more education and training than
migrants from western areas.
In the year 2002, there are 23.2% of the migrants in the eastern areas having
been trained, 4 percentages higher than that of western areas; there are less illiterates
and primary school graduates in eastern areas than western areas, and there are more
senior secondary school and upper level graduates in the eastern areas than western
areas. The middle areas is just in the between.
Table 6
The Education and Technical Quality of Migrants by Regions
China
Total
% of C
48916
East
% of E
Middle
% of M
24322
%
15227
%
West
9367
% of W
%
2.9%
Illiterate and
Semi-literate
778
1.6%
329
1.4%
181
1.2%
268
8315
17.0%
3980
16.4%
2244
14.7%
2091
JSS graduate
29833
61.0%
14454
59.4%
9869
64.8%
SSS graduate
6767
13.8%
3747
15.4%
1976
13.0%
Primary School
graduate
22.3%
5510 58.8%
1044 11.1%
Specialized
Secondary School
Graduate
2449
Specialized subject
graduates and
above
5.0%
1363
5.6%
729
4.8%
774
1.6%
449
1.8%
228
1.5%
trained
10728
21.9%
5642
23.2%
3306
21.7%
untrained
38188
78.1%
18680
76.8%
11921
78.3%
3.8%
357
1.0%
19.0%
7587 81.0%
97
1780
l The training situation varying with the industries and regions.
Generally speaking, migrants engaged in such industries as agriculture,
manufacture, construction, service and transportation receive more training than other
industries. There are more migrants in eastern areas receive manufacture and service
training than in the western areas, and in the western areas, most of the training to the
farmers is about the agriculture.
In 2002, the percentage of migrants received manufacture training is 13.7% in
the eastern areas, and 7.6% in the western areas, almost as twice much as in the
western areas. In the western areas, about 58.6% of the training is about agriculture,
19.6 percents more than the eastern areas.
Tables 7 The training situation of different industries by regions
China
Total trained
Agriculture
%
18163
East
%
8208
Middle
%
%
West
5505
4450
7077
39.0%
2420
29.5%
2048
37.2%
2609
163
0.9%
64
0.8%
52
0.9%
47
2495
13.7%
1400
17.1%
756
13.7%
339
Electricity
125
0.7%
71
0.9%
28
0.5%
26
Construction
1254
6.9%
526
6.4%
490
8.9%
238
21
0.1%
12
0.1%
4
0.1%
5
1265
7.0%
653
8.0%
355
6.4%
257
788
4.3%
408
5.0%
219
4.0%
161
66
0.4%
34
0.4%
18
0.3%
14
8
0.0%
4
0.0%
2
0.0%
2
Service
1471
8.1%
765
9.3%
473
8.6%
233
Sanity
451
2.5%
254
3.1%
119
2.2%
78
1183
6.5%
533
6.5%
453
8.2%
197
45
0.2%
28
0.3%
11
0.2%
6
358
2.0%
226
2.8%
76
1.4%
56
1393
7.7%
810
9.9%
401
7.3%
182
Mining
Manufacture
6? ?
Transportation
Whole sale
Finance
Real estate
Education
Science
58.6%
1.1%
7.6%
0.6%
5.3%
0.1%
5.8%
3.6%
0.3%
0.0%
5.2%
1.8%
4.4%
0.1%
Government
Institution
others
l The different working months of migrants in term of the education
received
1.3%
4.1%
From the data below, we can easily find that the more education the migrants
received, the more likely their working months being longer.
In 2002, about 40% of the illiterate and semi-illiterate migrant workers worked
for less than 4 months, and this percentage is 26% for the migrant workers who
finished primary education and 17% for the migrants who finished junior middle
school education and 19% for the migrants who finished senior secondary school
education, and 10% for the migrants who finished specialized subject graduates and
above.
On the contrast, the percentage of migrant workers who worked for more than 8
months per year are 24.6% for illiterate and semi-illiterate; 37.6% for primary
graduates; 36% for junior middle school graduates; 54.5% for senior middle school
graduates; 64.9% for specialized subject graduates and above.
Table 8
The working time of migrant workers in term of education
2002
Ill it. and
semi-illit.
total
Prim.
%
school
558
SS
%
5507
JSS
%
21858
SSS
%
3854
&Abo.
%
1189
1M &
less
25
4.5%
238
4.3%
493
2.3%
122
3.2%
11
1- 2M
72
12.9%
378
6.9%
944
4.3%
200
5.2%
21
2- 3M
63
11.3%
317
5.8%
996
4.6%
204
5.3%
25
3- 4M
63
11.3%
390
7.1%
1240
5.7%
226
5.9%
41
4- 5M
34
6.1%
364
6.6%
1214
5.6%
215
5.6%
41
5- 6M
61
10.9%
510
9.3%
1877
8.6%
306
7.9%
83
6- 7M
30
5.4%
321
5.8%
1134
5.2%
204
5.3%
41
7- 8M
51
9.1%
594
10.8%
2283
10.4%
366
9.5%
73
8- 9M
22
3.9%
326
5.9%
1603
7.3%
257
6.7%
69
9- 10M
64
11.5%
1012
18.4%
4641
21.2%
786
20.4%
256
10- 11M
35
6.3%
564
10.2%
2978
13.6%
475
12.3%
247
11- 12M
38
6.8%
493
9.0%
2455
11.2%
493
12.8%
281
0.9%
1.8%
2.1%
3.4%
3.4%
7.0%
3.4%
6.1%
5.8%
21.5%
20.8%
23.6%
l The differences of income among the migrant farmers in term of
education backgrounds and regions
There is also a big difference of income in term of the regions. In 2002, 37% of
the migrant workers from eastern areas made 45.6% of the total income, and the
money they took home accounts for 47.9% of the total money taken home by migrant
farmers. Accordingly, 34% of them from middle areas made 32.7% of the total
income and they took home 32.1% of the total of money taken home; 25.6% of
migrant farmers from western areas made 21.7% of the total income and they took
home 20.1% of the total money taken home by migrant farmers.
There is a strong relationship between income and the education. The following
table tells us that the more education one has, the more income they took home, even
they spent more in cities. The trained migrants accounting for 21.4% of the total, but
they took home 29.6% of the total money taken home by migrant farmers.
Table 9 The Income and Expense and Taken Home Money in Term of Education Background and
Regions
Taken
Total
person
Income
%
( yuan)
home
%
Expenses
181044916
%
( yuan)
Total
33256
69269412
Eastern Area
12315
37.0%
82635913
45.6%
28089762
40.6%
46094698
Middle Area
12426
37.4%
59142812
32.7%
24741766
35.7%
30897822
Western Area
8515
25.6%
39266191
21.7%
16437884
23.7%
Male
22579
67.9%
128885764
71.2%
46653744
67.4%
Female
10677
32.1%
52159152
28.8%
22615668
32.6%
558
1.7%
2028665
1.1%
719176
1.0%
Primary Sch.
5507
16.6%
23579843
13.0%
9420781
13.6%
JSS graduate
21858
65.7%
120080584
66.3%
45958818
66.3%
SSS graduate
3854
11.6%
24665006
13.6%
8693042
12.5%
1189
3.6%
8085662
4.5%
3403124
4.9%
290
0.9%
2605156
1.4%
1074471
1.6%
7106
21.4%
52089270
28.8%
18652716
26.9%
26150
78.6%
128955646
71.2%
50616696
73.1%
%
96303512
47.9%
32.1%
19310992 20.1%
71445377 74.2%
24858135 25.8%
Ill.&
Semi-ill
1.2%
12306608 12.8%
63811703 66.3%
13679953 14.2%
1160473
Spe.SS
graduate
3894054
4.0%
Spe.subject
graduate
and above
trained
untrained
1.5%
28497311 29.6%
67806201 70.4%
1450721
l The channels and mechanisms for rural residents in China to receive
remedial education and training
After 20 year’s construction and development, a new farmer remedial training
system emerges. It basically is composed of formal and informal education/training
organizations/programs.
The formal education organizations consist of:
1.
Institutions of higher educations
u Regular institutions of higher educations. It includes correspondence
Divisions, Evening schools and Short-cycle Course for Adults, which are
run by Institutions of higher education. These kinds of institution can take
advantage of the sound facility and experienced teaching staff of university.
It keeps developing by means of establishing new branches in local areas
near the trainee and offer low cost.
u Institutions of higher educations for adults. It includes Radio and Television
Universities, School of Higher Education for Staff, Workers and Peasants,
Independent Correspondence Colleges. These institutions had a very proud
history in the past 20 years, and now they face very hard competition from
regular institutions of higher educations mentioned above and are harder
and harder to survive.
2.
Specialized Secondary Schools
u Technical Secondary Schools. It includes Specialized Secondary School for
Peasants, Specialized Secondary School for Staff and Workers, Technical
Schools, Radio and Television Specialized Secondary schools, Specialized
Correspondence Secondary Schools and others.
u Teacher Training Schools. It trains the trainers, not only for the teachers
from formal school, but also for the other kinds of teachers from informal
training organizations.
u Specialized Secondary School for Adults. It includes Technical Training
School for Staff and Workers and Technical Training School for Peasants.
Some of the specialized secondary school is developing these years and have
transformed to higher education institutes while some others face the problem of
survival. The competition of education and training is very hard at this level. They are
on their way of differentiation.
3.
Vocational Secondary Schools
u The Vocational Secondary Schools have different kinds of majors or
subjects. It usually contains technical education and training of agriculture,
manufacture, electronics, mechanics, repairing, business, marketing, and
services sector etc.
Because the students in Vocational Secondary Schools can go to university after
graduation to pursue the higher professional education and training, and the facility
and the teaching staff improved in the past years, these year the Vocational Secondary
Schools have got out of the bottom and keep a good trend of development.
The informal education organizations and programs contain:
1. Green Certificate Training Program for Peasants.
u This is a program run by Ministry of Agriculture. It was launched in 1990
and focus basically on the training of agricultural and animal husbandry
techniques to farmers. Originally it is required for the trainees to complete
3-5 courses in 300 hour training classes. After successful completion of the
classes the farmers will receive a green certificate indicating their
knowledge and skill in agriculture and animal husbandry (Li Shuishan, Adult
Education of China, Issue 4 2002).
u It is one of the oldest and most popular programs aimed at farmers’ technical
training. It has covered 1994 counties i.e. 70% of the total counties of China,
and trained 13 million farmers, among which 6 million farmers have got
green certificates. According to some sample surveys, the farmers with green
certificates make 30% more money than the farmers without certificates.
The income of the people in the villages with the program is 24% higher
than in the villages without the program on average (Vocational and
Technical Education Forum, Issue 15 2002).
2. Technical Training Program For Over Century Young Farmers
u This program was launched in1999, and the purpose of it is to train the new
generation of young farmers to adapt the development of agricultural
industrialization. It is jointly organized by Ministry of Education, Ministry
of Finance and Center Council of Chinese Youth League.
u By the end of 2002, the program has been implemented in 494 counties in 31
provinces. Accumulatively 19162 classes have been hold, and 1.05 million
of young farmers have been trained (Vocational and Technical Education
Forum, Issue 15 2002).
3. Program of Rural Remote Education Service System
u The program has been carried out for more than 20 years. By means of radio
broadcast and television, teaching programs of various subjects reach
hundreds and thousands of rural families and remote households. This
program has branches in most of the provinces.
u It is reported that this program have broadcasted 14700 hours of teaching
programs by now. Accumulatively 1.66 million of farmers have been trained
and got certificates and more than 100 million of farmers received practical
technique trainings. There are more than 40 hours of teaching program each
week on the air. (Vocational and Technical Education Forum, Issue 15 2002).
u More than 100 storerooms for audio and visual scientific programs have
been constructed all over China, and more than 250 thousand CDs or VCDs
have been given out to the farmers.
4. Training going with Projects
u Currently there are a variety of projects carried out both in rural areas and
cities and need to hire farmer migrant workers, and some of the trainings for
the farmers are inclusive in the projects activities. These training programs
are usually specially designed for the need of the implementation of the
projects.
5. Enterprises training
u Quite a few enterprises provide training for the migrant farmers they hired in
order to stabilizing the product quality and avoid possible accidents. It is a
must to some of the firms with special needs or high risks.
6. Illiteracy reduction courses
u This is a program designed for the rural illiterates and quasi-illiterates who
know little characters.
u It focuses on getting rid of illiterates and some of the basic knowledge.
7. Other training
u Following the elder and experienced workers to learn the skills needed. It is
usually one by one or several by one.
u The associations and societies of different kinds have some kinds of training
programs for the members.
u Private training school or centers which always focus on the most popular
subjects and run commercially.
The formal education or training of farmers usually has the characteristics as
follow:
1.
There are full time staffs or teachers with professional backgrounds.
2.
There are permanent classrooms, either on the campus of universities or
somewhere managed by the universities.
3.
There are detailed program plan and syllabus for each of courses, and they
are updated regularly. The content is systematically and comprehensively
designed, and more like it in the regular universities courses, but easier, and
more farmers oriented.
4.
The students will get a degree, a diploma, or a certificate when graduate
from this kind of education organizations. These kinds of degrees, diplomas,
or certificates are nation-wide recognized.
5.
Most of the students are young and new farmers or just graduated from
secondary school.
6.
Majority of this kind of organizations are publicly owned and managed by
the governments. The governments pay large part of the cost for the
education organizations and the students will pay for the tuitions. It is
usually relatively expensive.
7.
The programs usually last more than 1 year; most of them are two years
programs.
8.
Most of the training or education organizations have they own assessment
mechanisms and regulations under supervision of local education
administration, and the training quality can be keep to certain standard set by
the education administration.
9.
The training class is usually composed of 30-50 persons, and few large
classes may be over 50 persons.
The informal education or training of farmers usually has the characteristics as
following:
1. The teachers are usually from local technical extension department, and they
are professionals and part time teachers.
2. The classrooms are usually rented from the local residents or use the primary
or secondary school classrooms, and there is no permanent class room.
3. The contents of training or education are flexible and adapts to the need of
local farmers being trained. It is usually easy and there is not much
theoretical explanation involved. It usually focuses on the training of specific
skills or practices, such as the techniques of horticultural professionals,
electricians, plumbers, real estate administrative technicians, cooks, hair
dressers, security guides, typing technicians, house keepers, family servers,
nurses etc.
4. The trainees can not get degrees and diplomas, and in some of the cases, they
can get certificates of some kinds. These kinds of certificates are not well
recognized except a few of them.
5. The attendees are usually elder farmers who will serve the local people.
6.
Some of these kinds of programs are organized by the local governments or
semi government agencies, or related technical extension divisions. Some
others are run by private sectors. The governments subsidize some of the
activities, especially the agricultural technical trainings. It is relatively not
expensive. The training courses run by private sectors are basically on the
tuitions.
7.
These kinds of training programs usually have very flexible time tables. The
duration varies from one day to one week to one year, from one program to
another program, from one place to another place. It is usually seasonal,
which can take the advantage of spare time of farming.
8. Some of the training activities are assessed and the trainee can receive
certificates if results are satisfied, and the others are lack of formal
assessments, so the quality or effects of the training activities are not
guaranteed.
9.
The size of informal training class varies with the regions and subjects, and it
could be more than 300 persons or less than 10 persons.
In general, the informal training programs are very market oriented and are on its
early stage. Every day many programs emerge and many others die away. There are
many good providers of training programs and some of providers are susceptible if
there is the ability to carry out the training program. Some lack of the professional
management, while other lack of qualified training expertise or facility or text books.
They are very diversiform, and it will still take some time for them to mature.
Comparing with the informal training, the formal training program focuses on the
long term effects rather than instant effects. The trainees not only learn “how”, but
also “why”, and they usually receive both education of theoretical knowledge and
practical training, and trainees learn more than one skill. The informal training
program on contrast, basically address the short term or instant effect. It aims to solve
the urgent problems they faced rather than long term development. Both the formal
and the informal training are important and they are complementary.
Another difference which makes sense to the migrant farmers is the formal
training can offer certificates nationally recognized to them, which facilitate their job
hunting. The informal training can not make this.
The formal training to the migrant farmers is more costly than the informal
training because of the standardization of facility and full time teaching staff. Its cost
is somewhere between the formal university education programs and informal
professional training programs. The cost informal training program is low and charge
is less, or free some times if supported by the local government.
With the development of market economy in China, the education and training
sectors are also more and more market oriented. It is obvious that some kinds of
training program will win more market and some other kinds will die in the future,
even we can not tell which one will die first. The institutions which can meet the
needs of migrant farmers and help them to find a job and do a good job, finally will
win the competition.
l The policies/incentives in place to encourage the remedial education and
training
The migrant farmers have made a great contribution to the increase of family’s
income and the development of the local economy. In some places, the money
received from migrant farmers working in cities has been more than the fiscal income
of the local governments. The training of farmers plays a very important role in this
process. The more training the migrant farmers receive, the easier for them to find a
job, the more money they can make. So the local governments are very active in the
training of migrant farmers.
With the over supply of labor from rural areas and the industrial restructuring in
China, the demand of labor market has been upgraded. For example, a survey of 2,642
enterprises distributed in 24 big cities all over China done by Ministry of Labor and
Social Security at the beginning of 2003 reveled that, more than 60% of the
enterprises will hire new migrant workers, but more than 90% of them required the
workers be junior secondary school graduates or above, and 30% of the enterprises
required the workers be senior secondary school graduates or above. In the technique
skill regards, more than 60% of the positions need workers with skill qualification of
primary level or above, among which, 17% of the positions required the workers with
skill qualification of middle level or above. Another survey done in Fujian province in
south of China at the mean time got the similar results (Vocational and Technical
Education, March 2003).
In order to meet the needs of labor market, local governments in different places
try different ways. The local government of Quzhou City, Zhejiang province of east
China organizes the training program responding to the order from labor markets.
They provide the migrant farmers with training for free for the first time, because
although the training is pay off, the farmers are usually too poor to pay for the training
at the very beginning. The fund for the training are collected in many flexible ways.
For example, the local governments will give some subsidy to the training
organization; the townships will give some supports; the enterprise hiring farmer
migrants are requested to pay partial training cost; the training organizations
committed to some concessions; the beneficiary farmers pay some of the expenses. In
Beijing, at least 20% of the attached education tax is required to be used for the rural
vocational trainings of different kinds.
To respond to the increasingly importance of migrant farmers training, the
National Training Program for Migrant Farmers: 2003-2010 was jointly issued by
Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Labor and Social Security, Ministry of Education,
Ministry of Science and Technology, Ministry of Construction, Ministry of Finance of
Chinese government on September 9, 2003. This is the most important and most
comprehensive program for the training of the migrant farmers in Chinese history.
According to this program, the migrant farmer training has been divided into
three categories. The first is introductive or basic training, which is expected to
inform potential migrant workers of the basics, including safeguarding their rights and
interests, knowledge of laws and regulations, common knowledge of life in cities, and
job-hunting skills. The second is the vocational and technical training, or professional
training which focuses on sectors like housekeeping services, restaurant business,
hotel service, health care, construction and manufacturing. The third is on-the-job
training, which focuses on the further updating of the skills of the migrant workers
who already has a job.
The objective of this program is, (1) during 2003-2005, to carry out introductive
training for 10 million, and to provide vocational technical training for 5 million of
them, and to conduct on the job training for 50 million farmers who have already
transferred to non-agricultural sectors; (2) during 2006-2010, to carry out introductive
training for 50 million farmers, and to provide vocational and technical training for 30
million of them, and to conduct on job training for 200 million farmers who have
already transferred to non-agricultural sectors.
The program also offers some policies about the farmers training: (1)
Strengthening the organizing and leadership of the training work. A new mechanism
of inter-ministry committee will be established to deal with the key issues of farmer
migrant training as well as developing the training plan, formulating the policies and
coordinating the actions of various organizations. Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of
Labor and Social Security, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Science and
Technology, Ministry of Construction, Ministry of Finance and other ministries
concerned are required to do their duty in their to improve the training of migrant
farmers. (2) Increasing the fund for the migrant farmer training. In order to ensure the
success of the training plan, special funds will be allotted for this end by both the
central government and local governments at all levels, which will be used only for
the migrant farmer training without adjustment. (3) Issuing incentive policies for the
enterprises to improve the migrant farmer training. The work units are obliged to offer
training to migrant workers they employ, and 1.5 percent of workers' salary will be
used as training expense, which can be deducted from their taxable income. All the
institutions qualified are entitled to use the migrant farmer training fund and are
required to decrease the training tuition for farmers accordingly. The migrant farmers
are subsidized if they join in the training program, and they can apply for the
certification and get certificate if they are qualified. (4) Establishing a prearrangement
system of migrant labor and an admittance system of employment for the migrant
farmers. It is recommended for the potential migrant farmers to participate in some
professional training programs to get some skills and certificate before moving into
the cities. For some type of work with employment admittance in some working units,
it is required to recruit qualified workers with certificates, or recruit the farmers first
and training them before come to duties under permission from local department of
labor and social security. (5) Reintegrating the education and training resources to
improve the efficiency of migrant farmer training. It is encouraged for the training
institutions and the institutions of labor export areas to cooperate with each other and
develop training based on contract between training institution and export institutions
of migrant farmers. (6) Improving the service for the training of migrant farmers.
Improve the quality of training teachers; develop new text books; provide better
training information both for farmers and training institutions.
It is also addressed in the program that the valuation system of farmer training is
of great importance. The evaluation of different training institutions will be conducted
regularly in the future and the results will be publicized. A monitoring system of
migrant farmer training will be established by the Ministry of Agriculture together
with Ministry of Education and Ministry of Finance.
According to this program, currently the first priority of training subjects would
be family service, restaurant, hotel, health care, construction and manufacture.
Most of the formal firms have an employee training department in their firms.
They provide training for the migrant farmers they hired. It is necessary for the safety
of production and quality guarantying, especially for the technological intensive
industry and high risk productions.
The firms are encouraged to train the migrant farmers. It is regulated in the
National Training Program for Migrant Farmers: 2003-2010 that firms have the
responsibilities of training the migrant farmers they hired and the employee training
fee should be 1.5% of the total wage the firms paid to the employees. This expense
can be transacted into the cost before taxing. It is also regulated that any institutions
qualified can apply for the migrant farmer training fund, which is a great
encouragement to the firms with a formal training department.
For example, the 20th Bureau of China Railway, Shaanxi Branch is a huge group;
they made a plan to train 4000 migrant farmer workers they would hire. So far they
have trained 1032, among which, 175 are electric welding workers, 426 are concrete
and steel workers, 70 are carpenters, and 174 are tunnel workers and etc.. Their
training work is quite payoff.
l The discrimination against migrant workers
Discrimination is still a worldwide issue today like in the long history of human
being, and it will last as long as the social hierarchy exists. Discrimination can create
great social inequality and accordingly serious social violence, and reduce the welfare
of the people, which has been proved in many countries for many times. It is well
known that migrant rural workers living in cities have been treated differently in
many aspects from urban residents who have registered residence in cities. In China,
one important aspect of discrimination, among many others, is against the farmer
migrants working in cities, which needs more attention.
The first discrimination against farmer migrants is employment. For example,
Beijing is a big city and there are quite a few laid off workers. Several years ago,
Beijing municipal government issued a regulation which declared that the farmers
from countryside were not entitled to work in the areas listed in the regulation in order
for the city laid offs to be employed. Many other cities followed, which greatly hurt
the interest of farmers and finally was got rid of. But at that time many people just
took it for granted that farmers working in cities could have contributed to the
unemployment of urban citizens. It was until one day the media keep discussing if this
was fair then most of the people began to realize it was discrimination. Just like one
journalist said that none could deprive farmers’ right to work in cities. The
employment discriminations against farmer migrants are still very common in many
cities today.
The second important aspect of discrimination against farmer migrants is the
irrational rules of the education of their children. If the farmers working in cities have
no residential cards, their children can not go to the local urban school and have no
access to educational facilities in the cities. This is discrimination.
The third aspect of the discrimination against farmer migrants is the lack of
social security. Farmers work in the cities, they work hard, they work for a long time,
but they are not allowed to join the social security system, or they pay the fee but
cannot get repay when they leave this cities, which means they work in the cities,
consume in cities, they pay the tax in cities, they contribute to the construction and
prosperity of cities but can not get the benefit of the progress of society.
The fourth discrimination against the migrant farmers is the delay of the payment
to the migrant farmers. The employer usually pays the farmer at the end of the year,
rather than month by month. Some times it is even worse, the boss just escape when
the pay day is due, and the farmers are deprived
The fifth discrimination is lack of medical insurance. When some accidents
happened, the medical bill comes out to be one of the biggest problems. In some cases,
the farmers have to pay the entire medical bill, and can not get any compensations.
The sixth discrimination is the illegal charge to the migrant farmers. There are so
many kinds of charges apply to the migrant farmers. Such as charge for the
contemporary residence card, management charge, birth control deposit and etc., most
of which are irrational.
Discrimination against farmers working and living in cities as a big social
problem has been overlooked for a long time. Most of these practices are resulted
from the outdated law. Part of the reason may also lay in the fact that we Chinese
people are not familiar with the concept of it. Discrimination is a political term that
only when one is aware of his own right then he can establish the conception of it.
One may knows many things in this society are not fair, but he do not know it is
resulted from discrimination. So China still has a long way to go to solve the problem
of discrimination against farmer migrants. If this problem is overlooked for long,
people will have to face some very serious situation in the future.
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