Rights of migrant minors

Boarders have a PE class at the primary school of Shicheng Township of Pingshun County, north China's Shanxi province, May 26, 2015. The children in the school are mostly left behind children whose parents work outside of their hometown. [Photo/Xinhua]

According to a demographic survey conducted by the Guangdong provincial bureau of statistics, the migrant population in the province in South China aged below 17 was 4.47 million by the end of 2013, 21.8 percent of the province's population in the same age bracket.

Guangdong is an attractive destination for migrant workers, especially younger ones, who are more inclined than the older generation to raise their children in the places where they work.

There is no difference between these migrant minors and local non-adults, except they lack a local household registration, or hukou.

Given that the realization of most of their wishes depends on the public services provided by the local governments, how to protect their legal rights and interests has long been a big issue, especially at a time when institutional discrimination against people without a local hukou has not been completely eradicated across the country.

Migrant minors should have equal access to local educational resources and be allowed to sit in local senior high school and college entrance examinations, but regrettably this issue has not been addressed. Guangdong province, as home to a large army of migrant children, has made great efforts to this end, but it still needs to do more. In its future policy innovation, the Guangdong government should further intensify the protection of their rights and interests, and make greater efforts to give them fair access to public services.

China's economy and social development have benefited a lot from the country's highly mobile population. Migrant workers have made huge sacrifices for the country's development, and their children's claims to their legitimate rights and interests should not be continuously thwarted by artificial barriers.

--Southern Metropolis Daily