The Left Behind Children In China
In the rural parts of China, millions of parents have left behind their children to the care of their aged grandparents or other family members to work in the big cities. Most of them are not well educated, low skilled workers who can only find jobs as factory or construction workers. They endure the hardship working in the extremely unfavourable environments, far away from their homes in the hope of earning a better future for their children. You may sign up for the economics tuition with Economics Cafe Learning Centre, the best economics tuition centre in Singapore to learn about this unique economic and social phenomenon in China. The Centre was founded by the best economics tutor Mr Edmund Quek to help JC students improve their grades in economics.
According to a report by the All-China Women’s Federation in 2013, there were some 30 million left behind children in China. The majority of them were left to the care of their grandparents or other relatives while over 360,000 were left alone to fend for themselves, with no adults to take care of them. These children had no choice but to grow up lonely without the emotional support and guidance from their parents. With guidance from your economics tutor in economics tuition, discuss the root cause of this problem.
Reasons For Leaving Their Children behind
Left behind children have become one of the biggest social problems in China. This is partly due to the huge urban-rural income gap. In the metropolitan cities such as Shanghai and Beijing, the minimum wage is around RMB2,500 per month while the average monthly salary is around RMB10,000. In contrast, the minimum wage in the Guangxi province is only RMB1,000 per month. This means working on the same job in a big city will grant you a much higher pay as compared with working in a small city. You may consult your economics tutor in your economics tuition class for the definition of urban-rural income gap.
People who are not familiar with the China’s household registry system may ask, “Why not bring their children along?” All Chinese citizens have their welfare benefits and school privileges tied to their place of birth. Their children will not be able to receive any government funded education and government subsidised healthcare in the big cities due the various restrictions on migrants from rural to urban areas. The restrictions have been eased in recent years. However, parents who have migrated to the cities still face difficulties in enrolling their children to the local schools due to the long list of documents required. For an explanation of China’s household registry system and its unique role in China’s economic transformation, please join Mr Edmund Quek’s economics tuition class. You may visit his website at www.economicscafe.com.sg to check out the economics tutor’s class schedule.
Will Their Sacrifice Pay off?
Children left behind to the care of their aged grandparents, most likely illiterate and unfit are at the risk of receiving inadequate care and little guidance for them to thrive. According to a study, left behind children performed worse in schools as compared with their peers with their parents around. They are also more likely to have emotional problems and difficulties in interacting with other people. Economics tutor Mr Edmund Quek offers economics tuition class to students from underprivileged families at a discounted rate. Over the years, the economics tutor has helped many students with financial difficulties.
It is heart-breaking to see many left behind children have followed the footsteps of their parents to become factory or construction workers. Instead thriving academically as their parents might have hoped, they play truant from school as a result of lacking parental discipline and end up as gangsters. In some extreme cases, these children, who felt abandoned and deeply hurt committed suicide. In 2015, four left behind siblings in Guizhou took their own lives by swallowing pesticide. This sensational case has led to the Chinese government’s intervention to step up social services in protecting the welfare of the left behind children. I look forward to more support from the government and the society in aid of these children in future.
Linda Geng
Economics Tuition Singapore @ Economics Cafe
Principal Economics Tutor: Mr. Edmund Quek