The marginality of migrant children in the urban Chinese educational system

Abstract The present paper explores issues of the educational marginality of migrant children in urban settings in two cities in China. The numbers of urban migrants exceed 100 million and are growing as China modernizes. This is creating tensions between residents and recent arrivals who lack residential registration and access to public services. As a result, migrant children often attend informal, private and usually unregulated schools of low quality organized by their communities. These tend to reinforce social stratification and reproduce marginality across the generations. The paper argues that state failure to provide basic education risks a growing divide between urban residents and recent migrants that has social consequences that must be addressed to remove discriminatory practices and resolve potential conflicts between hosts and migrant communities. Keywords: Chinaeducationmigrant childrencitizenshipmarginality Notes 1. The Engle coefficient means the proportion of expenses on food from the total expenses. This coefficient is used internationally to indicate the consumption level of people and as an indicator for the standard of living in different countries. For example, the standards used by the Organization of Food of the United Nations to indicate the standards of living are above 60% is poverty, 50–60% is Wenbao, 40–50% is Xiaokang and below 40% is Fuyu.