第36章 View from the villages(12)

The fact students eat and leave at different times is to prevent congestion at the schoolcanteen, he explained. “Our school is already too small for 600 students, let alone for thenew additions.”

Yu revealed that parents put the school under a lot of pressure not to integrate itsstudents because they fear it could hinder their child’s development.

“We know this could be seen as prejudice but the fact is, on average, the migrantchildren are at a lower level in their studies and are a lot more difficult to teach due to theirpoor living conditions,” he said. “They move from place to place, change schools often andmost of their parents do not pay enough attention to their education.

“What we can do right now is to encourage more communication between the twogroups and hopefully minimize the gaps and misunderstandings.”

However, Zhang Yichao, founder of a voluntary center dedicated to providing freeextracurricular education for migrant students in Shanghai since 2002, disagreed that differencesin academic performance are a major hurdle to having children share the same class.

“Many people simply don’t know how diligent these migrant students are,” he argued.

“Judging from my experiences, after a year of hard work most of them would be able tocatch up.”

Segregation in public schools will ultimately have a negative psychological impact onboth groups of students, he warned.

“It’s even worse than having schools exclusively for migrants. They may have poorstandards but at least there the youngsters can feel equal with their classmates,” he said. “Thegovernment has failed to take into account the potential impact of the new policy, whichhas actually sacrificed the interests of many innocent migrant children.”

He urged the authorities to allow students to sit exams at the schools they attend tohelp remove the barriers in education and allow more people to go on to higher education.

Giving a choice

Despite growing calls for the government to reform the hukou system, though, someeducation chiefs say cities like Shanghai would be unable to handle the inevitably largeinflux of migrant students, who would all stand a better chance of qualifying for the topuniversities.

Such a move would only put extra pressure on educational resources, said ZongWeirong, head teacher at Luoxi Primary School, one of the 16 private schools taken overby Baoshan officials.

However, Gu Jun, a professor of sociology at Shanghai University, insisted theopening-up would not result in a substantial surge in the migrant population as manywould be deterred by the high cost of living.

Even if it did attract more people, it is the responsibility of the central government,not the local government, to allocate more funds for a city to expand its educationalresources, he said.

That way, authorities would not come under financial pressure, he added, and “intime it may even help a city to develop into a world-class center famous for its qualityeducation”.

Gu did agree, though, that the separation of students in public schools is fairlyrational under the current national conditions, which are likely to exist for the next 20years. Given the hukou system and the huge gap between China’s urban east and rural west,both in economic development and education, it is “impractical” and “impossible” forschools to integrate the two groups, he said.

“Separation is the last resort,” he said, “but it can at least act as a buffer zone to helpchildren to adapt to the changing environment.”

However, once migrant students manage to catch up with natives or prove themselvescapable, they should be given a choice where they want to study, he said.

“We must ensure migrant students enjoy the right to compete,” added Gu.

July 14, 2010

Taking the flicks into the sticks

Mobile cinemas still bringing screen magic to the rural masses.

Hu Yongqi reports from Guizhou.

As the film projector burst into life and the screen filled with color, a hush fell over thecrowd. The only sounds breaking the silence came from the giggling children andpanting dogs as they played between the aisles.

Welcome to China’s mobile countryside cinema, where seats are free as long as youbring them from home.

Unlike the ubiquitous multi-screen malls in large towns and cities, movie shows inrural areas are major social events that have been entertaining entire villages for decades.

Yet, for all the onscreen heroes and villains, the real stars are the dedicatedprojectionists behind this tradition, many of whom regularly cross hazardous mountainsand rivers to reach remote audiences.

Xie Guoqing has been screening films in 24 villages in Qiandongnan Miao and Dongprefecture, Guizhou province, for about 30 years.

When China Daily caught up with the 50-year-old in September 2010, he was settingup his mobile cinema on the playground at Dongjiao Primary School in time for an 8:30pm showing.

“It takes about half an hour to get ready,” he said, as he helped fellow projectionist LinShunquan fix a 50-kg digital projector into position.

They are among 280 mobile cinemas organized by the China Film Group that travelaround the prefecture hosting free movies. Many of the projectionists have been doing thejob for more than 10 years.

“We usually contact village heads well in advance so people know we’re coming andwe get a crowd,” said Xie. In Dongjiao, he was not disappointed.

Villagers were already starting to gather in the playground an hour early - mostlychildren and the elderly at first as the majority of farmers were still returning from thefields. By the opening credits of the first film, more than 150 people dressed in traditionalethnic Dong clothing were crowded in front of the large, white screen.

It was 1 am when the second movie finished and, although the villagers headedstraight to bed, Xie and Lin had to pack up the equipment for arguably the most difficultpart of their job: Returning home in the dark.