Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2008, published 98th ILC session (2009)

Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138) - China (Ratification: 1999)

Article 2, paragraph 3, of the Convention. 1. Compulsory schooling. The Committee had previously noted the allegation of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, now the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), that educational opportunities for many of China’s children remain poor, especially in the rural areas and with regard to female students and minorities, and in some cases continue to decline, leading to continued or increased motives for child employment. Most crucially, the Committee had noted that the law fails to guarantee the funding for compulsory education, thus forcing or allowing many schools, particularly those in the impoverished rural regions, to go on collecting tuition fees or charge various miscellaneous fees to their students in the name of voluntary donations.

The Committee notes the Government’s detailed information regarding the several educational measures that are being implemented. Firstly, the Government indicates that it has adopted a development strategy that focuses on compulsory education in rural areas by allocating more financial resources for that purpose: the total expenditures on education in China topped 2.43 trillion yuan in the past five years (2003–07), which represents an increase of 1.26 times over the previous five-year period. The Government also indicates that towards the end of 2005, the State Council fully incorporated rural compulsory education into the scope of guaranteed public finance. In November 2007, the State Council deepened this financial reform by making more funds available for rural compulsory schooling. The main measures taken include:

(a)   providing free textbooks to all rural students of compulsory school age;

(b)   giving more subsidies to boarding school students from poor rural families to support their daily lives;

(c)   guaranteeing more funds for rural schoolhouse maintenance and renovation, more particularly in favour of schools in very difficult areas.

Accordingly, in 2007, all rural students of compulsory school age were exempted from tuition fees and were granted free textbooks. Boarding students from poor rural families had access to subsistence subsidies. As a result, 150 million students and 7.8 million boarding school students from poor families benefited from these measures. The Committee also notes that, according to the China country case study of 2007, prepared for the UNESCO Education for All Global Monitoring Report of 2008 (China country case study), several policies and programmes have been adopted to promote good-quality schooling, including improving teaching and learning quality through the New National Curriculum Reform (2008/ED/EFA/MRT/PI/82, pages 18–19). Furthermore, the Government indicates that the Compulsory Education Law was amended in 2006 and calls for improved regulatory frameworks and financial support systems to promote a balanced development of free universal education. The law also clearly states that no miscellaneous fees should be charged. The Government indicates that the State Education Inspection and Supervision Group is in charge of monitoring the enforcement of the Compulsory Education Law and that, in this regard, state education inspectors were dispatched to more than 20 provinces.

The Committee notes the Government’s information that, as a result of all these measures, recent years saw a rise in the level of universal education across the country. The Government indicates that, by the end of 2007, 25 provinces had fully achieved the nine-year universal compulsory education goal. Furthermore, in 2007, the net enrolment rate in primary schools reached 99.5 per cent, and the proportion of primary-school graduates continuing their studies onto junior middle school reached 99.4 per cent. The gross enrolment rate in junior middle school reached 99.4 per cent, the net enrolment rate being slightly lower. However, the Committee notes that, according to the China country case study, until recently, quality issues in education have not received proper recognition and well-structured inspection guidance on quality education is still in the early stages of development (2008/ED/EFA/MRT/PI/82, page 8). In this respect, the State Education Inspection Office consists of only 90 inspectors at the national level and some of them are retired officials and part-time inspectors.

The Committee is of the view that compulsory education is one of the most effective means of combating child labour and welcomes the important measures that are being taken by the Government to this end. The Committee strongly encourages the Government to take measures in order to considerably strengthen the mechanisms to monitor the enforcement of the Compulsory Education Law, more particularly the State Education Inspection Office, to ensure free compulsory education to all children and to supervise the quality of the education in both urban and rural areas. It requests the Government to provide information on the progress made in this regard.

2. Education for migrant children. In its previous comments, the Committee had noted the ITUC’s allegations that, according to the hukou system, or household registration, local governments only allocate their resources, such as education, to permanent residents. In other words, migrant workers’ children, who travel with their parents to a city where they have no right to register as permanent residents, even if they were born in that city, are not allowed access to schooling provided by the local governments. The Committee had noted that since the mid‑1990s, migrants have started to organize and run their own schools, but that there is no guarantee of the quality of teaching in these schools and they are not legitimate educational institutions.

The Committee notes the Government’s information that it attaches great importance to the education of the children of migrant workers and that it has developed a variety of policy measures to ensure their equal access to compulsory education. In 2005, the Circular of the State Council on Further Reform of the Rural Compulsory Education Financing System was promulgated and explicitly provides that the policy in place for urban students would similarly apply to the children of migrant workers from rural areas. In March 2006, the State Council issued the document entitled, “Certain opinions on addressing issues concerning migrant workers”, which aims to ensure equal access to compulsory schooling for the children of migrant workers and to offer specific policy measures, including incorporating the issue into local education plans and equal treatment of migrant students in terms of tuition and administration. The Government further indicates that, in June 2006, the Compulsory Education Law was revised to provide that, “Local governments shall provide equal access to compulsory education for the school-aged children living with their parents or guardians who are working or residing in places rather than their registered permanent residences”. In this regard, all localities have established basic regimes to ensure access to equal compulsory education for migrant children. The Committee further notes the Government’s information that it is revamping and expanding the existing public schools through multiple solutions, including encouraging public-funded primary and junior high schools to raise the proportion of admission for migrant children and investing in the expansion of existing public schools in the vicinity of migrant families to meet their needs for schooling. Moreover, localities in China have established the financial guarantee system, according to which educational outlays for schools are allocated by taking into consideration the number of migrant students involved. Finally, the Government indicates that it is making efforts to improve the quality of teaching for migrant children. Among others, a special task force was formed under the auspices of the Office of Migrant Workers of the State Council to take care of children of migrant workers left behind in rural areas. The task force carried out a massive amount of research and studies and has elaborated work initiatives to address the issue of the education of children of migrant workers, while the Ministry of Education contributed by accelerating the construction of boarding schools in rural areas. The Committee also notes the commentary of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU) contained in the Government’s report, according to which, by the end of 2007, trade unions at various levels have cumulatively raised 2.41 billion yuan for education aid funds, which were used to financially support the schooling of 2,894 million students from poor families.

While taking note of this information, the Committee expresses its deep concern at the important number of children of migrant workers who are left behind by parents in the countryside. Indeed, according to the All-China Women’s Federation’s in-depth study of 2007, based on the 2005 bi-census, it is estimated that there are about 58 million children below 18 years of age left behind by parents in the countryside, accounting for 21 per cent of all children in China and 28 per cent of all rural children. The study also found that more than 40 million left-behind children are under 15 years of age and that more than 30 million are aged between 6 and 15 years, making them vulnerable to becoming engaged in labour. Consequently, the Committee urges the Government to redouble its efforts to ensure that the children of migrant workers receive free basic education. It also requests the Government to provide information on the number of children of migrant workers who were effectively provided with compulsory education and prevented from child labour as a result of the several measures implemented by the Government.

Article 3, paragraph 1.  Hazardous work. The Committee had previously noted the situation of schoolchildren performing manual work at schools, including having to produce firecrackers to compensate for the shortage of funds for their schooling. It had noted the ITUC’s allegations that it is both the nature of the work – explosives used – and the nature of production – unsafe buildings, clusters of workshops and low fire safety measures – that make firework production an extremely dangerous occupation. The Committee had noted that, on 30 June 2006, several ministries, including the Ministry of Education, issued the “Regulations on the Management of Safety in Middle Schools, Primary Schools and Kindergartens” (MEO23), which provide that schools are not allowed to organize pupils to take part in, or to rent school premises to hire other persons for the fabrication of, notably, hazardous activities such as fabricating fireworks or toxic chemicals.

The Committee notes the Government’s information that, since the promulgation of MEO23, all the persons responsible for accidents of various types were subject to severe sanctions and, in serious cases, to criminal sanctions in accordance with the regulations. The Government also indicates that, in recent years, educational departments and schools, in close collaboration with departments of public security, safety supervision and health, have made efforts pursuant to the safety and security policies in place to promote safety in primary and middle schools as well as kindergartens. As a result, the number of safety‑related accidents and casualties in schools and kindergartens has dropped significantly. The Government indicates that, according to the data submitted by localities, the death toll caused by various types of accidents involving pre-school, primary and secondary school students in 2006 and 2007 has declined by 9.24 per cent and 13.67 per cent respectively from the previous years. Furthermore, the Committee notes the Government’s information that, since 2006, no child or young person under the age of 18 engaged in dangerous work in schools, such as in the fabrication of fireworks, was found. However, the Government indicates that the Ministry of Education does not possess statistical information on the cases of infringements of the MEO23 and the penal sanctions applied.

The Committee takes due note of this information. It requests the Government to pursue its efforts to strictly enforce the prohibition of hazardous work contained in the MEO23 in order to ensure that children and young persons under 18 years of age are not engaged in hazardous work inside schools, even where safety and security measures are in place. The Committee also requests the Government to provide information on the number and nature of infringements of the MEO23 detected by the competent ministry, as well as the penalties applied on persons responsible for accidents involving school children performing hazardous activities, such as firework production, in schools.

Parts III and V of the report form. Labour inspectorate and application of the Convention in practice. In its previous comments, the Committee had noted the ITUC’s allegations that the vast majority of Chinese factories and enterprises do not employ children. However, the ITUC indicated that some employers have sought child labour as the solution to reducing production overheads, although the extent of child labour remains difficult to assess, due to a lack of official reporting on cases and the lack of transparency in statistics. The ITUC indicated that child workers can make up some 20 per cent of the workforce in certain industries, such as the firework industry, brick kilns and glass-making factories and the toy production industry. The Committee had noted that, in 2005, on the basis of an extensive promotion of “Provisions on Labour Security Inspection”, various localities strengthened the work of labour security inspection and enforcement in a comprehensive way, efforts were focused on combating the illegal use of child labour and specific examinations on the implementation of the Regulations Banning Child Labour of 2002 were conducted.

However, the Committee notes the comments of the ACFTU contained in the Government’s report that a handful of child labour cases still exist in China. In this regard, the ACFTU urges the Government to make more efforts with regard to law enforcement supervision. Moreover, the Committee notes that, in its concluding observations of 24 November 2005, the Committee on the Rights of the Child expressed concern about the limited public accessibility to reliable and comprehensive statistical data in China and recommended that the State party further strengthen its efforts to collect reliable and comprehensive statistical data (CRC/C/CHN/CO/2, paragraphs 22–23).

The Committee notes the Government’s information that the issue of child labour is dealt with through the investigation of complaints, routine inspections, in-focus operations and annual labour inspection schemes. Since 2006, special campaigns were launched nationwide to supervise the status of labour law enforcement and crack down on illegal employment activities. Furthermore, a comprehensive administrative mechanism on the prohibition of child labour was established jointly by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, Ministry of Public Security, Ministry of Education, the ACFTU, the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League of China and the All-China Women’s Federation. The Committee also notes the Government’s information that a labour supervisory framework, consisting of three-tiered organizations at the provincial, municipal and county levels, has been established. By the end of 2007, this labour supervisory framework consisted of 3,271 organs of labour security and inspection and employed 22,000 full-time labour inspectors. In addition, 28,000 inspectors from the regular system of security inspection were designated as part-time or concurrent labour inspectors in the labour supervisory framework. Furthermore, the Government indicates that, in 2008, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security established a specialized Labour Inspection Bureau to provide leadership over labour inspection across China. Finally, the Committee notes that, within the framework of the ILO Decent Work Country Programme 2006–10, it is intended to enhance child labour prevention by, notably, improving cooperation in monitoring and inspections with unions’ participation. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the number of children who were found working through these various labour inspection mechanisms, as well as extracts from the reports of inspection services. It also asks the Government to provide information on the number and nature of the contraventions reported and penalties imposed.

The Committee is also addressing a direct request to the Government concerning other points.