Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2021, published 110th ILC session (2022)

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

Article 2(3) of the Convention. 1. Compulsory schooling. The Committee previously noted the provisions under the Compulsory Education Act, 2015 which exempted tuition fee and miscellaneous fees for students in compulsory education (section 2). It also noted that according to Circular No. 67 of 2015, textbooks shall be provided free of charge and that subsidies for living expenses shall be provided to students from impoverished families. The Committee, however, noted from a joint report by the UNICEF, the United Nations Population Fund and the National Bureau of Statistics of China named “Population Status of Children in China in 2015: Facts and Figures”, that 3.6 per cent of children aged 6 to 17 years failed to receive or complete compulsory education, of which 61.5 per cent children were in rural areas, while 5.4 per cent were in poverty-stricken areas.

The Committee notes the information provided by the Government in its report concerning the circulars and guidelines issued from 2017 to 2020, including on strengthening the control of school drop-outs; strengthening the construction of rural small-scale schools and township boarding schools; and further improving the quality of compulsory education. The Ministry of Education issued the Interim Measures for Supervising and Assessing the Balanced Development of Compulsory Education in Counties, which established a system for supervising and assessing the essential balance of compulsory education in counties and controlling dropouts and ensuring that all school-age children receive compulsory education free of charge. It also notes the Government’s information that by the end of 2020, 2,809 counties nationwide had achieved basic balance in compulsory education development, and 26 provinces as a whole had passed the evaluation and recognition criteria. In 2019, there were 154 million students enrolled in 213,000 schools nationwide. The Government further states that the national nine-year compulsory education consolidation reached 94.8 per cent achieving the goal of reaching 95 per cent as set out in the China Child Development Programme (2011-2020). Moreover, the net enrolment rate of primary school-age children reached 99.94 per cent, and the gross enrolment rate at the junior high school level was 102.6 per cent. The Committee however, notes from the official Website of the Ministry of Education that in 2019 primary schools across the country enrolled 18,690 million pupils, indicating an increase in the enrolment at urban primary schools by 4.5 per cent, while rural primary schools’ enrolment dropped by 2.6 per cent. In this regard, the Committee notes that in its Concluding Observations of September 2018, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination expressed concern at the reports that ethnic minority children living in rural areas have unequal access to quality education owing to various factors, including long distances from homes to schools (CERD/C/CHN/CO/14-17, paragraph 23). The Committee therefore encourages the Government to continue its efforts to ensure that, in practice, all children have access to free compulsory education, paying particular attention to children from rural and poor urban areas. It also requests the Government to continue to provide information on any progress made and results achieved in this regard.

2. Compulsory education for children of internal migrant workers. The Committee previously noted the State Council Opinion on promoting the reform of integration of compulsory education in urban and rural areas (No. 40 of 2016). It, however, noted the Government’s statement that in some big cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, due to the discrepancy between the large number of migrant children and limited local education resources, local governments developed specific admission policies for migrant children, which prevented a limited number from receiving compulsory education. The Committee requested the Government to strengthen its efforts to ensure that the children of migrant workers have equal access to compulsory education.

The Committee notes the Government’s information that following the reforms to the household registration system (hukou system), the policy of enrolling children who have moved to cities or towns with the family on the basis of their residence permits has been established. At present, all provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) in China have introduced measures for the implementation of residence permits, which stipulate that the holders of residence permits should receive compulsory education, including all children who have moved with their parents to new places. Special notices were issued urging all localities to improve and refine the admission policies for children who have moved along with their parents, optimize and simplify the admission process, review and reduce unnecessary certification materials, and lower the threshold for admission. The Government indicates that in 2020, 14,297 million children of migrant workers received compulsory education nationwide of whom 85 per cent studied in public schools. The construction of rural boarding schools is progressing and priority is being given to meeting the accommodation needs of left-behind children (children who remain in rural areas while their parents migrate to the cities for work). The Committee strongly encourages the Government to pursue its efforts to ensure that the children of migrant workers have equal access to compulsory education and to continue to provide information on any progress made and results achieved.