The children of migrant workers who have remained in their hometowns whilst their parents work in the cities are known as the "left-behind children" in China.

 

　　Since it's the summer holiday, a lot of these children have to travel afar, often to a remote city and only for a short visit to see their parents.

 

　　As a social phenomenon that is derived from rapid urbanization, related administrative departments are providing support to enable these children to realize such family reunions. Li Dong has more.

 

　　Every summer, a large number of left-behind children in rural areas flock to cities like Shenzhen and Guangzhou to meet their migrant worker parents. Most of them are escorted by relatives.

 

　　To make things easier for the children's families, a long distance bus terminal in Jinan city, capital of Shandong Province has launched a green channel for these children since 2006.

 

　　Han Jie is the China Communist Party Secretary of Jinan long distance bus station.

 

　　"We will remind our staff on the bus to take care of these children. Besides, when they arrive at the destination we will also arrange staff at the terminal to contact parents who will come to pick their children."

 

　　But meeting their parents doesn't mean these children are going to enjoy a fulfilling summer holiday. Many of their parents are busy migrant workers who work in roles such as construction worker and vendors.

 

　　Most of these children are aged between 6 and 12, so obviously leaving them home alone is not a safe choice. Many parents opt to take their children with them even when they are working.

 

　　Sending the left-behind children to summer camp or taking them to amusement parks may cost a lot of money, so even when these children visit their beloved parents, most of them spend the holiday watching TV or going to the library.

 

　　Participating in a summer school where they can have safe place to either study or play is an economical choice for migrant worker parents.

 

　　However, many of the summer schools are already too packed due to large number of children of migrant workers flocking into the city.

 

　　At Yuhang, Zhejiang Province, one summer school for the left-behind children coming from far away has been operating for 3 years. The classes are free. Children can study music, painting, mathematics, and other extra curriculum courses. The number of students rose from 60 in the first year to 380 this year.

 

　　Cai Yaoqi, a volunteer teacher at this nursery says the capacity of their summer school is unable to meet the demands of many migrant workers.

 

　　"The students already outnumber the space we have. But we still try our best to accept more children. The situation is that 2 students have to share one desk."

 

　　At another community at Yuhang, volunteers at the summer school face the same problem. They are considering moving the school to a nearby factory, where they can have more classrooms to accommodate the growing number of these visiting left-behind children.

 

　　For CRI, I am Li Dong.