An estimated 10 million minors in China under 15 lack the care of one or both parents and nearly half of them did not do well in school as their parents left home as migrant workers, "China Youth Daily" reported Wednesday.

In a headline report as part of its publicity drive on the country's 167 million minors, the newspaper said those 10 million kids are under the custody of their mother or father only, grandparents or their relatives as one or both of their parents work far from home most of the year.

A 13 year-old school girl gave birth last March to a baby in Fushun county in southwestern Sichuan Province, a major source of migrant workers, while her parents were unaware of what had happened to their daughter.

The parents had worked in Chengdu, capital of the province, for four straight years and the family reunited only once a year during the traditional Chinese New Year.

In the middle school where the girl studies, 1,600 of 2,700 students are under the custody of their grandparents or relatives most of the year. Their parents work as migrant workers far away and seldom return home.

Hu Guangwei, a professor with the Sichuan Provincial Academy of Social Sciences, was quoted as saying that children of migrant workers are vulnerable to physical and psychological abuses owing to the lack of parental care and affection.

A survey of 2,000 kids whose parents are migrant workers in Renshou county of the province indicated that 48 percent of them did poorly, while 40 percent were slightly under the average level.

Wang Dong, a teacher with No. 10 Middle School in Zigong city of the province, noted that parents had to make a hard decision on the custody of their kids before they left home for work.

The grandparents of the kids were mostly poorly educated and could read only few words more than their grandchildren, and they were unable to help them with learning, acknowledged the teacher.

The migrant workers can neither rest assured if their kids live with their relatives as they would not be as strict with the kids as with their own, said the teacher.

In another development, in east China's Anhui province, also a major source of migrant workers, 13 infants died and 171 suffered from malnutrition after being fed with milk powder deficient in protein and other nutrients.

Because their parents were working away from home, the infants were left in the care of their grandparents or other relatives.

Earlier this year, China made public a package of unprecedented proposals on creating a sound and better environment for its 367 million youngsters under 18 to grow up well, including promises to improve living and learning conditions for kids whose parents are working far away from home as migrant workers.

Describing young people as essential to the future of the country, the proposals also promise to raise their ideological and moral standards and rectify and help those minors with a poor record of conduct.
 
(People's Daily  May 27, 2004)