Related story: Schools closedown affects 15,000 children of migrant workers

    BEIJING, Aug. 31 -- A well-intentioned but ill-prepared move by education authorities in a Beijing district has seriously disrupted the lives of thousands of poor children from outside the capital city.

    And it is a perfect case study of a rash public policy decision without thorough investigation for planning or good co-ordination for implementation.

    Last month, the Haidian District's Education Committee announced that 37 schools for migrant workers' children would be closed down because they were found unsafe, ill equipped and/or insufficiently qualified to provide education. The estimated 15,000 students from these schools were to be transferred to public schools or to qualified private schools.

    Since then, a host of seemingly unexpected problems have emerged, eventually forcing the authorities to modify their plan. Now they promise they will make sure each student has a school to attend in some cases their old schools, whose closure will be postponed.

    However, much damage is already done. The July announcement caused a summer of worry for almost all the affected families. Some of them, after a desperate but fruitless search for assurance of the children's educational opportunities, have sent their children back to their hometowns, where they have to get by without their parents' care.

    And it is still uncertain whether the students can smoothly transfer from their old schools to licensed ones.

    The Haidian's officials' attempt to shut down the unlicensed schools is legitimate and reasonable. It is true that these schools cannot provide proper education for the kids.

    But before acting, the officials should have undertaken meticulous research on the situation.

    As it turned out, the number of affected students was larger than the original estimated figure of 15,000. Worse still, the designated schools could not provide enough space even for the 15,000 who had been planned for.

    Apparently, neither did Haidian's education authorities co-ordinate to secure space for the children in schools required to accept them.

    It is an open secret that even a Beijing kid may have to pay expensive fees or pass demanding exams to go to a primary or high school. Without official intervention, it would be a miracle if the schools exempted the migrant workers' kids from these charges or tests.

    The shutdown of the migrant schools caught the public's attention because it involved two sensitive issues the rights of migrant workers, a group of people long discriminated against, and education, on which people rely greatly for their social mobility.

    However, this is certainly not the only rash public policy decision we see in China. Indeed, Chinese officials need a more careful, sophisticated public policy overall.

    (Source: China Daily)