CHILDREN of migrant workers in Qingdao have been given the same level of access to public education resources as that of local residents.

    In the past five years, a total of 123,000 children of migrant workers have received free compulsory school education, accounting for 17 percent of the city’s total school students.

    “Qingdao does not set up special schools for the children of migrant workers to make them feel no different from their peers and better integrate into the city,” said the city mayor, Xia Geng.

    Besides, some schools in the city opened special courses to help migrant students to better get involved in city life.

    The Dongchuanlu Primary School in Licang District organized 18 female teachers to provide help to migrant students in various aspects of life and study as well as provide counselling.

    “Compared with the schools where I used to study, the school I’m staying at has more interesting extra-curricular activities, such as an entertaining sports meeting,” said Wang Meng, who came to Qingdao with her parents in 2006.

    The city has established a special fund to subsidize migrant students, accordingly, children from 600 needy migrant families have received subsidies from the fund.(Li Hao, Xu Bing)