WHILE local parents hesitate between having their children take summer classes or offering them a fun holiday, the children of migrant workers are wandering the streets or helping in the family business.

Five-year-old Xinxin carried a large Sprite bottle to his parents¡¯ stall, and sprinkled water on the fading vegetables in the scorching summer heat, while his older brother squatted nearby, counting the coins collected from sales.

¡°They are good boys,¡± said the mother. ¡°They are helpful and won¡¯t be running about making trouble.¡±

Also at the market area in the residential community near Xinzhuang area, children played and wandered unsupervised, in and out of the market, which is being renovated. Nobody warned them of the dangers of the construction site. Out in the sun, a boy ate an ice cream cone right beside a garbage can. A scar on his arm told either of some skin disease or an injury.

¡°What can we do about him?¡± said a woman surnamed Yu. Both Yu and her husband work in a factory, and Yu works as a housework helper on weekends. Their only son attends fourth grade in a migrant children¡¯s school.

During holidays he usually stays around home, playing on a second-hand computer or doing his homework. This summer, his mother decided to send him to her hometown, where there is more room in the house than in the one-room apartment which he shares with both parents in Shanghai.

Tragic accidents

The most recent accidents in Shanghai illustrate the worrisome situation of these children in tragic ways. On June 27, an eight-year-old boy from Sichuan was injured when he fell from the fourth floor window of his home on Mudan Lu, in the Pudong District. On the same day, a five-year-old girl from Anhui province drowned in Hou Jia Jiao Village, also of the Minhang District.

It¡¯s difficult for migrant parents to spend time and money on their children in the same way local parents do. Yu never considered sending her son to a summer class. ¡°That would be very expensive, wouldn¡¯t it?¡± she said.

Yu plans to send the boy to a middle school in her hometown in East China¡¯s Anhui Province. By then, she will have quit her job and be able to join him. ¡°He can¡¯t go to the Shanghainese school, and I don¡¯t want to delay his education. We can¡¯t settle here in Shanghai. It is good for the family to be together anyway.¡±

Eight accidents happened to children in town in two weeks, with six happening to migrant children. This high proportion reminds people that keeping migrant workers¡¯ children safe from danger in the summer vacation has become an urgent issue.

The city has 3.75 million migrant workers, many bringing their children with them. According to official statistics, there are 40-50,000 migrant children aged around 7, the proper age to start primary education.

What can be done?

Sun Baohong, the vice chief of the Institute of Youth and Juvenile Studies of the Shanghai Academy of Social Science shows his concerns about the problem. But it¡¯s not easy to find a way to protect these children, because it involves not only children but also their parents. ¡°The solution to the problem requires a collaborative effort by parents, schools and community workers,¡± he said.

As Sun indicated, people tend to think that schools and teachers should play the most important role in helping these children, but community services and social workers are more competent to do so because in the summer vacation, children spend most of their time in their communities, not in schools.

¡°I think it would be good if social workers could open free summer classes for the children in the communities where many migrant workers live,¡± he said.

An officer from the Youth and Juvenile Protection Department of the Shanghai Municipal Education Commission said the government would soon issue a special document to all the schools in Shanghai, urging them to pay adequate attention to their students¡¯ safety. But no specific steps have been taken so far to prevent such tragic accidents.

Sunshine Community Service Centre, with branches in each district of Shanghai, is the largest non-governmental organization to deal with juvenile problems in the city. It is making an attempt to change the situation.

The Pudong Branch of the centre has drawn up a series of plans to help children during the summer holidays.

Potential improvements

Among these plans, a project entitled ¡°Rainbow¡± seems to best turn Sun¡¯s suggestions into reality.

With project Rainbow, children are free to use school playground facilities, and qualified teachers are hired to provide free classes in singing, painting, and so on.

Staff within the project centre also exchange ideas and opinions with parents, reminding them of safety risks and other problems that may endanger their children.

¡°Most parents respond positively to our project,¡± said Gu Xunan, the vice head of the Pudong Branch.

Gu said the facilities, though not expressly reserved for ¡°local children only¡±, are widely recognized as accessible only to children with registered local residence.

According to Gu, migrant children are ¡°welcome¡± into the project just as well. But without public notice, no migrant children are likely to venture into a seemingly ¡°local-children only¡± playground.

A specific project for migrants will contribute to helping these children. ¡°It is difficult for migrant children to play with locals,¡± Gu said. ¡°The language difference makes communication difficult.¡±

Also there may be objections from local parents with regional prejudices, unwilling to allow their only child to mingle with ¡°dirty country kids¡±.

The centre does plan to begin such a project, Gu said, but at present, because of a lack of qualified social workers and funds, the plan hasn¡¯t been realized, and no schedule has been set out. Basically a non-governmental organization, the centre doesn¡¯t receive sufficient financial support from the government.

¡°Only if families, schools and community service work together, can this problem be solved,¡± Sun said.

But most migrant worker parents are too busy to take good care of their children and receive little help or services from other migrant workers.

Moreover, some migrant workers families think their children are facing an even more serious problem. According to an officer from the Education Bureau of Hongkou District, there is no school available for migrant workers¡¯ children. ¡°We have shut down all the special schools for migrant workers¡¯ children because none of these schools meet appropriate standards,¡± she said.

Beyond family and school, organizations who are trying to help these children and their parents say a supporting and tolerant environment is also required.

Sun mentioned that whenever an accident happens, the mass media tends to over-criticize the service provider. But this will only make the intimidated agency withdraw from providing its service.

¡°A tolerant social enviroment would make it easier to arrive at a solution,¡± Sun said. He said that people should be patient and try to be supportive as the organization tries to avoid future children¡¯s tragedies. The service already attempts to take care of children, so public tolerance would provide a better incentive for service providers to improve their practices.