Global Reach: Past Grantees

Context:

130 million people, about one tenth of the entire Chinese population, are either migrant workers or children of migrant workers. According to the 2000 China census, nearly 20 percent of the total migrant population are children; most school aged. Migrating with their parents means children potentially have more opportunities, but migration also means lack of parental care as parents shoulder long working hours. Migrants also face discrimination and instability. Still worse, because of the hukou (household registration) system, migrant children and their parents are ineligible for many benefits and rights of a normal resident. Migrant children are seldom allowed to attend public schools, which are free. Instead, parents have to look for private schools requiring tuition fees, where quality of education is often a concern. In general, there is a lack of middle schools for migrant youth, as most private investment is done in elementary migrant schools.

Organization:

The Dandelion School was established in 2005 as a non-profit educational institution. It is the first and the only middle school established for children from low-income migrant families in Greater Beijing. The school ensures that migrant youth can enroll and finish middle school (grades 7 to 9), part of the nine-year compulsory education in China. The founders and staff of the school have the vision that education is nurturing a child’s character. The school complies with the State Compulsory Education Law. In addition to state-mandated curricula, it has developed extra courses to meet the needs of migrant children, e.g. in life skills education or decision making skills. The Dandelion School was co-founded by Ms. Zheng Hong who is still its principal. She returned to China after working for many years as an educator in the US and receiving an MPA from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. The Dandelion School is governed by a board of trustees, and financially supported through government funds and tuition fees, as well as contributions from individuals and organizations. KPMG is responsible for the school’s accounting. In 2009, Dandelion School was awarded “Model Project” by the “One Foundation”, and “Outstanding Non-Governmental Middle School” by China Teachers Development Foundation.