Wan Yan, deputy director of the Office of the National Working Committee for Children and Women, says more needs to be done to protect the rights of migrant children in China.
Xinhua reports that statistics from the fifth national census in 2000 show China has 19.81 million migrant children and most lack resident registration which can offer them educational and health benefits.
Since 1998, China's Ministries of Education, Public Security and Social Insurance have issued regulations to ensure migrant children education, abolish non-residential fees for migrant workers and initiate household registration reform in towns and counties.
To better protect migrant children, Wan said, the migrant population should be incorporated into urban socioeconomic development planning and management. A new pattern of social resource allocation featuring a market-oriented mechanism that serves migrant groups should be established.
