Barbara Demick of the Los Angeles Times reports that China’s hukou system has resulted in educational discrimination against students such as Wang Keyu, a 13-year-old who has lived in Beijing her entire life:
No matter that she was born in Beijing, no matter that her parents — both working in information technology — have lived in Beijing for two decades and own their apartment here. Because her parents were born in Shandong province, Keyu is legally registered there.
Although she’s been able to attend school in Beijing in return for hefty fees paid by her parents, she is not allowed to take college entrance exams in the capital.
If she wants to go to college, she has to move to Shandong, a place where she knows no one but her septuagenarian grandparents. Her family worries that her education will suffer because the best high schools are in Beijing and students here have as much as a 40-to-1 advantage in getting into a top college. [Source]
The Chinese government has said it would speed up reforms to the hukou system as it looks to improve the opportunities for rural and migrant workers.
