China’s second children try to make up for lost years of education
Right to education
The one-child policy was scrapped by the Chinese government last year - but many second children missed out on school completely because they didn't exist in the national database.
Living in Beijing for 23 years, Li Xue has never attended school, not even for a day.
China provides a free, nine-year education to every child but Li was not included. For the past 23 years, she has had no access to any form of social welfare. She has not been allowed to get married, find a job or open a bank account.
For Li was the second child born to her parents and, due to the nation鶹APPs one-child policy that ran from around 1978 until 2015 to curtail population growth, she didn鶹APPt exist in the Chinese government鶹APPs database.
Li said her parents tried to register her at the police station when she was born but staff there refused and demanded a letter of approval from the local family planning commission.
With no letter approving her birth, Li鶹APPs parents were faced with the prospect of paying a hefty fine for breaking the one-child policy to register her but could not afford to do so.
Since then it has been a two-decade battle with officials until China scrapped its one-child policy last year and Li finally received an official paper to prove her existence.
Ending the one-child policy has left people like Li scrambling to make up for lost years, resentful as they fear this recognition may have come too late and unsure what the government is going to do to help them make up for those years.
Li missed out on an education and struggled to learn everything by herself, using library books borrowed under her elder sister鶹APPs name with her family unable to afford a tutor.
鶹APPMy mother was dismissed from her job because she gave birth to me,鶹APP Li told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in an interview at her home in Beijing, a shabby house without a private toilet and with a makeshift shower.
鶹APPAll four of us had to live off my father鶹APPs meagre salary.鶹APP
Li鶹APPs mother, Bai Xiuling, a former factory worker, said her daughter used to cry when other children set off for school.
鶹APPShe wanted to study at school, but she can鶹APPt. My child has already missed the nine-year compulsory education. No money can buy her time back,鶹APP she said.
According to China鶹APPs latest population census, conducted in 2010, there were 13 million unregistered citizens like Li, almost 1% of the country鶹APPs total population.
I thought about it over and over again but still I dared not to let the government know that I have a child born without permission Chunyan Liu on having a child outside marriage
鶹APPMost of them are children born outside the country鶹APPs one-child policy,鶹APP said Jiantang Ma, the then head of China鶹APPs National Bureau of Statistics who conducted the census.
A 2015 study by the Academy of Macroeconomic Research at the National Development and Reform Commission found nearly half of China鶹APPs unregistered citizens were illiterate or lacked formal education.
For during the years of the one-child policy, second children would not be registered in the household system unless a hefty fine was paid with some exceptions to this rule.
Births out of marriage are also considered a violation of China鶹APPs strict family planning rules and unmarried couples had to pay a fine to register their newborn.
China is one of few countries which has a household registration system, known as hukou in Chinese, that contains the births, marriages and other information on citizens.
A person without a hukou record in China is denied public services, such as education and health care, and is barred from getting married, finding a job or even opening a bank account.
Wenzhuang Yang, an official at China鶹APPs National Health and Family Planning Commission, denied China鶹APPs one child policy 鶹APP and punishments associated with it 鶹APP have played a role in blocking millions of citizens from being registered.
At a press conference earlier this year, Yang said his department had tried its best to remove hurdles set by local authorities in household registration and many unregistered citizens have now been included in the hukou system.
Yang was not available to be reached for further comments despite repeated phone calls.
Unmarried mother Chunyan Liu, a freelance English teacher, said she was unable to pay the fine so she kept her daughter鶹APPs birth secret for seven years until April this year when she finally registered her child.
鶹APPThe fine in Beijing was really high. I thought about it over and over again, but still I dared not to let the government know that I have a child born without permission,鶹APP she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Due to a lack of hukou, Liu鶹APPs daughter had no access to government-subsidised healthcare. She was unable to buy train tickets or travel abroad.
鶹APPWhen other parents took their kids to the Hong Kong Disneyland, we couldn鶹APPt even think of it,鶹APP Liu said.
鶹APPMy daughter is now seven years old and she has never set her foot outside Beijing,鶹APP she said, adding that she was still worried that government official might ask her to pay the fine.
Despite all the concerns, however, Liu calls herself 鶹APPlucky.鶹APP Last year, she tried but failed to find a place for her daughter to study, due to a lack of hukou.
鶹APPNow, my daughter has everything she needs to go to public school,鶹APP Liu said.
But others are not so lucky with researchers from the Academy of Macroeconomic Research at the National Development and Reform Commission saying more than half of China鶹APPs unregistered citizens are above 18 years old.
Many of these adults not only lost out on schooling but also struggled to find a job as they couldn鶹APPt provide hukou record and other legal documents often needed for hiring
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