INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION AND EDUCATION OF LEFT BEHIND CHILDREN IN FUJIAN, CHINA

This study examines the educational consequences for those children of emigrants who are left behind in Fujian Province, China. Specifically, we compare the school enrollment for children from emigrant households with the school enrollment for children from non-emigrant households. The data are drawn from the 1995 China 1% Population Sample Survey. We find consistent evidence that emigration affects educational opportunity for children in a positive way. First, children from emigrant households are more likely to be enrolled in schools than children from non-emigrant households. Second, emigration also has positive consequences in reducing gender gap in education. Although girls from non-emigrant households still experience a lower enrollment rate, for the emigrant households the overall school enrollment for boys and girls has been approaching convergence.