'Migrant students' to be treated fairly

BEIJING - Household registration restrictions on "migrant students" to take the national college entrance exam (NCEE) should be eased beginning from the end of this year, according to an official guideline issued on Friday.

Provincial governments should publish measures which allow children of migrant workers to take the exam at places where they currently reside, instead of having to go back their birthplaces to take the exam, as what is stipulated at present, according to the document.

The guideline was mainly drafted by the Ministry of Education and was approved by the State Council, or Cabinet.

The ministry currently forbids high school graduates from taking the NCEE in places where they do not have local household registration, or "hukou," regardless of how long they or their family have lived there.

There have been growing calls for easing the restrictions in the face of reality that tens of millions of Chinese have left their hometown.

According to the guideline, the ministry will increase the quota of college recruitment in places with a large number of migrant students so as to ensure a fair enrolling percentage for local students after the formation of the plan.

Local governments must strengthen examination of the qualification of the exam takers and prevent some families' intentional migration to places given more enrollment quota.