China has 680,000 children who have been 'left behind' by their migrant labourer parents back in their villages with relatives and guardians, and are facing neglect and abuse, an official study has said.
These rural children do not live with their migrant worker parents who work in the cities, the Ministry of Civil Affairs said.
Most of the children are being taken care of by designated guardians or one of their parents who have been told to return for their children, state-run People's Daily reported.
The 'left behind' children constitute a sad story behind China's acclaimed rise to become the world's second largest economy in a span of three decades, as millions of rural Chinese couples left their villages and migrated to cities looking for stable employment.
They visit their children once a year during the Chinese New Year in February.
But they have to pay the heavy price of leaving their children in the villages with their old parents or guardians in view of strict 'Hukou' or resident permit rules.
The permit is granted only at the place of birth with no access to social benefits and schooling in other parts of the country.
According to National Health and Family Planning Commission (NHFPC) figures, China had 254 million migrant labourers in 2015 and their numbers are expected to cross 310 million by 2030.
Migrant labourers was widely credited to be the power behind China's massive economic growth in the last three decades as they served as cheap labour for the country to emerge as the world's manufacturing hub and second largest economy.
A series of reports in recent years highlighted the plight of these children including sexual abuse by guardians and other villagers.
China launched a campaign to improve care of 'left behind' children in rural areas in November, 2016.
A total of 11,821 such children who had dropped out of school have now resumed their education, the People's Daily report said.
Police at all levels have helped a total of 125,000 children to obtain household registration, or Hukou. They have also warned 90,822 parents for not fulfilling their parental responsibilities, and fined or detained 282 others while 17 parents have been deprived of their guardianship by the courts, the report said.
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