24 February 2012
Last updated at 05:00
GMT
Friday's newspapers focus on Beijing's
announcement on household registration reform.
According to the notice issued by the General Office of the
State Council, says the People's Daily,
rural authorities cannot force people who have migrated to cities to
give up their rural land and property.
Many students whose parents came from the
country are denied free education in host cities
No future regulations and policies regarding employment,
mandatory education and skills training can be associated with the
Household Registry System, says the Shanghai Morning Post.
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THE HUKOU SYSTEM
- Introduced in the 1950s as a tool of central economic planning
- Registers every citizen as either a town dweller or a rural peasant
- Opportunities to change status are very limited
- Discriminates in terms of access to services like healthcare and education
- In March 2010 13 Chinese newspapers published a joint editorial calling for its abolition
Beijing
Times points out that the GOSC's notice was actually issued one year
ago and the timing of its release now has raised some interest.
Under the current household registration policy in China,
known as "Hukou", many migrant workers are denied social security rights
by their host cities and struggle to get their children into local
schools.
Citing comments from sociologists, Guangzhou's
Southern Metropolis Daily says the fundamental solution would be to
let migrant workers to obtain social security in cities by giving up
their allocated land in rural villages.