"About 69 million rural children [in China] are left behind while one or both parents work far away, according to UNICEF," says this article from the Los Angeles Times. The article discusses the ways in which these "left-behind children" in rural areas of China lack access to education and lag behind their urban peers in educational attainment, including higher education. According to the article, in one rural area there is no local school past third grade so children have to be sent to a regional boarding school. "Many grandparents do not want their children to board because they fear bullying or inadequate after-school care," says the article. "A 2015 survey of 30,000 students by child welfare group Growing Home found that nearly half of boarding school children were acutely pessimistic, 64% were lonely, 17.6% suffered from depression and 8.4% exhibited suicidal tendencies. Nutrition was poor. Students were often locked alone in classrooms for long periods to do homework."
"Those at boarding schools are 'no better academically and they’re worse off socio-emotionally, if you look at their stress and anxiety,' said Stanford University economist Scott Rozelle. 'Only students living with their families, close to the schools, benefit.'” Yet there are fewer options for left-behind children in rural areas than there are for children in urban areas of China. "Migrant workers cannot bring their children to cities because they lack a residence registration, so cannot access free schools. Grandparents who cannot read or write can provide only limited academic advice or help." Furthermore, local schools may lack government funding altogether and operate with only the support of volunteer teachers and non-profits. Therefore, many families are left without a choice. "Farmer Chen and his wife, Ma Ruqun, 55," for example, "do not want to send their 8- and 4-year-old grandsons to a distant boarding school. But they will have no choice once their children reach third grade, because Baiyan Hope School does not have a fourth grade."