Although China's household registration system no longer ties migrant children's compulsory education to their birth places, migrant students can't take college entrance exams outside their native homes.
Currently, China has nearly 20 million rural children aged under 14 who have followed their migrant-worker parents to cities, according to the China Children and Teenagers' Fund.
The Chinese mainland's 32 provincial-level authorities were required in August to submit plans on migrants attending the gaokao before the end of the year, according to the Ministry of Education. Changes also are expected in megacities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, where most Chinese migrant workers live.
"Governments of big cities will likely set stricter terms and conditions for migrants attending gaokao," said Xiong Bingqi, deputy head of the 21st Century Education Research Institute.
Local parents in megacities are upset and expect fierce competition as more students will be vying for scarce educational resources and the competitive college entrance quota.
Shanghai has not set a date for the plan, but the local government will implement a points-based system. Children of migrants with enough points will qualify for Shanghai's gaokao. Points depend on such factors as property and the number of years working and paying into social security.
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