Society

Education for Migrant Workers

The Ministry of Education plans to fund the school enrollment of 1.5 million migrant workers by 2020 in a drive to improve their work competence and skills.

Last year rural migrant workers accounted for 277 million of the 404 million people employed in cities and towns – a 1.3 percent growth over 2014. Only 7.3 percent of migrant workers had attended junior college or above in 2014 and just 34.8 percent received professional training， according to Director General of the Department of Vocational Education and Adult Education Ge Daokai. The generally low educational level of this social group impedes both their integration into urban life and the nations construction of a better-off society.

The ministry will annually fund 300，000 migrant workers education at junior college and university， giving preference to those under fixed-term contracts， according to Ge. The focus will be on outplacement training， technological upgrading， and talent reserves for enterprises involved in environmental protection and energy preservation， as well as sectors beset with obsolete or superfluous capacities.

The program will make full use of the nations digital learning source centers， institutes， college-enterprise consortiums， and online educational alliances， so offering migrant workers the level of training that will equip them for life.

Universities Join Intangible Cultural Heritage Preservation

The Ministry of Culture has selected 57 universities to run the 2016 training program for inheritors of the nations intangible cultural heritages.

Initiated last year by the Ministry of Culture and Ministry of Education， the programs present focus is on traditional crafts. This accounts for the largest percentage of intangible cultural heritages and creates the most jobs. The program commissions universities and other institutions to open courses for practitioners of these crafts that enhance their artistic skills and innovative abilities. The goal is to adapt old arts and crafts to modern society， and revitalize them by improving their technical level， product quality， and capacity for developing derivative products.

The program offers three types of training to intangible cultural heritage inheritors at different professional levels. They are respectively accomplished artists， middleaged and young practitioners， and rank-andfile workers.

Survey of Rural Left-behind Children

The Ministry of Civil Affairs， Ministry of Education， and Ministry of Public Security are jointly conducting from March to July a survey on rural left-behind children， the results of which will form the basis of a database.

The targets are rural children under 16 whose parents work away from home， or of whom one parent is away and the one remaining is unable to provide them with proper care. A conservative estimate of the number of children in such circumstances under the age of 14 is in excess of 43.9 million， but a report in 2013 by the All-China Womens Federation shows a figure of 61 million – one fifth of the nations juniors.

The information sought in the ongoing survey on left-behind children includes their numbers， distribution， composition， family structure， care provision， and education. Based on the survey results， relevant mechanisms and policies will be devised and resources integrated to better protect their interests.

Sports Centers Built in Most Tibetan Counties

Construction of sports infrastructures in Tibet Autonomous Region has been accelerated since the start of the 12th Five-Year Plan （2010-2015）. About RMB 1.5 billion from state coffers， the General Administration of Sport， and a special lottery has been allocated in this regard. Investment is channeled into sports facilities for ordinary citizens in rural and urban communities， towns and townships， and to stadiums and training bases for professional athletes in cities， including those specializing in ethnic and plateau sports.

As at the end of last year， sports centers had been built in 93 percent of counties and all administrative villages in the region. In the coming five years Tibet will extend the presence of public gymnasiums to 60 percent of local counties， running tracks to 30 percent of counties， and exercise squares to 30 percent of its towns and townships.

Activity

Zaguán & Alento by the Spanish National Ballet

Date： May 1-2， 2016

Place： Banlam Grand Theater， Xiamen City

Price： RMB 80/180/280/380/480/680/880

One of the main cultural ambassadors of Spain to the world， the Spanish National Ballet has won numbers of awards worldwide including the Critics Award for Best Foreign Show in New York in 1988 and an award at the Sixth Jerez Flamenco Festival. Antonio Najarro， born in 1975， is an accomplished Spanish choreographer. He was appointed director of the dance company in 2011.

The Tempest by TNT Theatre

Date： May 4， 2016

Place： Zhejiang Culture Center Theater

Price： RMB 80/150/200/280

The Tempest， the last play that William Shakespeare wrote without collaboration， reveals his vision of the future of humankind and his humanist ideology. TNT Theatre was founded in 1980 in the U.K. Since 2000， it has performed a number of Shakespeares works including Hamlet， Macbeth， A Midsummer Nights Dream， Romeo and Juliet， and The Taming of the Shrew on stages in over 20 countries.