Media reports say a special school for children of migrant workers was opened recently. Since 24 such schools were forced to close down in Beijing a few weeks ago, the new school is built with colorful containers which can be relocated easily, says an article in China Youth Daily. Excerpts:

That the special school can be seen as installation will make some people sad. But the reality is that many schools for migrant workers' children have been closed down and, hence, the new ones should be "mobile".

Besides, if you get a chance to enter the "container" school, you will find it different in other respects too. The classes take place in colorful classrooms in the modern containers and have four kids in a group, which can be regarded as a new education pattern.

The courses are different, too, for they include life skills and courses on family education, which are important for migrant workers' children.

Many years ago, a Japanese author imagined a similar school, made up of a combination of materials that included unused electric cars.

The first time the headmaster meets Little Bean, he talks to him for four patient and meaningful hours.

The "container" school, like the school conceived by the Japanese author, respects every child irrespective of whether they are rich or poor, bright or dull. This trait especially differentiates the "container" school from other schools.

The special school believes that every childhood should be pure and sweet. "Container" classrooms are the outcome of the awkward reality.

But a classroom in a container is much better than no class and no education at all, and it should be a lesson for people running so-called premier and good schools who are always reluctant to admit poor families' children to their institutes.

(China Daily 10/26/2011 page9)