The recent deaths of four siblings whose migrant-worker parents left them unattended for more than a year has focused attention on the high price rural families are paying…Police said the four children…committed suicide together…in their home in Tiankan…of the Guizhou Province city of Bijie…by drinking pesticide...

The Bijie government said about one-tenth of the city's school-age children – or more than 164,000 youngsters – live in homes without parents…Some of these "left-behind children" are cared for by relatives such as grandparents, but others fend for themselves…Preventing many migrant-worker parents from bringing children along with them to the cities where they live most of the time is China's strict "hukou" residency system. In the wake of the Bijie tragedy, some experts say the system should be changed.

Every Chinese person has a hukou registration card that is issued by the government of their hometown. The hukou document is the key that unlocks the doors to public schooling, health care and many other government services. The catch is that it usually only works in the area where it was issued. Big cities, for example, often bar youngsters with hukou from other areas from enrolling in public schools, meaning education in these cities is off-limits to the children of most migrant workers…