南方五省大量关闭乡村学校，14校“留守儿童”被逼成维权者

「南方五省大量关闭乡村学校，14校“留守儿童”被逼成维权者」九月本是中国的开学季，但在广东、广西等南方五省，许多农村地区的“留守儿童”却面临着无学可上的困境。他们不得不走上街头，为自己争取基本的受教育权利，从不谙世事的小学生，被迫成为了“维权者、上访者”。

9月2日，广东廉江横山镇下路小学下坡仔分校门口，一群孩子聚集在一起，高喊“我要上学！”，抗议学校被关闭。类似的情景，近期在广东、云南、贵州、广西、福建的十四所乡村学校门口反复上演。一些孩子甚至跟随家长前往当地政府或教育局维权，这使得他们在小学求学阶段，就不得不体验到生活的艰辛。

近年来，随着中国人口出生率持续走低，乡村小学面临生源锐减的问题。教育部门以“优化资源配置”为由，开始大规模撤并学校，将学生集中到更大但离家更远的学校。在官方的叙述中，这是一种合理的教育改革，但对于那些几乎完全由年迈老人照顾的农村留守儿童来说，他们是这一政策的牺牲品。

由于父母在外地打工，这些孩子通常由爷爷奶奶或外公外婆照看。当家门口的学校被关闭后，他们不得不步行数公里到更远的学校上学。然而，地方政府并未提供校车服务，这不仅增加了孩子们在上学路上的交通安全风险，也给年迈的接送者带来了沉重的负担。

讽刺的是，即使父母把孩子带到城市里上学，也同样面临困境。因为，在城里上学需要买房，但高昂的房价让绝大多数农民工家庭望而却步。即使能够买房，农村户口也常常让他们在城市教育体系中遭遇不公。在农村上学困难，在城市又无法立足，一些孩子很可能因此成为失学儿童。

为了孩子的受教育权，许多家长将抗议视频和文章发布到社交媒体上寻求帮助。然而，这些本应得到关注的正当诉求，却常常被迅速屏蔽或删除。这种“看不见”的困境，让许多家长更加绝望。

在撤并学校的逻辑里，孩子们往往只是统计表上的数字，学校的存续只关乎成本与效率；然而在乡村家庭的心中，那些校舍却是孩子们接受教育的唯一希望。如今，大量留守儿童被迫站在校门口高喊“我要上学”，这一幕不仅折射出教育资源分配的巨大不平衡，更揭示了在城乡鸿沟与制度壁垒之下，最脆弱的群体如何从幼年便背负起沉重的代价。

因被关闭而引发抗议的学校：

广东高州深镇镇仙人洞村仙人洞小学

广东廉江和寮镇塘拱村小学

广东廉江横山镇下路小学下坡仔分校

广东廉江青平镇黄竹江小学

广东廉江新民镇义路塘小学

广东罗定罗平镇横垌小学

云南昭通威信县扎西镇黄家坪小学

云南昭通彝良县洛旺苗族乡树草坪村树草小学

云南昭通镇雄罗坎镇大水井小学

贵州毕节大方县瓢井镇回龙小学

贵州望谟麻山镇牛场小学

广西梧州龙圩区新地镇思现分校

福建省三明市尤溪县中仙乡文井村

“Mass Closures of Rural Schools in Five Southern Provinces Force ‘Left-Behind Children’ to Become Petitioners” September is normally the start of the new school term in China. But in rural areas across Guangdong and four other southern provinces, many “left-behind children” now face the predicament of having no school to attend. They have been forced onto the streets to demand their basic right to education—young primary school students, once innocent and carefree, are now compelled to become “petitioners” and “rights defenders.” On September 2, at the gate of the Xiapozi branch of Xialu Primary School in Hengshan Town, Lianjiang, Guangdong, a group of children gathered and shouted “I want to go to school!” in protest at the school’s closure. Similar scenes have recently been repeated outside fourteen rural schools in Guangdong, Yunnan, Guizhou, Guangxi, and Fujian. Some children have even followed their parents to local government or education bureaus to seek redress, experiencing hardship at an age when they should only be focused on learning. In recent years, as China’s birth rate has continued to decline, rural primary schools have faced a severe drop in enrollment. Under the banner of “optimizing resource allocation,” education authorities have carried out large-scale school mergers, transferring students to bigger but more distant schools. Officially, this is framed as a reasonable educational reform. But for rural left-behind children—most of whom are raised by elderly grandparents while their parents work far away—it has made them the victims of policy. With neighborhood schools shuttered, these children must now walk several kilometers to reach more distant schools. Local governments have not provided school bus services, which not only heightens traffic safety risks for the children but also places a heavy burden on their elderly caretakers. Ironically, even if migrant workers bring their children to the cities, they face another set of challenges. Urban schooling usually requires home ownership, yet soaring housing prices put this out of reach for most rural families. Even when parents manage to buy property, their rural household registration often exposes their children to discrimination in the urban education system. Difficulties in accessing education in the countryside, coupled with barriers in the cities, mean that some children risk dropping out altogether. To defend their children’s right to education, many parents have posted protest videos and articles on social media seeking help. Yet these legitimate appeals, which deserve public attention, are often swiftly censored or deleted. This “invisible” struggle has left many parents in despair. In the logic of school mergers, children are reduced to mere numbers in a spreadsheet; the survival of a school is measured only in terms of cost and efficiency. But for rural families, those classrooms are the sole hope for their children’s education. Today, with large numbers of left-behind children standing at school gates shouting “I want to go to school,” the scene not only reveals the deep imbalance in educational resources, but also shows how, beneath the urban-rural divide and systemic barriers, the most vulnerable are forced to bear heavy costs from early childhood.

Schools closed and triggering protests include: •Xianrendong Primary School, Xianrendong Village, Shenzhen Town, Gaozhou, Guangdong •Tanggong Village Primary School, Heliao Town, Lianjiang, Guangdong •Xiapozi Branch, Xialu Primary School, Hengshan Town, Lianjiang, Guangdong •Huangzhujian Primary School, Qingping Town, Lianjiang, Guangdong •Yilutang Primary School, Xinmin Town, Lianjiang, Guangdong •Hengdong Primary School, Luoping Town, Luoding, Guangdong •Huangjiaping Primary School, Zhaxi Town, Weixin County, Zhaotong, Yunnan •Shucao Primary School, Shucaoping Village, Luowang Miao Township, Yiliang County, Zhaotong, Yunnan •Dashuijing Primary School, Luokan Town, Zhenxiong County, Zhaotong, Yunnan •Huilong Primary School, Piaojing Town, Dafang County, Bijie, Guizhou •Niuchang Primary School, Mashan Town, Wangmo, Guizhou •Sixian Branch, Xindi Town, Longxu District, Wuzhou, Guangxi •Wenjing Village Primary School, Zhongxian Township, Youxi County, Sanming, Fujian