Education and the Disintegration of Rural Communities: Effects of Rural Educational Migration in China

Educational migration has become a prevalent trend in rural China over the last decade, with rural families relocating to access urban schools for their children. Drawing on interviews and questionnaires with rural parents/guardians, and villagers, this study reveals that rural educational migration has contributed to the disintegration of rural communities by causing loss of community members and leaders, weakening social ties within communities, hindering the organisation of collective activities, and increasing villagers’ defamiliarisation and detachment. Findings show that the placelessness of China’s educational system that motivates educational migration has been a catalyst of rural community decline.