One in six kids left at home by migrants

One out of every six children in the country is left behind in villages by parents, forced to migrate to other places in search of work.

And many of these children are not looked after properly, Li Jianguo, vice-chairman of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, said yesterday.

About 58 million of the more than 300 million under-17 children are "left at home", he said. There are about 150 million migrant workers in the country.