These left-behinds are in no way left behind

At first blush you may suspect that Anjing Primary School, on the outskirts of Guiyang, in Guizhou province, would struggle to match it with its peers in regard to academic performance. After all, 40 percent of its 1,573 students are children of migrant workers and rural villagers - the kinds of children who may fail to shine academically because of the extra pressures they face socially.

However, the students of Anjing School are an equal to their city peers with their academic levels and admission rates to higher education institutions, a reflection of the school's efforts to raise teachers' professional capacities, and the improvement in the school's facilities in recent years.

In the junior high school entrance exam last May, 98 percent of student grades were above the national average level from the Anjing School. The number was 56 percent seven years ago.