The trade union in this southern boomtown is to offer scholarships to 100 excellent but poverty-stricken migrant workers.

The program, called "Dreams Come True", is the first of its kind in the city, which is home to more than seven million migrant workers.

It is a major step in the city's efforts to treat migrant workers as citizens, rather than outsiders, and to help upgrade their skills, the Shenzhen general trade union said.

"The migrant workers will now be able to get access to better education and skills, a requirement for a harmonious society, and a knowledge-based city," Wang Tongxin, vice chairman of the union, said.

Since the application hotline was published on Wednesday the union has received numerous calls.

"We did not expect the program would be so popular," a press officer of the union, Cheng Lida, said.

Applicants need to meet several conditions: rural registered residence, graduate of a senior high school, at least one-year working experience, a recommendation from his or her employer, proof of poverty, and membership of a trade union.

Three universities, one in Beijing and the other two in the provinces of Tianjian and Sichuan, have agreed to provide four majors -- computer science, marketing, logistics, and financial management.

The tuition for the two-and-a-half-year course is 8,000 yuan (US$1,100) per person, which will be mainly financed by the trade union.

At the end of last year, about 3.5 million people had been registered as trade union members in Shenzhen, a majority being migrant workers.

"No percentage of their composition is available," Cheng said.

The union currently offers scholarships to 300 migrant workers that graduated from at least junior high school, to study in secondary technical schools that teach accounting, logistics management and industrial arts.

It also provides free technical training for another 300 migrant and laid-off workers.

They are taught estate management and computer science.

(China Daily April 25, 2008)