A number of anxious parents and students went to the Dongba Experimental School in Chaoyang district Sunday to consult the principal about where their children should go, after the school said it had been ordered to close down.

Chaoyang District Commission of Education had informed the school to close in June, but the school opened as usual in September. However, the school told parents Friday to send their children to other public schools, the Beijing Times reported.

Sunday, a notice on the school wall dated August 22 read that the school was not accredited and did not meet with fire and electrical safety standards.

"I've worked in Beijing for more than 10 years and my kid studied in this school for four years, I don't know where to put my child," said a father surnamed Ma from Henan Province Sunday. He complained about the many extra expenses and requirements for enrollment in public schools.

"There aren't enough public schools to take all the migrant students," Ma said, "the migrant schools were doing the charity thing, but now the government has canceled them."

Beijing Municipal Commission of Education announced that from August there would be a campaign to close 24 migrant schools involving more than 14,000 students, including four in Haidian, nine in Chaoyang and 11 in Daxing.

The education commission promised "not to lose any students" in a press conference on August 16.

"Several classmates dropped out, and I don't know where to go tomorrow," said Liu Dongping, a grade-two middle school student. He said his 20 classmates were divided between two different public schools.

"I'm afraid I'll be discriminated against by the teachers and students in the new school as they're all urban students and I'll drop out too, sooner or later," Liu said.

"We'll continue classes tomorrow, but we have to wait for the authorities' arrangement for the future," said principal Yang Qin, but refused to comment further.

According to media reports, students from the four schools in Haidian have enrolled in other schools while in Chaoyang, 2,111 students out of 4,574 had been sent to new schools as of August 19. But most of Daxing's migrant schools remain open, Tuanhe Experimental School principal Yang Qiaoyan said Sunday.