shanghai is known as the city with the highest personal income in china. the average monthly income among

the population is 1,050 u.s. dollars. in addition because of this, they have a system based on where residents were born, these workers are now increasing night school. they have courses ranging from care giving, sewing and gain professional skills and certification that will help them survive in the city.

♪ >> this episode follows the efforts of migrant workers studying at night school. as the focus of chinese labor switches from low cost to quality work. night school classes begin at 6:00 p.m. many of the roughly 1,500 night schools in shanghai offer courses in specific

qualifications or skills. this school opened in the 1990s to instruct construction workers who had had poured in from rural villages. now it offers night classes and teaches a variety of courses to train professions, such as accountants, house keepers and chefs. there are 10 classes just for chinese pastry chefs.

>> currently the most popular course is training as a pastry chef specializing in chinese cuisine.

>> chinese pastry chefs make desserts and light meals from wheat flour. they prepare everything from dumplings to artistic pastries. china has five levels of national certification for pastry chefs. those who obtain the highest can work at top tier restaurants for an impressive income. even the lowest certification is an advantage in china's growing service industry.

one school specializes in cooking licenses and has trained more than 1,000 pastry chefs a year. tongzhou vocational school is in shanghai. more than 90% of the students are migrant workers. a beginner class was held on this day.

>> wang ruili migrated to shanghai two years ago from a province located 1,0200 kilometers from shanghai. she now lives with her husband and daughter. >> she made dumplings for the first time here. it's not a common dish in her home town.

>> wang works at a factory by day and atends night school twice a week. the beginner course costs $420. more than half her monthly wage. she lives on an old shopping street. her husband opened his own car repair shop here three years ago. but this year the city issued an eviction notice saying that their store violates a city ordinance. their home is on the second floor. they turned a former warehouse into a bedroom and kitchen.

>> rent is $460 a month. even with the couple working full time they barely get by. nevertheless, wang decided to attend night school for her daughter's future. her daughter, yang siyi was born in shanghai. in china migrants are not entitled to the social welfare benefits. for their children to attend,

they must get special permission. they must meet certain conditions, such as obtaining advanced academic degrees or paying high taxes. each condition is worth a set number of points.

>> with just a month left before eviction, wang hopes to gain a chef certification and a better paying job. elsewhere another school is attended by many migrants who once worked at garment factories. the zhesheng fashion school teaches students how to make paper patterns for western clothing. >> 70% of students are former factory workers.

before enrolling they all studied how to make patterns on their own while keeping up their jobs. man xioaling began attending this school in january. when she heard about the school, she was excited but because of her lack of experience with pattern design, she's now struggling to keep up. man hails from a province roughly 600 kilometers from shanghai. she graduated from junior high school five years ago. at first she worked near her parents home but she came out to the city to study fashion.

man now lives in a six-story apartment that's a 40-minute bus ride from school. her room is a renovated attic at the top of the building. she has only the smallest space in which to live. ♪ most of the money she's saved from her former job at a factory 1 thousand u.s. dollars. this was the only room she could afford.

>> man started a new job with more flexibility so that she can spend time studying. her day time job pays out about $450 a month. after rent, she has less than $300 left. shanghai mart in central shanghai. man works at one of the companies located here. the business is a hat wholesaler where she lines up products and responds to customers five day as week from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00

p.m. >> sometimes she does some sewing at a customer's request.

>> man chose to work here after trying several places. this store teaches her extensively and allows her to think on her own. store manager yang mei is also from a rural area. she started saving up money while migrating and opened her own store.

>> yang knows how hard it is to chase after a dream while working. that's why she wants to support man as much as possible.

>> friday night man was up late studying for class. she wanted to attend a special class the next day using her day off. she planned to use this opportunity to catch up with the pace of other students.

man left home two hours before the 9:00 a.m. class. she hoped to be the first to arrive, getting a good view of the patterns. the school was still quiet when she got there. but six other students had already showed up before her. she still managed to secure a closer seat than usual. everyone here is intensely focussed on accomplishing their

dreams. >> man is just starting her transition from being a factory worker to a specialist. another woman came to shanghai 23 years ago and has obtained certifications while working numerous jobs. fang ruiling works as a house keeper. she gets paid by the hour, not as a live-in made. fang wurlks at three homes each

day but still earns less than the average monthly income of an official shanghai resident. >> fang gets many requests for her work. she attributes that to her many certifications.

>> fang lives in an area a village by a city. many live here because of the low rent. in the past there were many such locations but most of them were taken down. this one is also set to be demolished next year.

fang has been attending night school since march to obtain a new certification. she works from morning to evening, goes home once and prepares dinner before leaving again. it takes her about an hour by scooter from home to school. the cnst institute of continuing education has a 50-plus year history as a night school. it offers courses and many cert certificates as well as many night school degrees. with the support of the city government, this school has been

offering a new training course in care giving since 2017. this year applicants can obtain certification tuition free. if fang obtains this, it will be her fourth national certification. >> care giving will soon be a fully established system in china. fang hopes to gain the necessary skills and acquire work as soon as possible.

>>ed ed ed ed ed ed ed a free limited offer.

>> migrant workers have been strongly supporting the economic development in china. as chinese society changes drastically, the workers are striving to overcome the income gap by taking charge of their own fate.

♪ steves: the dramatic rock of cashel is one of ireland's most evocative sites.

this was the seat of ancient irish kings for seven centuries. st. patrick baptized king aengus here in about 450 a.d. in around 1100, an irish king gave cashel to the church, and it grew to become the ecclesiastical capital of all ireland. 800 years ago, this monastic community was just a chapel and a round tower standing high on this bluff. it looked out then, as it does today, over the plain of tipperary, called the golden vale because its rich soil makes it ireland's best farmland. on this historic rock, you stroll among these ruins in the footsteps of st. patrick, and wandering through my favorite celtic cross graveyard, i feel the soul of ireland.

welcome back to nhk "newsline." it's 11:00 a.m. on thursday in tokyo. i'm miki yamamoto. the american president says the country's heart is filled with grief over one of its worst mass shootings. donald trump went to has say gas to meet police officers and some of the hundreds wounded in sunday's attack. 58 others were killed by the gunman who fired down on a crowd indiscriminately where his l ll