XINJIANG, CHINA — A new report has found that Muslim children in China's Xinjiang region are being deliberately separated from their families, faith, and culture.

According to a report in the Journal of Political Risk, Uyghur children in Xinjiang whose parents have both been detained in reeducation camps are being placed in state care.

The BBC reports that the children are being kept in local schools, which provide them with accommodation, food, and clothes.

Report author Adrian Zenz found that the number of Uyghur children enrolled in Xinjiang schools went up by more than half a million in just one year, and now has the highest preschool enrollment level in the whole country.

Chinese authorities have been undergoing a massive school expansion in the region, spending over $1.2 billion on building and upgrading kindergartens in southern Xinjiang alone.

According to Zenz, the construction includes the addition of large amounts of dormitory space.

Research shows that many of the schools are equipped with full surveillance systems, perimeter alarms, and electric fences as part of "hard isolation closed management measures."

The use of Uyghur and other local languages are being eliminated from the schools, which enforce full Chinese language teaching. The children are also being cut off from religious and cultural beliefs as a result of being in the schools.