OJSS Home

2023 - Volume 7 - Number 1

Effect of Parental Seasonal Labor Migration on Children’s Care and Educational Performance in Rural Nepal

Dipak Raj Rai * ORCID: 0000-0002-1681-1524
Singhania University, School of Applied and Social Science, Rajasthan, INDIA

Megh Raj Dangal * ORCID: 0000-0002-3067-7405
Kathmandu University, School of Arts, Kathmandu, NEPAL

Sunita Sharma
International Medical Corps (IMC), Ukraine Mission, UKRAINE

Open Journal for Sociological Studies, 2023, 7(1), 1-10 * DOI: https://doi.org/10.32591/coas.ojss.0701.01001r
Received: 22 December 2022 ▪ Revised: 24 March 2023 ▪ Accepted: 11 April 2023

LICENCE: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

ARTICLE (Full Text - PDF)

ABSTRACT:
This article focuses on the effect of parental migration on the care and educational performance of left-behind children of migrant families. This ethnographic study was conducted among the Kham people in Kankri, Rukum East district of the western mid-hill region of rural Nepal. Information was collected through participant observation, in-depth interviews, and living in the community in their setting. Income from parental labor migration provided families with food, clothing, access to basic health services, and investment in their children’s education. Left-behind children lacked parental care with proper guidance and emotional support, so they started taking alcohol, Charash (marijuana resin), and showing violent behavior. Children from migrant households have school absences and poorer educational performance as they are required to help with household work and lack guided learning at home. Children lose interest in studying, and those who miss upper-class admission because of seasonal migration drop out of school and join the migration. Parents select private or government schools for their children depending on remittance, quality of education, network availability, and future opportunities. Parents who had hardships during their migration are determined to educate their children in school, but they do not provide equal educational opportunities for boys and girls. Seasonal migrant workers anticipate that their children will engage in seasonal work during school breaks so that they can contribute to their schooling costs.

KEY WORDS: labor migration, left-behind children, parents, educational performance, Nepal.

CORRESPONDING AUTHOR:
Dipak Raj Rai, Singhania University, School of Applied and Social Science, Rajasthan, INDIA.

REFERENCES:

Acharya, C. P., & Leon-Gonzalez, R. (2019). The quest for quality education: international remittances and rural-urban migration in Nepal. Migration and Development, 8(2), 119-154. https://doi.org/10.1080/21632324.2018.1429834

Chen, A. (2012). The costs of class: Private schooling, parental choice, and class aspirations among Kathmandu’s working poor. https://digitalcollections.sit.edu/isp_collection/1644.

Chen, X., Huang, Q., Rozelle, S., Shi, Y., & Zhang, L. (2009). Effect of migration on children’s educational performance in rural China. Comparative Economic Studies, 51(3), 323-343. https://doi.org/10.1057/ces.2008.44

Chiang, Y., Hannum, E., & Kao, G. (2012). Who goes, who stays, and who studies? Gender, migration, and educational decisions among rural youth in China. International Journal of Chinese Education, 1(1), 106-131. https://doi.org/10.1163/221258612X644584

Dunusingha, P. (2020). Impact of parental migration on children’s education and protection: Evidence from Sri Lanka. Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities Review, 5(2), 98. https://doi.org/10.4038/jsshr.v5i2.56

Farre, L., Ortega, F., & Tanaka, R. (2018). Immigration and the public-private school choice. Labour Economics, 51(December 2017), 184-201. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.labeco.2018.01.001

Gurung, Y. B. (2011). Migration from rural Nepal: A social exclusion framework. Himalaya, 31(1-2), 37-52.

IOM (2019). Migration in Nepal: A country profile 2019. https://nepal.iom.int/sites/default/files/publication/Migration%20in%20Nepal%20-%20a%20Country%20Profile%202019.pdf.

Islam, M. M., Khan, M. N., & Mondal, M. N. I. (2019). Does parental migration have any impact on nutritional disorders among left-behind children in Bangladesh? Public Health Nutrition, 22(1), 95-103. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1368980018002963

Jaquet, S., Kohler, T., & Schwilch, G. (2019). Labour migration in the middle hills of Nepal: Consequences on land management strategies. Sustainability (Switzerland), 11(5), 1-19. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11051349

Khan, S. (2016). The impact of international migration on children’s education in rural Gujrat, Pakistan. International Journal of Social Science and Humanity, 6(3), 226-239. https://doi.org/10.7763/ijssh.2016.v6.647

Kunwar, L. S. (2022). Impacts of parental migration on children left behind. Cognition, 4(1), 34-42. https://doi.org/10.3126/cognition.v4i1.46441

Mckenzie, D., & Rapoport, H. (2011). Can migration reduce educational attainments? Depressing evidence from Mexico. Journal of Population Economics, 24(4), 1331-1358.

Piché, V. (2013). Contemporary migration theories as reflected in their founding texts. Population, 68(1), 141-164. https://doi.org/10.3917/pope.1301.0141

Plewa, P. (2013). Seasonal migration. The Encyclopedia of Global Human Migration, August. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781444351071.wbeghm474

Rai, D. R., & Dangal, M. R. (2021). The effect of migration on family in Nepal: A review on the family structure, livelihood, education, ageing parents, reproductive health and marital relationship. Open Journal for Anthropological Studies, 5(2), 49-60. https://doi.org/10.32591/coas.ojas.0502.02049r

Rai, D. R., & Dangal, M. R. (2022). Seasonal migration as a strategy for livelihood diversification and environmental adaptation in Nepal. African Journal of Social Work, 12(3), 81-90. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/362694296_Seasonal_migration_as_strategy_for_livelihood_diversification_and_environmental_adaptation_in_Nepal.

Sapkota, K. (2018). Seasonal labour migration and livelihood in the middle hills of Nepal: Reflections from Arghakhanchi District. Journal of Development Studies, 1(1), 42-57.

Sapkota, K. (2020). Women in foreign employment: Its impact on the left behind family members in Tanahun district, Nepal. Geographical Journal of Nepal, 13, 69-90. https://doi.org/10.3126/gjn.v13i0.28153

Shah, R. (2021). Seasonal migration and children’s education in India. Social and Political Research Foundation.

Sharma, B., & Dangal, M. R. (2019). Seasonal child labour in Nepal’s Brick Kilns: A study of its educational impact and parents’ attitudes towards it. Journal of Education and Work, 32(6-7), 586-597. https://doi.org/10.1080/13639080.2019.1673886

Sherpa, D. (2010). Labour migration and remittances in Nepal. ICIMOD.

Shonchoy, A. S. (2015). Seasonal migration and microcredit during agricultural lean seasons: Evidence from northwest Bangladesh. Developing Economies, 53(1), 1-26. https://doi.org/10.1111/deve.12063

Suppramaniam, S., Kularajasingam, J., & Sharmin, N. (2019). Factors influencing parents’ decision in selecting private schools in Chittagong city, Bangladesh. International Journal of Recent Technology and Engineering, 7(5), 318-330.

Tandukar, A., KC, S., Upreti, B. R., Paudel, S. B., Acharya, G., & Harvey, P. (2015). Education services and users’ perceptions of the state in Rolpa, Nepal (Issue August). www.securelivelihoods.org.

Wang, X., Bai, Y., Zhang, L., & Rozelle, S. (2017). Migration, schooling choice, and student outcomes in China. Population and Development Review, 43(4), 625-643. https://doi.org/10.1111/padr.12101

WFP, & NDRI. (2008). Passage to India: Migration as a coping strategy in times of crisis in Nepal. http://documents.wfp.org/stellent/groups/public/documents/ena/wfp194034.pdf.