2023 Volume 32 Issue 1 Pages 115-129
The number of internal migrants in The Republic of India (hereafter referred to as India) is increasing rapidly since the liberalization of its economy in 1991. This caused an increase in the number of school-aged children accompanying their parents on migrant work, and cases of such children not attending school have been identified.
The aim of this study is to identify the difficulties that internal migrant workers in India face in continuing their education when they migrate with their children and, from the perspective of the parents, why and how they overcome these challenges and try to ensure that their children receive a good education. The field research was conducted for two weeks in August 2022 in Udupi district, Karnataka state, southwest India. A questionnaire survey, semi-structured interviews, and participant observation were conducted with workers in a migrant community (hereafter referred to as Community X). To highlight the characteristics in India, results were also compared to the case in China, where the household registration system (Hukou) is a barrier to the education of migrant workers' children.
Migrant workers are trying to deliver education to their children despite facing four challenges caused by labour migration, and it is hard to say that they are not interested in their children's education. In order to overcome those challenges, they had the choice to send their children to school in their hometowns or to send them to student hostels in the migrant destination. Parents who choose to send their children to school in their hometown value the fact that their children are always looked after by adults, and that there is plenty of information about the school and the area, which enables them to make appropriate educational investments. Parents who choose to send to student hostels in the migrant destination focus on the quality of education in the migrant destination and choose it because their children are always looked after by adults and have access to a good learning environment.
The difference between these two choices was found to depend on what parents consider to be a ‘good education for their children. In other words, it can be said that parents who value a safe and nurturing environment based on their own experience will choose the school in their hometown, while parents with a passion for education who value the quality of education will choose the school in the migrant destination.
