Distress Seasonal Migration and its Impact on Children's Education
Drought and lack of work in villages forces entire families to migrate for several months every year in search of work in almost all arid parts of India. This report focuses on the difficulties that children face with schooling both in villages and at migration sites, and the conditions under which children drop out of schools, as well as the response or lack of response of local school systems to the education of migrant children in some areas. Primarily, this paper identifies major sectors and geographies of seasonal migration. For example, seasonal migration is especially high in industrial sectors, such as brick making, salt manufacture, sugar cane harvesting, stone quarrying, construction, fisheries, plantations and rice mills and appears to be in almost all states, although to varying degrees. The study estimates children accompanying their parents in the 0-14 year age-group may constitute about one-third of the total migrant population. However, the central and state governments still do not have accurate data with respect to children of seasonal migrants. The ‘sending areas' of most states are typically the remote and poorest regions, and districts in these areas are likely to have weaker governance compared to other areas. As a result, the functioning of school systems in these areas also tends to be inferior. Finally, the paper outlines the efforts made by government and NGOs to address problems facing children through alternative schooling, and provides recommendations for state and central governments in terms of policy and program interventions:
- Each receiving district should take responsibility for the education of all immigrating children for the duration that they are there, and proactively ensure that they have access to a school as soon as they arrive.
- The transition between site schools and village schools should be made smooth for children through proper coordination between receiving and sending districts. Rules and procedures related to readmission, attendance, examination and promotion need to be modified towards this end.
- Schools need to track the movement and progress of migrant children.
- Additional learning support needs to be provided for migrant children both at work sites and in villages when they return from migration.
- Local administrations need to track migrant children and monitor their coverage, retention and learning.