Can Child Migration in Nepal Be Explained Under the Modernisation Perspective
Author(s): Y.B.Gurung
Considering the situation of child migrants in Nepal, this paper tries to explain the migration of children in the context of modernization. Two theoretical frameworks from a modernization perspective have been adopted in this paper: an economic approach, developed by Arthur Lewis, to explaining the rural-urban migration, which looks at the migration of child labour from the agricultural sector to the urban secondary or tertiary informal sectors, and a sociological approach by Neil Smelser to explain structural changes of family as a result of modernization. The article starts with a discussion around conceptual and methodological issues, and gives an overview of child migration patterns in Nepal. The analysis of child migration from rural to urban areas indicates two main phenomena. First, the age range of migration has been extended as a result of a falling lower age limit - which challenges the findings of the age selective theory of migration. The second changing social element is that children have started to migrate by themselves, leaving parents and home behind, and have thus become migration actors in their own right. They are seen as having a much more active role in building their life and social sphere by themselves. Overall, the paper claims that the process of modernization has created a situation where child migrants have to develop their own survival strategy. On the other hand, this process has increased the pace of urban growth by creating several informal sectors ready to absorb child labourers. Consequently, within this process of capitalist socio-economic development, children are migrating to urban cities to become child labour as a survival strategy.