Three quarters of all those on the move are internal migrants, often moving from rural to urban areas to find better opportunities. Depending on the definition, Asia has the highest rates of internal migration, at each education level. The new UNESCO Global Education Monitoring Report, 'Building bridges, not walls,' looks at the implications for these movements on education systems.
Director of the GEM Report Manos Antoninis said that countries are underestimating the education needs of children on the move. "Many governments, such as India, have made efforts, including to track migrant children, to set up seasonal hostels or boarding schools and translate school materials," he said, "But they may be missing the bigger picture."
Schools must reflect cultural differences and improve teacher training. Until then, the value of an education will always lose to the attraction of earning money through work, he added.
The report further reads that in India 10.7 million rural children lived in households with a seasonal migrant in 2013. About 28 per cent of youth aged 15 to 19 in these households were illiterate or had not completed primary school, compared to a national average of 18 per cent. About 80 per cent of temporary migrant children in seven Indian cities lacked access to education near worksites. Children of brick kiln workers in Punjab state in 2015 were found to work 7-9 hours a day.
The report also warns of registration and documentation requirements set up to reduce migratory flows that make it harder to enter schools, and have effects even long after they have been eased.
Likewise, the report emphasises the acute education needs faced by children living in slums in the region. It estimates these needs will increase with 80 million more children expected to live in slums globally by 2030. While scarce, data tend to show that education in slums is far worse than in other urban areas.
Slum dwellers’ education needs are often severely impacted by eviction and resettlement: In India, 18 per cent of the students displaced by a River Front Project in Ahmedabad dropped out, and an additional 11 per cent had lower attendance. The 2016 India Habitat III national report committed the government to universal provision of basic services including education. Yet research from the same year showed that urban planners were not being trained to understand the particular needs of slum dwellers.
Children who have left home to become domestic workers are found to be the most vulnerable to exclusion from education.
The report further warns of the negative impact on children’s education that being left behind as parents migrate can have.
Director of the GEM Report Manos Antoninis said that countries are underestimating the education needs of children on the move. "Many governments, such as India, have made efforts, including to track migrant children, to set up seasonal hostels or boarding schools and translate school materials," he said, "But they may be missing the bigger picture."
Schools must reflect cultural differences and improve teacher training. Until then, the value of an education will always lose to the attraction of earning money through work, he added.
The report further reads that in India 10.7 million rural children lived in households with a seasonal migrant in 2013. About 28 per cent of youth aged 15 to 19 in these households were illiterate or had not completed primary school, compared to a national average of 18 per cent. About 80 per cent of temporary migrant children in seven Indian cities lacked access to education near worksites. Children of brick kiln workers in Punjab state in 2015 were found to work 7-9 hours a day.
The report also warns of registration and documentation requirements set up to reduce migratory flows that make it harder to enter schools, and have effects even long after they have been eased.
Likewise, the report emphasises the acute education needs faced by children living in slums in the region. It estimates these needs will increase with 80 million more children expected to live in slums globally by 2030. While scarce, data tend to show that education in slums is far worse than in other urban areas.
Slum dwellers’ education needs are often severely impacted by eviction and resettlement: In India, 18 per cent of the students displaced by a River Front Project in Ahmedabad dropped out, and an additional 11 per cent had lower attendance. The 2016 India Habitat III national report committed the government to universal provision of basic services including education. Yet research from the same year showed that urban planners were not being trained to understand the particular needs of slum dwellers.
Children who have left home to become domestic workers are found to be the most vulnerable to exclusion from education.
The report further warns of the negative impact on children’s education that being left behind as parents migrate can have.
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