International Male Migration and Its Impact on Education of Children and Wives Left Behind: Evidence from Punjab Pakistan

Abstract

It is observed that international migration is a growing phenomenon and has got considerable attention. It has profound effects on the source countries. In the present study, an effort has been made to identify the possible impact of migration on families left behind, with special focus on children's education and females. Migration of labor mobility affects the education of the family members in many ways i.e. remittance enables the migrant families to spend more amount on education, many problems faced by the wives of migrant left behind regarding the education of their children and work load. In-depth interviews were conducted from the respondents for the collection of data. The preliminary findings of the study show that emigration has left deep socialeconomic impacts on life standards of families left behind in Gujrat.

Impact of Parental Migration on Health of Left Behind Children

“…Parental absenteeism in the family seems to affect the psychological development and sense of insecurity in children. They feel less confident, insecure, loneliness and carelessness (Iqbal, Mozmi, Iqbal, & Saeed, 2014). Similarly, the male LBC is more vulnerable to psychopathology in SriLanka (Wickramage et al, 2015).…”

“…The highest risk is noted in boys aged between 6 and 11 years. They are found to be affected by somatic complaints, schizophrenia and depression (Iqbal et al, 2014;Qu et al, 2018). Children living with father rather than mother demonstrates such tendencies in Bangladesh (Islam et al, 2019).…”

“…PIM has a long-lasting impact on the behaviour of children (Zhang, 2019). Poor communication between parent and children is associated with children's disturbed mental health (Iqbal et al, 2014). Problems in communication with mother or father is associated with emotional symptoms and hyperactivity (Su et al, 2013).…”