THE IMPACT ON CHILDREN’S PRIMARY EDUCATION DUE TO THE TREND OF WOMEN LABOUR MIGRATION DURING THE CURRENT PERIOD OF ECONOMIC CRISIS IN SRI LANKA

Abstract

The migration of women abroad to provide labour began in the 1970s. The migration of women in Sri Lanka as housekeepers took place mainly focusing on the Middle Eastern region. Women are currently migrating to countries such as Dubai and Kuwait to work in the apparel industry as part of new trends in women's labor migration. The government has taken measures to encourage male migrants and reduce female labor migration due to the negative impact on children and social order caused by female emigration. Due to the current political and social instability and economic collapse in Sri Lanka, a new trend of women going abroad can be identified in violations of the various immigration laws imposed by the government on women's labor migration.Due to this, the family corporation and society are facing a serious situation where the mothers and guardian women of the children in primary education are going abroad. Thus, the main objective of this study is to investigate the impact of women's migration in Sri Lanka on children engaged in primary education. Here, both qualitative data and quantitative data were obtained using mixed methods research. In the primary data collection, interviews and observations were used as methodological tools. In the secondary data collection, Sri Lanka Foreign Employment Bureau reports, Central Bank reports, Ministry of Education reports, Grama Niladhari, and Family Health Officer reports were used as the methodological tools. With the currenteconomic crisis in Sri Lanka, the labor migration of women has accelerated again, also a form of illegal migration can also be identified. In this situation,migrant women suffer from various problems and violence and many problems are arising in the socialization process, safety, education, and nutrition of children of primary education age. Due to this, many problems have arisen such as failure of the child's education, various cases of abuse,exploitation of the child's labor, nutritional problems in the child, and development of deviant behaviors in the child. Accordingly, our study concludes that in the face of the current economic crisis, the acceleration of women's labor migration has faced many challenges for these children receiving primary education and that the number of these children may increase in the future.