International Journal of Research in Humanities and Social Studies Volume 3, Issue 4, April 2016, PP 57-63 ISSN 2394-6288 (Print) & ISSN 2394-6296 (Online) *Address for correspondence: mpagasty@gmail.com International Journal of Research in Humanities and Social Studies V3 ● I4 ● April 2016 57 Migration of Labour and its Impact on Education of Left behind Children: A Case Study of Rural Odisha Mahendra P. Agasty, Ph. D Asst. Professor of Economics, Silicon Institute of Technology, Bhubaneswar, Silicon Hills, Patia, Bhubaneswar Odisha ABSTRACT Number of studies have shown that adult male migration from rural areas for harnessing better employment opportunities, assist in achieving financial stability to the migrants family but research shows that the absence of parent can be detrimental to a child’s social and psychological development. Migration of adult household members can affect the education of the Children who are left behind in several ways. On the basis of a sample survey of 200 households spread over six villages in three blocks of Kendrapara district in Odisha, India, this paper analyses the educational status of the children left behind. The results indicate that migration matters for the education of children. It is evident from the study that enrolment-wise children of migrant households are ahead of those of returned migrant and non-migrant households, in the case of school attendance, continuation in education and educational attainment they lag behind the children in the latter two categories of household Keywords: migration, migrants, non-migrants, Children’s education JEL classification: J16, J61, I 19, I 21 INTRODUCTION Adult male rural out-migrants are an important labour group in all the urban areas in India. Many of them live in the urban destinations as singles leaving their wives, children and parents in the native places. They maintain links with their kith and kin left behind through visits, communications and remittances. Such links are important threads although they are not enough compensation for the emotional deficiency and care vacuum created by their absence for those left behind. Despite sincere endeavour by migrants to improve the quality of their children through remittances funded education, the learning outcomes and educational attainment may fall short of the expectations due to absence of father care and guidance and the children left behind may be left further behind. REVIEW OF LITIRATURE Education and educational attainment of the children who are left behind in the migrant households have become an important and emerging issue broadly because most of the migration is by adult males rather than their entire households and in such cases the school-aged children are left in the village at the care of the mother and grandparents when their fathers move to the urban areas for work (Wu,2004).The literature on this issue is largely diverse with some pointing to a positive relation between adult male migration and education of the left-behind children and others indicating an inverse relationship. Looking at the relationship as a complex one, McKenzie and Rapoport (2006) argue that migration influences educational decisions through three distinct channels: the positive income effect brought about by remittances providing resources for education, the negative substitution effect in terms of demand for child labour and a prospective effect indicated by the desire to invest in education to increase the prospects of migration of future adults. From their study in rural Mexico, they found that migration being a survival strategy, the migrants may not be able to send remittances. Children of migrant households are less likely to be attending schools and complete few years of schooling than those of non-migrant households, the negative effect being very strong among 16-18 year old girls. They interpret it as substitution of schooling by work. Hu’s study (2013) in north-east China points to remittances having a positive effect and parental migration having a negative impact on educational performance of left behind children.