Education and Migration in an Asian Context (Economics, Law, and Institutions in Asia Pacific) 9813362871, 9789813362871

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Economics, Law, and Institutions in Asia Pacific

Francis Peddie Jing Liu   Editors

Education and Migration in an Asian Context 123

Economics, Law, and Institutions in Asia Pacific Series Editor Makoto Yano, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI), Tokyo, Japan

The Asia Pacific region is expected to steadily enhance its economic and political presence in the world during the twenty-first century. At the same time, many serious economic and political issues remain unresolved in the region. To further academic enquiry and enhance readers’ understanding about this vibrant region, the present series, Economics, Law, and Institutions in Asia Pacific, aims to present cutting-edge research on the Asia Pacific region and its relationship with the rest of the world. For countries in this region to achieve robust economic growth, it is of foremost importance that they improve the quality of their markets, as history shows that healthy economic growth cannot be achieved without high-quality markets. High-quality markets can be established and maintained only under a well-designed set of rules and laws, without which competition will not flourish. Based on these principles, this series places a special focus on economic, business, legal, and institutional issues geared towards the healthy development of Asia Pacific markets. The series considers book proposals for scientific research, either theoretical or empirical, that is related to the theme of improving market quality and has policy implications for the Asia Pacific region. The types of books that will be considered for publication include research monographs as well as relevant proceedings. The series show-cases work by Asia-Pacific-based researchers but also encourages the work of social scientists not limited to the Asia Pacific region. Each proposal and final manuscript is subject to evaluation by the editorial board and experts in the field. All books and chapters in the Economics, Law, and Institutions in Asia Pacific book series are indexed in Scopus. Editorial Board Aoki, Reiko (Commissioner, Japan Fair Trade Commission, Japan) Chun, Youngsub (Professor of Economics, Seoul National University, Korea) Dixit, Avinash K. (John J. F. Sherrerd ’52 University Professor of Economics, Emeritus, Princeton University, USA) Fujita, Masahisa (Fellow, The Japan Academy, Japan) Kamihigashi, Takashi (Director and Professor, Center for Computational Social Science (CCSS), Kobe University, Japan) Kawai, Masahiro (Project Professor, Graduate School of Public Policy, The University of Tokyo, Japan) Kojma, Fuhito (Professor, Faculty of Economics, The University of Tokyo, Japan) Lo, Chang-fa (Honourable Justice, The Constitutional Court, Taiwan) Matsushita, Mitsuo (Professor Emeritus, The University of Tokyo, Japan) Nishimura, Kazuo (Professor, Research Institute for Economics and Business Administration (RIEB) and Interfaculty Initiative in the Social Sciences (IISS), Kobe University, Japan; Fellow, The Japan Academy, Japan) Yabushita, Shiro (Professor Emeritus, Waseda University, Japan) Yoshino, Naoyuki (Professor Emeritus of Keio University; Director of Financial Research Center, Financial Services Agency, Government of Japan)

More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/13451

Francis Peddie · Jing Liu Editors

Education and Migration in an Asian Context

Editors Francis Peddie Graduate School of International Development Nagoya University Nagoya, Aichi, Japan

Jing Liu Graduate School of Education Tohoku University Sendai, Miyagi, Japan

ISSN 2199-8620 ISSN 2199-8639 (electronic) Economics, Law, and Institutions in Asia Pacific ISBN 978-981-33-6287-1 ISBN 978-981-33-6288-8 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-33-6288-8 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. The registered company address is: 152 Beach Road, #21-01/04 Gateway East, Singapore 189721, Singapore

Preface

The genesis of examining the multiple connections between education, migration, and human development came from extensive discussions and shared overseas fieldwork experience between Jing Liu and Francis Peddie (the co-editors of this volume) during their time working together and sharing an office at the Graduate School of International Development, Nagoya University. This motivation was channeled by Liu into forming a roundtable team that could illustrate the various ways that migration, education, and development connect and shape each other. In November 2019, five of the seven contributors to this volume presented together at the Japan Association for Human Security Studies (JAHSS) and Japan Society for International Development (JASID) Joint International Conference in Tokyo, Japan. The conference ran under the theme of Refugees/Migrants and Education/Employment: Seeking to Ensure Human Security. Within this context, the contributors to this volume presented a roundtable moderated by Liu, by this time at Tohoku University, entitled Migration, Displacement and Education in the Asian Context. The roundtable team members’ individual research ostensibly had little in common other than the key words of migration and education, but it was under the paradigm of human development discussion that the point of cohesion was identified. Whether dealing with a fairly typical international labor migration and human capital accumulation question, such as in Peddie’s research, or with the long-term impact of forced displacement on educational outcomes, as in Yuji Utsumi’s study, the basis that united the disparate investigations was the question of how did mobility and education considerations ultimately affect human development outcomes. This volume takes up that point of commonality and expands on it by adding two additional contributors whose research explore cases and places that were not present in the original five-member team in order to enrich the analysis of how different conditions of migration, socioeconomic class and loci of movement impact and are impacted by levels of education and training. The volume you are now reading is the result of pulling together these diverse strands of research on migration and education in the physical context of Asia, with the constant question in the background of how human mobility and learning connect to the human development of the people who are the subjects of each individual piece of research. It is the sincere hope of the contributors that, by presenting our findings through this volume, we contribute to the understanding of the nexus v

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between education, migration, and human development within the vast and diverse geographical region called Asia, and spur other researchers and students to fill the gaps in our work and thus further expand the body of knowledge available to us all on these important human issues. We feel this volume will be of interest to students and university faculties who study issues of education and/or migration and policy makers at various levels of government administration who deal with these issues. One caveat that must be added is that the research for this volume and the roundtable that brought the various studies together took place before the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020. As such, the effects of travel restrictions and increased border control measures that limit migration within nations and across borders are not reflected in this work, although they will certainly influence future discussions of migration. Similarly, access to education and related questions such as school choice will also be altered by the reality of stay-at-home orders, to say nothing of budget constraints stemming from the economic crisis of the pandemic that will be felt from families all the way up to national governments that will almost certainly have negative effects on educational options and outcomes. Sendai, Japan Nagoya, Japan September 2020

Jing Liu Francis Peddie

Contents

1 Introduction: Education and Migration in the Asian Context . . . . . . . Jing Liu and Francis Peddie 2 Building Educational Community for Left-Behind Children in Rural China: A Case Study of a Small Rural School in Hubei Province . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jing Liu 3 Migration and Human Capital: Education and Training Considerations Among International Labor Migrants, Municipality of Rizal, the Philippines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Francis Peddie 4 Migration and Settlement of First-Generation Japanese–Peruvians and the Educational Challenges of Second-Generation Nikkei in Japan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jakeline Lagones 5 Going Home to Learn: Educational Journeys of Children in Filipino Transnational Families in Japan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Derrace G. McCallum

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6 Optimizing the Benefits from Schooling: School-Switching Behavior Among Return Migrants in India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115 Adrienne Lee Atterberry 7 Reconsidering Inclusive Migrant Education: The Case of Burmese Migrant Youth in Thailand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137 On Ni Chan 8 Impact of Armed Conflict on Education in Timor-Leste . . . . . . . . . . . . 153 Yuji Utsumi 9 Conclusion: Linking Education and Migration in the Asian Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187 Francis Peddie vii

Editors and Contributors

About the Editors Francis Peddie is an associate professor in the Peace and Governance Program of the Graduate School of International Development, Nagoya University, Japan. He holds a doctorate in history from York University (Canada) in Latin American and Canadian social history and is the author of Young, Well-Educated and Adaptable: Chilean Exiles in Ontario and Quebec, 1973–2010 (University of Manitoba Press, 2014). His current research focuses on labor migration from a small town in the Philippines, an ongoing examination of the Japanese Technical Intern Trainee Program and the changes taking place in Japanese immigration policy. Jing Liu is an associate professor at the Graduate School of Education, Tohoku University, Japan. He received his doctorate in international development from the Graduate School of International Development, Nagoya University, Japan, where he served as an assistant professor from 2013 to 2017. His dissertation, The Development of Inequality in Public School Admission: Public Discourses on Zexiao and Practices in Urban China, received the Best Dissertation Award from the Institute for International Studies in Education of the University of Pittsburgh (USA), and the Asia Pacific Research Prize (Commendation) from the Asia Pacific Forum, Awaji Conference Japan, in 2013. This dissertation was published by Springer under the title Inequality in Public School Admission in Urban China: Discourses, Practices, and New Solutions. His research areas include sociology of education, international and comparative education, and education for sustainability. He began his studies on education in 2007 and has accumulated considerable experience in researching educational development in East Asia and in Southeast Asia. His current research projects include school collaboration for school improvement in China and Japan, small-scale schools and quality education in rural China, education for left-behind children in rural China, and transformation of higher education for sustainability in Asia.

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Contributors Adrienne Lee Atterberry is a doctoral candidate in sociology at The Maxwell School of Syracuse University, USA. Her research interests include parenting, education, and migration among US immigrant populations. She is a past recipient of a Fulbright Grant and currently holds a STEM Graduate Fellowship. In 2019 she received the Graduate Student Best Paper Award, Department of Sociology, Syracuse University, for the paper “Pathways to U.S. higher education: Capital, citizenship and Indian women MBA students” and the Marleigh Grayer Ryan Award at the New York Conference on Asian Studies for the paper “Schooling within a transnational context: Examining Indian American return migrants’ K-12 school-choice decisions.” She is the author of the chapter “Pathways to US Higher Education: Capital, Citizenship, and Indian Women MBA Students” and of pp. 43–61 in Understanding International Students from Asia in American Universities: Learning and Living Globalization, edited by Yingyi Ma and Martha A. Garcia-Murillo. Published by Springer, the book received Honorable Mention for the 2019 Best Book Award in the category of Study Abroad and International Students SIG, Comparative and International Education Society. On Ni Chan is a third-year Ph.D. student in the Graduate School of International Development, Nagoya University, Japan. She is also a third-batch fellowship recipient of the Women Leaders Program to Promote Well-Being in Asia, one of the six Nagoya University Leading Graduate School Programs. Raised in a Chinese migrant family residing in Hong Kong and later in the United States, On Ni has been educated in Hong Kong, the United States, and now Japan. Considering herself a fortunate beneficiary of education offered in different parts of the world first as a local and later a migrant student, On Ni has a keen research interest in the education of adolescent migrants in Asia. While integrating migrant students into mainstream schools seems to be the dominant approach to tackle migrant education problems, many migrants are still excluded from the regular education system. Thus her current Ph.D. study focuses on the education of Burmese migrants in Mae Sot, Thailand. It poses questions about the conventional integration approach that claims to operate under the moral imperative of social inclusion while tending to overlook other education barriers such as language, age, and documentation status of young migrants. Jakeline Lagones assistant professor at the University of Kansai Gaidai in Osaka, Japan. She has a Ph.D. in international development from Nagoya University. Her research interests are focused on migration and education in Japan. Her publications include “Challenges of Nikkei Peruvian Second-Generation in Japan: An Overview of Their Employment Status After the Lehman Shock 2008” in the Journal of Asian Social Science 11(26) (2015) and “Socioeconomic Characteristics of FirstGeneration Nikkei Peruvians Who Remained in Japan During and After the Lehman Shock (2009–2014)” in the Forum of International Development Studies 47(1) (2016). She was invited as a scholar by The Japan Foundation in 2004 to observe

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the Japanese education system and also as a Monbukagakusho (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology) scholar in 2005. She is a member of the Japanese Hispanic Association and the Japanese Association for Latin American Studies. Her current research project, as a principal investigator, is “Development of Japanese Customs as Citizenship Formation in Latin America: Evaluation of the linkage between curriculum and practice of citizenship formation in PeruvianNikkei and non-Nikkei-schools”, supported by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Derrace G. McCallum is an assistant professor of English and cultural studies in the Department of Global Liberal Arts at Aichi University in Nagoya, Japan. His main research interests include migration, transnationalism, family, race and ethnicity, multiculturalism, gender, care, and social policy. He is the author of Untold Stories: Jamaican Transnational Mothers in New York City and Typologies of Caring Roles in Filipino Transnational Families: An Analysis of Care Circulation from a Life Course Perspective. He is currently conducting research regarding the transition of Japan into a more multicultural society, primarily focusing on the experiences of relatively new migrant groups. His current research focus also includes the individual and collective experiences of members of Filipino transnational families in Japan. Yuji Utsumi is an associate professor in the Education and Human Resource Development Program of the Graduate School of International Development, Nagoya University, Japan. He holds a doctorate in international studies from Waseda University and previously worked for various educational development agencies including UNESCO and UNICEF in Thailand, Afghanistan, Timor-Leste, Jordan, and Sri Lanka before entering academia. His areas of expertise include education and conflict, education statistics, school effectiveness research, and education sector planning and policy formulation, especially in Asian countries. One of his recent publications, “The Effect of School Factors on Education Outcome for Students Exposed to Conflict: A Case Study of Conflict and National Student Examination in TimorLeste,” Journal of International Development Studies (Vol. 26, No. 1, 2017) received the Incentive (Shorei) Award from the Japan Society for International Development.

Chapter 1

Introduction: Education and Migration in the Asian Context Jing Liu and Francis Peddie

Abstract In 2015, global society through the voice of the United Nations (UN) announced the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Among 17 goals of the Agenda, Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 10 aims at reducing inequality. One of the targets is to facilitate orderly, safe, regular and responsible migration and mobility of people. Moreover, within SDG 4, the global community has called for inclusive and equitable quality education and the promotion of lifelong learning opportunities for all. In both developed and developing countries, migrants and the displaced are in vulnerable situations. How to ensure equal access to all levels of education and vocational training for them has become a priority for governments in both destination and origin areas. Following the global commitments of the SDGs, in 2016, the UN endorsed the New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants, which includes addressing the establishment of a responsibility-sharing mechanism to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for migrant children and youth.

1.1 Education and Migration in the Asian Context In 2015, global society through the voice of the United Nations (UN) announced the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Among 17 goals of the Agenda, Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 10 aims at reducing inequality. One of the targets is to facilitate orderly, safe, regular and responsible migration and mobility of people (UN-ESCAP 2015). Moreover, within SDG 4, the global community has called for inclusive and equitable quality education and the promotion of lifelong learning opportunities for all. In both developed and developing countries, migrants J. Liu Graduate School of Education, Tohoku University, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan e-mail: [email protected] F. Peddie (B) Graduate School of International Development, Nagoya University, Nagoya, Aichi, Japan e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 F. Peddie and J. Liu (eds.), Education and Migration in an Asian Context, Economics, Law, and Institutions in Asia Pacific, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-33-6288-8_1

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and the displaced are in vulnerable situations. How to ensure equal access to all levels of education and vocational training for them has become a priority for governments in both destination and origin areas. Following the global commitments of the SDGs, in 2016, the UN endorsed the New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants, which includes addressing the establishment of a responsibility-sharing mechanism to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for migrant children and youth (UN-ESCAP 2015; UN General Assembly 2018). The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has been taking initiatives aimed at the integration and social cohesion of migrants within societies. By linking education to migration, the efforts of the international community give emphasis to access to education, which is fundamental to life opportunities, economic and civic activities and diverse types of integration. They also stress the cross-cutting role of migration in constructing a sustainable society in the twentyfirst century. In addition, they point out that there are multifaceted processes between migration and education involving diverse stakeholders, such as individuals, schools, communities, families, regions and countries. Migration and education enable individuals to develop knowledge, skills and competencies. At same time, the population flows have impacts on the educational development of a society (IOM 2018a). Asia is the largest and most populous continent, and remarkably diverse culturally, socially and in terms of economic prosperity and level of development. As such, tackling the issue of migration and attempting to draw a comprehensive picture of how it plays out in Asia could be seen as a fool’s errand. The sheer size of the region means that it is difficult to cover all its sub-regions, as is reflected in this volume, which contains research on south, south-east and east Asian countries, but not central or west Asia. On the other hand, it is this very diversity of condition that, in the words of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN-ESCAP) sets ‘the stage for large-scale and structural patterns of international migration’ (2015, 57) between high-income countries such as Japan, South Korea and Singapore (receiver nations), middle-income countries that are simultaneously senders and receivers (Thailand and China), and lower income countries that primarily feature as migrant-sending nations (the Philippines and Myanmar in this volume, for example). However, it is also important to recognize that international labor migration does not define migration as a whole; internal migration and forced migration are also essential elements of how people move—or are to be moved—in Asia. In fact, in numerical terms, internal migration is much larger than international migration (International Organization for Migration [IOM] 2018a), and the internally displaced are a growing phenomenon who outnumber refugees and asylum seekers (Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre 2019). The contributions to this volume attempt to take into account different forms of migration rather than narrowly focus on international labor migration. They include the consequences for the education of children left behind by internal migrants in China, the educational outcomes for forcefully displaced children in Timor-Leste, and liminal cases that combine elements of forced and voluntary migration in the case of On Ni Chan’s examination of school choice among youth from Myanmar in the border region of Thailand. UN-ESCAP

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underlines the complexity of the term international migration by dividing it into subcategories of temporary labor migration (which also encompasses high-skilled and irregular migration), refugees and asylum seekers, permanent settlement, seasonal employment programs, marriage migration and international students (2015, 19–46). To these categories this volume adds internal migration and the internally displaced, as well as including return migrants, who are not considered in the UN-ESCAP report. While the chapters in this volume do not exhaustively cover every kind of migration that could be considered, they do touch on many. In global terms, movement within, into and out of Asia is a large and growing reality. The share of the global migration from Asia soared from 8% in 1960 to 58% in 2017 (Annan-Diab and Molinari 2017). Data from the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs Population Division (UN-DESA) (2017, 5) reveals that Asia is the largest destination of international migrants and that, between 2000 and 2017, Asia had passed Europe in this regard, with an estimated 79.6 million to Europe’s 77.9 million. Furthermore, approximately 66 million of the 79.6 million total, or nearly 80%, was inter-Asian movement, by far the highest level of migration within the same broad geographic region (UN-DESA 2017, 11). Within the chapters of this volume, the migrations described are all within Asia or directed toward Asian nations in whole or in part. The signs of mobility growth are not confined to Asia, but part of a broader trend of higher levels of internal and international migration that has seen the percentage of international migrants as part of the overall global population increase from 2.3% in 1970 to 2.9% in 1990 at the end of the Cold War, surpass 3% by 2010, and reach 3.4% by 2017, accounting for 258 million people; by 2019, this number was 272 million (IOM 2018b, 15; UN-DESA 2017, 4; 2019, iv). There are many interconnected reasons for the growth of migration, such as mitigation of migration policies in the destination, including more highly integrated global markets, improved transportation and communication technologies, and more international agreements governing movement and the treatment of migrants that fall under the overall rubric of globalization that accelerated with the end of Cold War limitations and opening-up policies in Asian countries such as China and Vietnam. However, even these important factors on their own cannot explain the growth in migration; increased internal conflict and catastrophic natural disasters have displaced greater numbers of people in recent decades both within the borders of their own nations and across international frontiers (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees [UNHCR] 2018, 6–7). In the same vein, the depopulation of rural areas and steady growth of urbanization also play key roles in the migration discussion (Tacoli et al. 2014, 5–6). Added to this is the aging society phenomenon, especially prevalent in developed nations in parts of the European Union, east Asia, North America and the large nations of Oceania, which are now and increasingly will be dependent on international migration to fill their labor market needs and support the social welfare systems which are pillars of their comfortable standards of living (UN-DESA 2019, 26–30). Taking all of these factors into consideration provides a comprehensive explanation for why more people are on the move throughout the world, and increasingly within, to and from Asia.

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One of the possible explanations for this recent ascendency of Asia as a major locus of migration may be a simple matter of economics. By early 2020, three of the five largest economies in the world were found in Asia: China, Japan and India, at second, third and fifth respectively (Bajpai 2020). However, this monocausal explanation is insufficient to explain Asia’s increasing prominence in discussions of migration when consideration is given to where people are moving within Asia, and for what reasons. The 2019 data from UN-DESA shows that of the top 10 migrant-hosting nations, only two, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, are parts of Asia (11). Within these two countries, which are more commonly identified as being part of region called the Middle East rather than as Asian countries (which geographically they are), the overwhelming majority of migrants are temporary labor migrants from other Asian nations, with south Asian migrants playing a particularly large role in this migration corridor (UN-DESA 2019, 12). The overall numbers of international migrants for Asia are also strongly affected by the large number of refugees from Syria and Afghanistan and hosted in nations of the Middle East/western Asia or south Asia, in particular Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon for Syrians, and Iran and Pakistan for Afghans (Pew Research Center 2016). In a sense, the increased prominence of Asia in migration research and discussion has to do with movement centered in a part of the continent that is not even considered in this volume. Nonetheless, the chapters featured in this book encompass research that focus on the three largest economies of Asia as well as other important nations involved in migration, and present a panoply of motivations and reasons why people move both within the continent and outside of it, and even within their own national territories. China and India both attract migrants and send considerable numbers abroad, with India featuring in the top 20 immigrant sender and receiver lists for 2017 (UN-DESA 2017, 6, 14). The presence of both countries on the top-sender lists is consistent from 2000 to 2017, as is also the place of the Philippines in the top 10 of migrant-sending nations over the same time span. The pictures presented in the research include standard international labor migration and conflict-related displacement that typify the dynamism of mobility to and in west Asia, but have added layers of consistency and complexity gained from expanding the scope to consider migration paired with another vital consideration, that of education. While there is a cogent argument to be made that the pairing of migration and education is analytically precarious, given that education is something that affects the vast majority of the world’s inhabitants, while migration is the experience of a much smaller percentage of the population (Fargues 2017, 30), the studies in this volume show that there is a deep and important connection between how migration and education shape and are shaped by each other. While the nexus between these two subjects may not seem obvious at first glance, it becomes more apparent when migration and education are paired through the prism of development and, in particular, the consideration of human development. The contributions of both migration and education to development are now taken as common sense, at least in most academic literature and the work of intergovernmental organizations (UN-DESA 2017, highlights page; Clemens 2017, 3–4), but this was not always the case with the issue of migration. This was particularly the case of international migration, which was taken as a sign of development failure (Clemens

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2017, 1). The emergence of research on how migration affects development outcomes in migrant-sending countries rather than largely prioritizing socio-economic and cultural impacts in receiving countries has helped to expand the understanding of both the positive and negative implications of human movement from a more holistic point of view. Both sides of this equation, and the specific ways in which migration acts as a motor of development, are comprehensively described in the 2018 United Nations General Assembly International Migration and Development Report of the Secretary-General (2018, 7): There is substantial evidence…to demonstrate the impact of migration on development. In 2017, officially recorded remittances to low- and middle-income countries reached $466 billion. Remittances have helped to lift millions of people out of poverty, contributing to improvements in food security, education, health, well-being and housing for families and communities in countries of origin. However, the contribution of migration to sustainable development goes far beyond personal financial transfers and includes the transfer of skills and knowledge through formal and informal education and the promotion of trade and investment, often involving well-organized and cohesive diaspora populations. Moreover, in countries of destination, migrants often fill gaps in the labour market and compensate for shortages in the workforce caused by demographic shifts or other factors. Migrants often perform jobs shunned by local workers, thus complementing the local labour force. As entrepreneurs, migrants often create jobs and contribute to the fiscal base. Yet, migration can also bring challenges. In small developing countries, for example, emigration may contribute to shortages of skilled workers, including health workers. In destination countries, large inflows of migrants can displace local workers and create other challenges, especially in the short term.

As this statement underlines, the economic and labor market benefits of migration for migrants themselves, their families and communities left behind, and the society that receives them are now well established, though not without some negative effects. The importance of migration as an element of development is enshrined in the UN’s SDGs, as mentioned previously. To be specific, Target 10.7 of Goal 10 (Reduce Inequalities) specifically deals with migration policy and the fair and orderly governance of migration, and 10.C deals with the important issue of reducing remittance transactions costs. The treatment of migrants is also featured in Goals 3 (Health), 4 (Education, specifically international students), 8 (Decent Work), 11 (Sustainable Cities), 13 (Climate Action), and 17 (Partnerships); Goals 5 (Gender Equality) and 16 (Peaceful Societies) contain points that address eliminating trafficking in women and girls, which constitutes a form of forced migration (IOM 2018b). For the international community, the link between development and migration has become a given. Research shows that remittances gained through international migration improve the socio-economic resources of migrant families, increase spending on education and housing, and enhance human capital development in origin areas (Fargues 2017; Fong and Shibuya 2020; UNESCO 2019; Yang 2008). As an example, international migrants from Indonesia and Philippines spent remittance on human capital investment through providing education for children and health care (Cabegin and Alba 2014; Rahman and Fee 2009). In the Philippines, school attendance increased and

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child labor decreased in households with international migrants (Yang 2008). Remittances, in other words, have brought long-term economic and human development (Fargues 2017). These considerations that are tied to economic benefit but go beyond it are also present in the development discussion. In particular, the development and transfer of skills and knowledge and the contribution of migration to different forms of education are concerns that fall under the rubric of human development, which, as described by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) ‘is about expanding the richness of human life, rather than simply the richness of the economy in which human beings live. It is an approach that is focused on people and their opportunities and choices’ (UNDP, n.d.). This more comprehensive definition of development allows the examination of two seemingly distinct phenomena, such as migration and education, as connected issues in the development puzzle. When migration is a choice, it opens up lanes of opportunity for migrants and their families to augment their human capital. This can be through developing knowledge and technical skills through work or study on the part of the migrant, or by the oft-mentioned issue of improved educational opportunities for the children of migrants owing to the increased income gained through remittance or by relocation to a developed nation with a well-functioning school system. While he also raises caveats, Fargues (2017, 30) points to a ‘synergy’ between migration and education in relation to human development: On the one hand, education raises both individuals’ expectations and their opportunities, and their aspirations as well as their ability to fulfil them in a variety of places. On the other side migration increases the material and intangible resources that make education desirable and attainable for the migrant and their children.

Besides economic remittances, a concept of ‘social remittances’ generates discussion on migration-driven cultural dissemination from receiving to sending countries through international migration. These resources, such as ideas, behaviors, identities and social capital, have important roles in promoting migrant entrepreneurship, community and family formation (Levitt 1998; Levitt and Lamba-Nieves 2011). The consideration of the non-economic factors tied to human movement forms one of the foundations for the present volume combining migration and education. There is a complex two-way relationship between education and migration. On one hand, migration can affect education. In destination countries, migration requires systems to accommodate the educational needs of those who move in. Also, it brings challenges to the local education system to provide accessible and quality education for the newcomers in the host country. Moreover, it requires stakeholders in destination countries to provide education with inclusiveness and diversity to accommodate the needs from the newcomers as well as enrich school curriculum and activities by recognizing the diversity migrants bring to the host society. At the same time, migration generates educational changes in areas of origin. Remittances sent back provide incentive for the left-behind to acquire more and better education. However, the size of schools shrinks due to depopulation in the area of origin. The absence of migrant parents has an impact on the left-behind children’s education and growth (UNESCO 2019). On the other hand, education also influences migration. Education is a key

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driver for people to migrate and one of the important pre-conditions for people to choose migration. The more educated are more likely to move, and education gained in the destination country enhances migrants’ capacity and social mobility. On the social level, education has the potential to positively reduce prejudices and discrimination against migrants and enhance respect for diversity. However, the migration of the educated may lead to brain drain in areas of origin that will limit the development of the affected area. It may also negatively divide local communities through educational segregation (Fargues 2017; UNESCO 2019). However, the education–migration nexus is not confined to cross-border movement. In Asia, the number of internal migrants is 3.5 times greater than international migrants (Bell and Charles-Edwards 2013). In the context of internal migration, with a rapid urbanization, there is an increasing level of rural to urban migration in Asian countries. Research shows that rural to urban migration improves education attainment. In Indonesia, school-age children who moved to urban areas completed three more years of education than those who did not (Resosudarmo and Suryadarma 2014). On the other hand, institutional barriers affect internal migrant children’s access to quality education in urban areas. The household registration systems in China and Vietnam restricted internal migrant children’s access to public schools in destination areas (Cameron 2012; Liu 2018; Liu and Jacob 2013). Moreover, although the household registration system has been revised to decouple registration and access to social services, there are other barriers persisting for these migrants. In China, internal migrant children’s continuity of education is affected by parents’ socio-economic status, complicated application procedures for migrant children’s admission to urban schools, exclusion of migrant children from entrance examinations to colleges in destination areas, and inconsistency of curricula between destination and origin areas (Zhou and Cheung 2017). On the other hand, internal migration causes critical educational challenges for the left-behind children and their well-being in areas of origin. Research shows there is a high drop-out issue among left-behind children, limited communication between left-behind children and parents, mental health challenges, and negative emotional symptoms and peer relationships among children left behind in Vietnam, the Philippines and Cambodia (Fong and Shibuya 2020; Viet Nguyen 2016; Vutha et al. 2014). In China, a rapid rural-to-urban migration left millions of children in origin areas. Although living standards might be improved by remittances sent back by their parents working outside their home towns, with depopulation and consolidation of public schools in rural areas, education for children left behind is at risk. With school closure in their communities, left-behind children have to go to center schools in towns that are far away from their homes. Even when they can study within their communities, the learning environment cannot fully accommodate their educational needs. The level of school infrastructure and quality of teachers are much lower than the ones in the town. Studies have shown there are various risks, such as low academic performance, effects on mental and psychological well-being, and problems in their relationships with parents who are away from them. In recent years, the Chinese government has been taking initiatives to accommodate the educational

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needs of the left-behind children for education through policy support and alternative collaboration with diverse stakeholders (Hannum et al. 2018; UNESCO 2019). Displacement is another discussion when it comes to talking about migration and education. There are various types of displacement, such as asylum seekers, those displaced due to conflict, and people displaced by natural disasters. According to UNESCO and UNICEF (2020), there is an increase in the number of forcibly displaced people in the Asia-Pacific region. UNESCO (2019) points out that displaced people are often from vulnerable communities with limited social welfare and limited education resources. As Yuji Utsumi’s chapter in this volume shows, the largely win–win results for migrants, sending and receiving societies, both in terms of economic and human development, are predicated on movement being voluntary. Forced migration within or across borders will result in profoundly negative effects on human development, to say nothing of economic status. It is important to consider that migration may not be a choice, and that one of the areas of human development that will be negatively affected will be the development of human capital through education and training. The lack of opportunity for education among refugees, asylum seekers and the internally displaced cannot help but have long-term implications for the richness of their lives and the possibilities they have to maximize their well-being. Even if the areas of Asia that are experiencing the greatest issues with conflict and displacement are not represented in this volume, the case of Timor-Leste that Utsumi illustrates proves that disruption and displacement have tangible negative results on the educational and human development possibilities immediately and over time. As previously discussed, the education of the children of international migrants is influenced by policies in destination countries. The right to education has been ensured in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child as a basic right. The UN General Assembly also adopted the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families in 1990 (United Nations 1948, 1990). However, only approximately 25% of countries in the world have ratified this convention. In many countries there are various barriers which are challenging the universal commitment. First, undocumented international migrants have limited access to local education in destination areas. Moreover, the gap between policy making and policy implementation poses risks for undocumented international migrants who want to enroll their children in authorized schools. In Thailand, inconsistency of policy implementation to provide education for undocumented migrant children caused obstacles for them to access schooling safely (Nawarat 2017). This issue also features in Chan’s chapter in this volume. In Malaysia, the government amended the Education Act of 1996 to limit access to free education to foreign children without proper documentation (Lumayag 2016). Second, lack of language proficiency widely used in receiving societies causes barriers to education for international migrant children while also excluding migrant children from the mainstream society. In Japan, migrant children who cannot speak Japanese face disadvantages in school. If migrant parents do not have Japanese proficiency, schooling for their children in Japanese schools will become difficult (Asis and Feranil 2020; Tokunaga 2018). Third, lack of inclusiveness in education in receiving countries blocks full and quality participation in

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education and social involvement in receiving countries for migrant children. These include inappropriate curriculum, inexperienced teachers, lack of information about schooling for migrant children and necessary psychological counseling, and inappropriate assessment of performance and achievement of migrant children (Admas and Kirova 2006; UNESCO 2019). The problems and marginalization experienced by migrant children in countries of destination in formal education has an extensive body of research behind it (Browne 2017) and features in the chapters by Chan, Derrace G. McCallum and Jakeline Lagones in this volume. McCallum’s chapter further touches on the recognized issues of left-behind children of migrant parents who may suffer emotional problems from separation that affect their educational outcomes, or result in demotivation to pursue education when migration appears to be a more practical and lucrative option (Fargues 2017). If we are to have a comprehensive view of education and migration in the Asian context, the negatives as well as the positives must be considered. As many of the chapters in this volume illustrate, both are often found within the same case studies, as the next section describes.

1.2 Layout of the Volume As this introduction has discussed to this point, the nexus between education and migration is multifaceted and has positive and negative features. Migration has many faces: internal, international and the involuntarily displaced. In the same way, education can mean many things, including formal schooling and human capital acquisition through training. Moving forward in the volume, the chapter authors address many, though by no means all, of the complex connections between education and migration. While each contribution has distinct features, there are also areas of overlap and connection that help unite disparate research into a coherent whole. Chapter 2 of this volume begins the exploration of the education–migration connection with Jing Liu’s contribution on the schooling of left-behind children of internal migrants in rural China. Liu shows that the demographic decline faced in rural areas has deep implications for the very continuation of schools in small communities and the education and broader development of the children in such areas. At the same time, Liu underlines that communities themselves and various levels of government are taking steps to try to ensure that schools survive and provide quality education, even in areas that are marginalized from the exponential growth of the Chinese economy. He also shows rural school teachers are making use of new communication technologies to mitigate the negative emotional and social effects of separation from migrant parents in an effort to provide a better environment for children to learn and develop. While not shying away from the multiple challenges faced in rural communities that have been hollowed out partially by internal migration, he also shows how the accepted importance of education spurs the search for solutions to such challenges. Switching from internal to international migration, Chapter 3 by Francis Peddie examines where education and training considerations fit in a hierarchy of migration

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motivations. Based on fieldwork conducted with former, current and prospective international labor migrants in the rural municipality of Rizal in Laguna province of the Philippines, Peddie finds that the prospect of human capital development through education and training received while working overseas occupies a secondary position in a pyramid of motivations for movement. At the same time, the economic gains from labor migration that act as primary motivators are also seen as benefiting the human capital acquisition of the children and/or younger siblings of the migrants. His findings indicate that widely-held explanations of economic considerations being paramount in migration motivation are ostensibly correct but may not capture the whole story, given that migrant parents and young migrants have used, use or plan to use remittance for human development goals, with educational gain as a vital consideration. While he posits that the studies of international organizations may have overstated the place of education and training goals in the motivational hierarchy, evidence also exists to support the assertion that human development can benefit from international labor migration. Keeping within the paradigm of international labor migration, in Chapter 4 Jakeline Lagones examines the socio-economic challenges Nikkei Peruvians (Peruvians of Japanese descent) have faced in Japan and how access to education, or lack thereof, have contributed to these challenges. Language issues and labor-market pigeonholing play significant roles in keeping this migrant group on the margins of Japanese society, despite an ethnic affinity and now 30 years of presence in the country. However, Lagones adds nuance to a generally bleak picture by illustrating that the age at which migrant children arrive has an important impact on success in both Japanese schools and the wider society in general. She also presents examples of family strategies that help young Nikkei Peruvians overcome the obstacles to higher learning that many of their fellows face and achieve success in schooling and work that help them overcome marginalization in their country of residence. The issue of identity and integration in Japan also features prominently in Chapter 5 by Derrace G. McCallum. In his analysis of transnational Filipino families with a migrant parent or parents in Japan, McCallum has some findings analogous to those of Lagones: language issues, discrimination against minorities and a lack of pedagogical diversity in the Japanese public education system leave migrant children excluded from success in schooling. In a society that highly values education and certification, exclusion from the path to educational success leaves young Filipinos vulnerable to socio-economic marginalization. At the same time, parents and grandparents at times choose to send their children back to the Philippines not only to raise the chance of educational success, but also to ensure that the youth become ‘properly’ Filipino. McCallum’s research reveals the internal identity issue that young migrants face, and how choosing a particular path of schooling plays into this issue. The question of how and why to choose a particular educational avenue also plays a large role in Chapter 6 by Adrienne Lee Atterberry. Her research examines how highly skilled Indian and first-generation Indian American return migrants make decisions about the education of their children upon return to India. Focusing on the question of school switching, Atterberry shows that return-migrant parents will move their children to different kinds of schools depending on the children’s age

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and grade. While decisions for younger children are based on ideas of comfort and accommodation to help the children integrate into Indian society, as they age their parents begin to show more concern for their professional development. In addition, Atterberry asserts that parents see success in higher education as opening the door to international migration for the children to take advantage of the economic and human capital gains to be secured abroad, just as the parents had done. Atterberry’s research points to the phenomenon of brain circulation, as opposed to the better-known brain drain and brain gain models, wherein highly skilled migrants move abroad, return, and encourage their children to do the same as part of a global movement of valued human resources. Chapter 7 by On Ni Chan also presents research on school choice, but under very different circumstances than Atterberry’s study. Chan’s examination of the education of youth from Myanmar in the Thai border town of Mae Sot shows a complex series of considerations at play when the youth and their parents decide where the children should go to school. While the concept of inclusive education policy defaults to examinations of migrant access to the education system of the host country, Chan reveals that the Burmese youth in Mae Sot sometimes choose alternative education and training options known as Migrant Learning Centers. As her chapter reveals, there are many reasons for this choice that reflect both the needs and circumstances of the youth. As with the chapters by Lagones and McCallum, the people in Chan’s study face language barriers to easy access to the Thai school system; however, the Burmese youth on the Thai border face other obstacles, such as precarious legal status and uncertainty about how long they will stay in the host country. For some of them, thinking about the best educational or training choice for their future leads them away from the Thai school system, undermining the widely-accepted idea that the best way to serve migrant children and youth is to include them in the formal education system of the host nation. In fact, some of the migrants in Chan’s study may be better described as involuntary or forced migrants, casualties of ongoing ethnic conflict in Myanmar. However, it is in Chapter 8 by Yuji Utsumi on the effects of conflict on educational outcomes that we see most clearly the deleterious impact of displacement on the human development of children. Using extensive data from Timor-Leste and covering multiple moments of conflict over several generations, Utsumi empirically proves that being a child in a time and place of violence leads to lower school completion rates and poorer overall results. He also shows how positive policy interventions, such as the construction of safe schools and improved teacher training, can help mitigate the negative effects of displacement and conflict. His findings underscore the fact that many of the positive gains from migration found in the literature are highly conditional, and that human development and human capital acquisition require peace and stability. Chapter 8 concludes the volume with a sober reminder that if migration can contribute to education, and vice versa, forced displacement can thwart the educational aspirations of children and youth and leave them with potential unfulfilled and human capital acquisition. Finally, the book concludes with a consideration of how the diverse findings in the various chapters contribute to a broader understanding of education and migration in

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Asia. It also adds a sober note regarding how the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic complicates the achievement of the education and migration goals outlined in Agenda 2030 through the SDGs. While the enormity and complexity of Asia preclude a single volume from covering all the ways in which migration and education feed each other, it is the sincere hope of the contributors that the reader of this book will come away with a better understanding of the connections between these two important issues, and their significance for the broader matter of human development.

References Admas, L D and Kirova, A (2006). Introduction: global migration and the education of children. In L D Admas and A. Kirova (eds), Global migration and education: schools, children, and families (pp 1–12). Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. Annan-Diab, F and Molinari, C (2017). Interdisciplinarity: practical approach to advancing education for sustainability and for the Sustainable Development Goals. The International Journal of Management Education, 15(2, Part B), 73–83. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijme.2017.03.006. Asis, M M B and Feranil, A (2020). Not for adults only: toward a child’s lens in migration policies in Asia. Journal on Migration and Human Security, 2331502420907375. https://doi.org/10.1177/ 2331502420907375. Bajpai, P (22 January 2020). The 5 largest economies in the world and their growth in 2020. Nasdaq. https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/the-5-largest-economies-in-the-world-andtheir-growth-in-2020-2020-01-22. Accessed 21 August 2020. Bell, M and Charles-Edwards, E (2013). Cross-national comparison of internal migration: An update on global patterns and trends. New York: United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs. Browne, E (2017). Evidence on education as a driver for migration. K4D Helpdesk Report. https:// assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/598086a0ed915d022b00003c/K4D_HDR__Migration_ and_Education.pdf. Accessed 11 October 2020. Cabegin, E C A and Alba, M (2014). More or less consumption? The effect of remittances on Filipino household spending behavior. In J Richard, H Adams and A Ahsan (eds), Managing international migration for development in East Asia (pp 53–83). Washington DC: World Bank. Cameron, S (2012). Education, urban poverty and migration. https://doi.org/10.18356/b21a829f-en. Clemens, M (2017). Migration is a form of development: the need for innovation to regulate migration for mutual benefit. UN Population Division Technical Paper No 2017/8. New York: United Nations. Fargues, P (2017). International migration and education—a web of mutual causation. Think piece prepared for the 2019 Global Education Monitoring Report Consultation. Paris: UNESCO. Fong, E and Shibuya, K (2020). Migration patterns in east and southeast Asia: causes and consequences. Annual Review of Sociology, 46(1), 511–31. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-soc-121 919-054644. Hannum, E, Hu, L and Shen, W (2018). Short-and long-term outcomes of the left behind in China: Education, well-being and life opportunities (Background paper for Global Education Monitoring 2019). Paris: UNESCO. Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (2019). Global Report on Internal Displacement. Geneva: Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre. International Organization for Migration (2018a). Education and migration: an assessment of the types and range of IOM’s education and vocational training projects. Geneva: International Organization for Migration.

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International Organization for Migration (2018b). Migration and the 2030 Agenda: A Guide for Practitioners. Geneva: International Organization for Migration. Levitt, P (1998). Social remittances: migration driven local-level forms of cultural diffusion. International Migration Review, 32(4), 926–948. https://doi.org/10.1177/019791839803200404. Levitt, P and Lamba-Nieves, D (2011). Social remittances revisited. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 37(1), 1–22. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183x.2011.521361. Liu, J (2018). Inequality in public school admission in urban China: discourses, practices and new solutions. Singapore: Springer. Liu, J and Jacob, W J (2013). From access to quality: migrant children’s education in urban China. Educational Research for Policy and Practice, 12(3), 177–191. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10671012-9136-y. Lumayag, L A (2016). A question of access: education needs of undocumented children in Malaysia. Asian Studies Review, 40(2), 192–210. https://doi.org/10.1080/10357823.2016.1158238. Nawarat, N (2017). Discourse on migrant education policy: patterns of words and outcomes in Thailand. Kasetsart Journal of Social Sciences. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.kjss.2017.08.001. Pew Research Center (18 October 2016). Middle East’s migrant population more than doubles since 2005. https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2016/10/18/middle-easts-migrant-populationmore-than-doubles-since-2005/. Accessed 23 August 2020. Rahman, M M and Fee, L K (2009). Gender and the remittance process. Asian Population Studies, 5(2), 103–25. https://doi.org/10.1080/17441730902992059. Resosudarmo, B P and Suryadarma, D. (2014). The Impact of Childhood Migration on Educational Attainment: Evidence from rural–urban migrants in Indonesia. Asian Population Studies, 10(3), 319–333. https://doi.org/10.1080/17441730.2014.942954. Tacoli, C, McGranahan, G and Satterthwaite, D (2014). World migration report 2015: urbanization, rural-urban migration and urban poverty. Grand-Saconnex: International Organization for Migration. Tokunaga, T (2018). Breaking in or dropping out? Filipina immigrant girls envisioning alternative lives in a globalized world. In R Tsuneyoshi (ed), Globalization and Japanese ‘exceptionalism’ in education: insiders’ views into a changing system (pp 95–111). Abingdon: Routledge. United Nations (1948). The Universal Declaration of Human Rights. New York: United Nations. United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2017). International Migration 2017: Highlights (ST/ESA/SER.A/404). New York: United Nations. United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2019). International Migration 2019: Report (ST/ESA/SER.A/438). New York: United Nations. United Nations Development Programme (n.d.). Human development reports. http://hdr.undp.org/ en/humandev. Accessed 26 August 2020. United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (2015). Asia-Pacific migration report 2015. Migrants’ Contribution to Development. https://www.unescap.org/sites/ default/files/SDD%20AP%20Migration%20Report%20report%20v6-1-E.pdf. Accessed 21 August 2020. United Nations General Assembly (2018). International migration and development report of the Secretary-General (A/73/286). New York: United Nations. UNESCO (2019). Global education monitoring report. Paris: UNESCO. UNESCO and UNICEF (2020). Approaches to Language in Education for Migrants and Refugees in the Asia-Pacific Region. Bangkok. United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (2018) Global Trends 2018. https://www.unhcr. org/statistics/unhcrstats/5d08d7ee7/unhcr-global-trends-2018.html. Accessed 25 August 2020. Viet Nguyen, C (2016). Does parental migration really benefit left-behind children? Comparative evidence from Ethiopia, India, Peru and Vietnam. Social Science & Medicine, 153, 230–239. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2016.02.021. Vutha, H, Pide, L and Dalis, P (2014). The impacts of adult migration on children’s well-being: The case of Cambodia. Phnom Penh: Cambodia Development Resource Institute.

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Yang, D (2008). International migration, remittances and household investment: evidence from Philippine migrants’ exchange rate shocks. The Economic Journal, 118(528), 591–630. Zhou, S and Cheung, M (2017). Hukou system effects on migrant children’s education in China: learning from past disparities. International Social Work, 60(6), 1327–1342. https://doi.org/10. 1177/0020872817725134.

Chapter 2

Building Educational Community for Left-Behind Children in Rural China: A Case Study of a Small Rural School in Hubei Province Jing Liu Abstract This study aims to investigate how rural schools take action to accommodate left-behind children’s needs for education in rural areas of China through a case study of a small primary school in Hubei province. Moreover, it is expected to lead to a discussion about the roles of small rural schools in accommodating needs for left-behind children’s education in China. It starts with a review of education and well-being of left-behind children in rural China. Then it introduces the development of small rural schools in China. Data of this study was collected from interviews with policy makers, principals, teachers and community members in a small primary school (School A) of County A, Hubei province. The results reveal that School A, as a small rural school, has been taking a collaborative approach to building an educational community which composes a culture of sharing among teachers within School A and diverse coordination between School A and parents, community, social groups and the private sector to best accommodate the need for the education of left-behind children and foster their well-being. It also shows a possible role for small schools in rural areas of China as collaborative platforms for providing for left-behind children’s education. It concludes by highlighting that it is necessary to strengthen a more comprehensive whole-society collaboration among stakeholders for promoting equal, inclusive and quality education for left-behind children and their families.

2.1 Introduction Both international migration and internal migration have received rising attention for their diverse impacts on both the original and destination communities. There are mutual impacts between migration and education. On the one hand, education is a pull factor that attracts people to move. Migration will bring new opportunities for learning and access to better education resources for migrants and their families, and J. Liu (B) Graduate School of Education, Tohoku University, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 F. Peddie and J. Liu (eds.), Education and Migration in an Asian Context, Economics, Law, and Institutions in Asia Pacific, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-33-6288-8_2

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these will enhance the ability of migrants and their families to achieve social mobility. Moreover, remittance generated through migration will make positive change of the life standards and conditions for education for left-behind members in original communities. On the other hand, migration brings challenges to education systems and individuals. It leads to education provision challenges in destination communities and the loss of students in the original communities causes cuts to school budgets and leads to mergers or closures of local schools. In the meantime, the absence of parents affects the education of children left behind in the original communities (Asis and Feranil 2020; Fargues 2017; UNESCO 2019). There is a rising concern about parental migration on left-behind children’s wellbeing in the global debate. Research has shown the mixed impacts of parental migration on left-behind children. A case study in Indonesia indicates a positive impact of parental migration on school enrolment of children left behind, although this depends on the child’s age and the gender of the migrant parent (Arlini et al. 2019). Research shows that fathers’ absences are negatively correlated with children’s physical growth in Guatemala (Davis and Brazil 2016). Viet Nguyen (2016) points out parental migration is not beneficial for the health and education of children left behind. There is also a negative effect for parental migration on children’s educational attainment and health management in Cambodia (Hing et al. 2014). Migration, which causes depopulation in rural areas, forces education policy makers to reconsider the role of small schools in rural areas. With rapid migration, a global depopulation in rural areas has led to a global school consolidation campaign. There were more than 2000 schools with fewer than 100 students in England in 2018 (United Kingdom Department of Education 2018). In Russia, the number of rural schools fell from more than 45,000 to fewer than 26,000 between 2000 and 2015 (Goble 2017). On the other hand, some governments did not limit school consolidation as their approach to manage rural small schools. Some countries created networks for these small schools to share resources and learn from each other. Moreover, they adopted multi-grade teaching through teacher support activities among small schools (UNESCO 2019). In the past decades, China has been experiencing an unprecedented internal migration. The population of rural to urban migrants rapidly increased from 121 million in 2000 to 241 million in 2018 (National Statistic Bureau 2019). In contrast to around 19 million migrant children who were on move with their parents to urban China in 2017, it is estimated that there were 6.97 million children of left behind in rural China in 2018 (Ministry of Civil Affairs 2018). Left-behind children fall into two categories. One refers to children under 16 years old whose father and mother both are working outside their home town. The other refers to children under 16 years old, where one parent is working outside their home town while the other parent does not have guardianship capacity (State Council 2016b). According to the Ministry of Civil Affairs (2018), 78.3% of the left-behind children were in the age of compulsory education in 2018. 96% of the left-behind children were living with grandparents. There are only 4% of the left-behind children who were living with other relatives and friends. On the other hand, with the increase of rural–urban migration in China, rural education has been deeply affected. By following a policy of consolidation of

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rural schools, the number of primary schools decreased by 52% between 2000 and 2010 (UNESCO 2019). Moreover, small rural schools1 in China faced many challenges, such as: diverse demands for education from disadvantaged children; lack of quality teachers; incomplete curriculum and ineffective pedagogy; and a lack of education resources (Han et al. 2018). The Chinese government has been continuously emphasizing the importance of providing equitable, inclusive and quality education for all. In 2016, the State Council released Opinions on Enhancing Protection and Care of Left-Behind Children in Rural Areas to address the importance of establishing a comprehensive protection mechanism to safeguard left-behind children’s rights and life. It clarifies roles of migrant families, local governments, local schools and social forces in constructing the mechanism for left-behind children (State Council 2016b). However, there is limited knowledge about the practices and challenges of small rural schools in protecting the rights of left-behind children and accommodating their education needs. This chapter aims to answer the research question of how small rural schools take action to meet the education needs of left-behind children through a case study of a small rural primary school (School A) in County A of Hubei province, China. The following sections give a brief introduction of education for left-behind children in rural China and review the policy flow of small rural schools in China. After a description of the research methodology, the subsequent section then presents the findings by explaining how a small rural primary school in County A of Hubei province accommodates the needs for education from the left-behind children. The chapter concludes by discussing the factors which support small rural schools as agents to provide equal, inclusive and quality education to left-behind children.

2.2 Left-Behind Children in China With the increase of the migrant population, the number of children left behind has been increasing recently. In 2013, the National Women’s Federation released a report that showed that there were about 61 million left-behind children in rural areas, which accounted for 38% of the total number of children in rural areas of China (Wang and Lewin 2016). A survey conducted by Northeast Normal University of China indicates that there were 15.5 million left-behind children in rural China by 2017, a decrease of 10.18% from the number in 2016 (Northeast Normal University of China 2019). Figure 2.1 illustrates the gradual decrease of the population of left-behind children from 2013 to 2018. The decrease can be interpreted from three perspectives. Firstly, there are increasing numbers of children of migrant workers who move with their parents to urban areas in recent years. Figure 2.2 indicates that the number of migrant children studying in public primary and lower secondary education in urban China 1 Small-scale schools, in the context of rural China, refer to primary schools that have fewer than 100

students. Those with students between Grade one and Grade six are called complete primary schools. Those with students between Grade one and Grade three/Grade four are known as incomplete

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3000.

2250. 763.51

753.19

686.28

665.89

635.57

1500.

536.22

750.

1436.81

1517.88

1440.48

1409.53

1383.66

486.08

475.72

1190.07

1064.48

998.69

2016

2017

2018

0. 2011

2012

2013

2014 G1-G6

2015 G7-G9

Fig. 2.1 Population of left-behind children in compulsory education (2013–18) Unit: 10,000) (Source China’s Year Book [2002–19], adapted by author) 16000000

3583291

12000000 3282303

3463140

3391446

9308533

9555861

2013

2014

3535380

3580615

3644540

3756475

8000000

4000000

9327416

10355426

10135581 10367103 10421804 10483928

0 2011

2012

Primary Education

2015

2016

2017

2018

Lower Secondary Education

Fig. 2.2 Population of migrant children in compulsory education in urban China (2011–18) (Source China’s Year Book (2012–19), adapted by author)

increased between 2013 and 2018. Secondly, the increase of intra-provincial migrants may have a potential positive impact on the decrease of left-behind children. The population of internal migrants has been decreasing in recent years. As Fig. 2.3 presents, between 2000 and 2018, the number of internal migrants reached a peak of 253 million in 2014. It then gradually decreased to 241 million in 2018. On the other hand, although the total number of internal migrants decreased, there are more intra-provincial migrants than inter-provincial migrants. Figure 2.4 indicates the proportion of intra-provincial migrants grew from 49.7% in 2010 to 56% in 2018. As a result, there is an increasing proportion of intra-provincial migrant children. As primary schools. Also, those with fewer than 30 students are recognized as external teaching sites (State Council 2018).

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3.25

2.60

2.47

2.45

2.44

2.41

2.21

2.36

2.45

2.53

2.3

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

1.95 1.47 1.21

1.30

0.65

0.00 2000

2005

Fig. 2.3 Migrant population in China (2000–18) (Unit: 100 million) (Source China’s Year Book (2001–19), adapted by author)

2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 0%

25%

50% Inter-province

75%

100%

Intra-province

Fig. 2.4 Proportion of inter/intra-province migration in China (2010–18) (Source Migrant Workers Monitoring Report (2010–18), adapted by author)

illustrated by Fig. 2.5, there are more migrant children who moved within provinces than those who moved across provinces. Thirdly, the household registration system (hukou) reform encouraged migrant families to settle down in urban areas, which allows migrant parents to take left-behind children to study in urban areas. Since 2014, the State Council continuously addressed the promotion of hukou reform to allow urban areas with populations of 0.5 million and one million to open hukou registration to migrant workers (State Council 2014, 2016a). Research shows that left-behind children are facing many challenges. They live with limited health, cultural and social resources. In addition, in the short term these

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2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 0%

25%

50%

75%

Inter ProvincePrimary Education

Inter ProvinceLower Secondary Education

Intra ProvincePrimary Education

Intra ProvinceLower Secondary Education

100%

Fig. 2.5 Proportion of inter/intra province migrant children in primary and lower secondary education in China (2011–18) (Source China’s Year Book (2012–19), adapted by author)

children also experience more physiological, psychological and educational disadvantages (Hannum et al. 2018; UNESCO 2019). There are mixed findings regarding parental migration’s impact on left-behind children’s development. Most left-behind children are considered poorly performing in learning as they are lacking support from guardian (Bai et al. 2018; Wang and Lewin 2016). In contrast, an analysis of data collected from 141,000 children in 10 provinces indicates that left-behind children perform as well as or better than children living with both parents in health, nutrition and education (Zhou et al. 2015). The failure to protect left-behind children’s rights and parental absence have negative impacts on their physical, psychological, educational, cognitive and social development (Chang et al. 2019; Zhang 2018). Left-behind children have more serious depression than children whose parents are present (Liang et al. 2017). In contrast, research shows parental migration has little impact on the emotional well-being of left-behind children (Ren and Treiman 2016). A case study of Gansu province shows that parental migration has a positive impact on left-behind children’s educational, behavioral and health development (Wen et al. 2015). Moreover, analysis of children’s data in the Third Survey of Chinese Women’s Social Status in 2010 indicated serious problems in the learning environment of left-behind children. There was limited interaction between teachers and left-behind children in the classroom. Left-behind children also have the fewest opportunities for extracurricular learning (Han et al. 2017). Wang and Lewin (2016) point out that school curriculum for left-behind children cannot meet special needs for emotional support to compensate for issues caused by a limited parent–child relationship. In recent years, the government and other stakeholders have been taking various actions to provide support for left-behind children. In 2016, the Chinese government addressed the establishment of comprehensive supporting mechanisms for

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left-behind children in rural areas of China. Firstly, it is necessary to strengthen the subjective responsibility of the family. The government not only puts emphasis on the liability of guardian of parents but also addresses the necessity for migrant parents to keep regular communication with their left-behind children to understand their life, studies and growth. Secondly, it is necessary for local governments to take the responsibility of providing support for left-behind children. They are expected to guarantee and monitor how migrant parents and families take care of left-behind children and support their well-being. Thirdly, local educational authorities are supposed to construct appropriate environments for supporting the education of left-behind children. Beside the guarantee of access to education for left-behind children, they are expected to support and instruct local schools to provide psychological education and mental care for these children. Local primary and junior high schools are supposed to take initiatives to provide education and other support to left-behind children. They are also encouraged to promote communication between migrant parents and left-behind children. Fourthly, social groups, including work unions, social associations, volunteers, non-governmental organization (NGOs), and the private sector are encouraged to support education and other services for left-behind children (Hannum et al. 2018; State Council 2016b). The Ministry of Civil Affairs launched the National Left-behind Children Information Management System in 2017 to provide an information platform for collecting, searching, updating and sharing information about left-behind children to protect and improve the well-being of these children (Hannum et al. 2018). An intervention program comprised of ‘children’s clubs’ in local communities, as a community-based intervention to provide care and support to left-behind children, showed positive impacts on the emotional and behavioral well-being of leftbehind children. It also enhanced a support network for left-behind children at the community level (Zhao et al. 2017). Usage of mobile phones plays an important role in enhancing communication between migrant parents and left-behind children. It also satisfies migrant parents’ demand for distance parenting (Liu and Leung 2017). Moreover, boarding schools have the potential to have a positive effect on left-behind children’s development (Hannum et al. 2018). Yan and Zhu (2006) find a well-managed boarding school can promote positive effects on children’s outcomes. Research also argues that it is possible to improve children’s welfare if the boarding school is equipped with a well-trained staff, good management and design, and adequate resources and monitoring (Yue et al. 2014). In addition, a whole community approach provides a more collective intervention, which includes diverse stakeholders of a community providing support for improving the well-being of left-behind children (Guan and Deng 2019).

2.3 Small Rural Schools in China Since the late 1980s, with rapid rural–urban migration and the decrease in the reproduction rate in rural areas, the rural education system in China has been facing critical

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challenges. The development of rural schools in China has three stages. From the 1950s to the late 1980s is the first stage, named the ‘stage of one village one school’. Every village established a primary school and every commune set up a secondary school to promote revolution among the common people. Local responsibility and multilevel management were the key principles for implementing compulsory education in rural China. It was the responsibility of townships and villages to build and improve primary and lower secondary schools. Entering the 1990s, rural education was associated with the unprecedented internal migration and the demand for achieving universal compulsory education as a national goal. This led to the ‘stage of school consolidation’, which is the second stage of rural school development. It started with a comprehensive school location adjustment in 2001. The central government promulgated the Decision on Reform and Development of Basic Education to readjust the distribution of educational resources in rural areas by merging rural schools and building boarding schools (State Council 2001). On one hand, this policy encouraged local authorities to take initiatives to redistribute educational resources to provide convenient primary education, which is close to students’ home, and lower secondary education, which concentrates in towns. On the other hand, this policy left too many spaces that enabled local authorities to choose more efficient and easier ways to consolidate small rural schools and teaching posts while concentrating educational resources to central schools in towns (Wang 2010; Wang and Lewin 2016; Xu and Yang 2009). As a result, the number of rural schools declined rapidly from 2001. As Fig. 2.6 indicates, between 2000 and 2011, 40% of primary schools in rural China were closed during the school consolidation. Rather than achieving positive impacts for rural education and student development, this policy had many negative impacts on students’ safety, educational attainment, and physical and psychological development (Han et al. 2018). With a rise in concerns about these issues, since 2006, the government has been stressing that the implementation of school consolidation should be associated with 875000

700000

525000

350000

182780 174533 160999 153140 107841 112359 105679 95946 506598 486652

175000

462094 433585

410604 378648

355083 332190

91012

86393

311895 290638

82192

76774

70473

65003 60530 62131

267872 249548

231360 208148

73122 78145 81434

167153 153260 138559

86442 90150 88694

126865 116522 104501 94123 88619

0 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 Complete Primary Schools

Incomplate Primary Schools

Fig. 2.6 Number of primary schools in rural China (1997–2018) (Source Ministry of Education, adapted by author)

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the local context and needs of local families (Wang 2010; Xu and Yang 2009). The ‘stage of reconstruction’, which is the third stage of rural school development, started from 2012. The Chinese government announced a new policy of standardization of school adjustment for compulsory education in rural areas to encourage local governments to improve the implementation of school consolidation to best meet the needs of rural education. Besides strictly standardizing the school consolidation, the government also gave emphasis to the construction of small rural schools and teaching posts. They addressed a comprehensive enhancement of construction and management of these small rural schools, including improvement of school building and facilities, upgrading the standard of the school budget, the establishment of a special bonus for teachers, the promotion of ICT education, and the encouragement of central schools to support small rural schools and promote education resource sharing for educational improvement. Moreover, the central government also highlighted that it is important to strengthen the construction and management of rural boarding schools. Besides standardizing construction and school facilities, the government also emphasized the provision of psychological consultation and enhancement of security at rural boarding schools (State Council 2012). In recent years, the central government has continuously promulgated polices to improve rural education. The government launched a plan for improving the nutrition of rural students in compulsory education in 2011 through upgrading school facilities and distributing life subsidies to students from poor families. Moreover, the government established teacher education programs to improve the quality of teachers in rural schools. They also launched special programs to encourage graduates from top universities to serve as teachers for two or three years in rural schools (Wang and Gao 2013). In 2018, the central government announced guidelines on reform for building a professional teaching force in the New Era. It put emphasis on raising teacher salaries, subsidies and welfare in order to attract more graduates to teach in rural schools. Some local governments took initiatives to provide temporary housing close to campus for teachers in rural schools (Central Committee of CPC and the State Council 2018; Han 2019). With the government’s support, small local rural schools were encouraged to provide quality education to their students. They utilized abundant natural and culture resources for teaching and learning. They created collective activities to enhance communication between students and teachers. They also adopted multigrade teaching to balance the small-size class and limited number of teachers. Schools encouraged parents and community members to contribute to teaching and learning. This approach also strengthened relationships between students and parents, school and community. Moreover, through collaboration with NGOs and the private sector, many rural schools received donations and support to improve education and management (Han 2019; Han et al. 2018). A collaborative approach for improving the well-being of left-behind children has been receiving attention in recent years. This approach has been proved effective to foster the well-being of children or disadvantaged children. Guan and Deng (2019) point out that a whole-community intervention program benefits left-behind children, including their resilience, physical health, academic performance, safety, guardianship and communicative competence. Through systematic interventions, the

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approach promotes the well-being of children as well as the family and the whole rural community. In the field of education, research shows the role of a collaborative approach in enhancing the capacity of schools and teachers to improve education for children in schools. The 21st Century Education Research Institute established a consortium of small local schools to provide and share resources and experience to improve quality education in small rural schools in 2014 (Han et al. 2018). At the school level, researchers put emphasis on building a school-wide professional learning community to encourage exchange between teachers for improving teaching and learning in the rural schools of China (Wang et al. 2017). As Han (2019) argued, small rural schools in China have the potential to take alternative approaches to provide quality education for children in rural China, including left-behind children. However, with limited capacity and resources, it is difficult for small rural schools or individual teachers to fully take actions to foster the wellbeing of left-behind children. Therefore, it is necessary to involve all stakeholders in reforms that could best accommodate the diverse needs for education and well-being of left-behind children.

2.4 Research Method This study adopted a case study method to provide an in-depth investigation of a small rural school’s practice in accommodating educational needs, particularly for left-behind children. Borrowing the concept of ‘learning community’ promoted by Manabu Sato in Japan in the 1990s, this study explores how stakeholders take action to meet the needs for well-being of the left-behind children. There are three main features of a learning community (Sato 2012). It includes collaborative learning, a professional learning community and collegiality, and the participation of parents and community. Collegiality is considered a culture for promoting collaboration among teachers in the same school (Datnow 2011; Hargreaves 1994; Hargreaves and Dawe 1990). This collaborative culture becomes a pre-condition for teachers working as a team to work together with other stakeholders in the community for school improvement. Research indicates that a collegial relationship is particularly important and necessary for new teachers and young teachers working in geographically isolated areas (Jarzabkowski 2003). This chapter focuses on the process of constructing collegiality for collaboration among teachers and the involvement of parents, community and other stakeholders for building a learning community for left-behind children in a small rural school. The case study is of an incomplete primary school, School A, located in Village A of County A of Hubei province. The target school is widely reported to have good practices in the construction of small rural schools in County A. County A is an officially recognized poor area with a living standard under the national poverty line. There are increasing numbers of village members who have moved to urban areas to work since 2000. For example, there were 1327 people in Village A by 2018. Among

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Fig. 2.7 Percentage of left-behind children in School A (Fall 2019) (Source School A)

22%

9%

69%

Non Left-behind

Left-behind (living with mother or father)

Left-behind (living with grandparents)

them, 420 people, which is about 60% of the population, were serving as migrant workers outside their homes. With the rapid demographic change, the population of school-age children in County A also decreased from about 6000 in 1996 to about 2000 in 2018. As a result, the number of primary schools in this county decreased from 34 in 1996 to nine in 2019. Moreover, schools in County A faced the issue of the aging of teachers. In 2013, there were five teachers in School A, and the youngest teacher was 54. With the implementation of the policy of strengthening rural schools by the central government, the local education authority took initiatives to hire young teachers. Between 2012 and 2019, County A hired 1559 new teachers through the teacher recruitment examination. Among them, there are 942 new teachers recruited for primary schools. The county built teacher dormitories and accommodation for new teachers. Also, they distributed living subsidies to new teachers who were recruited to rural schools (Han 2019). School A was established in 1972. In 2019, there were 55 students in this boarding school. According the government standard, there were 34 students officially designated as ‘poor students’.2 As Fig. 2.7 indicates, in the fall semester of 2019, 69% of the students in School A are left-behind children who are living without parents. Between 2013 and 2019, there were nine young teachers and one senior teacher who have working experience in School A. Table 2.1 shows the teachers’ 2 According to the government standard, a family, with net income of 2736 RMB or less per person,

is defined as a ‘poor household’. Students of these households are officially recognized as ‘poor students’.

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Table 2.1 Information on teachers in School A Age

Sex

Teaching experience

Education background

Home town

Responsibilities

Major

T1

28

M

Five years

BA

County A

Ex-principal; Math; Transferred to another school in 2019

Chinese

T2

27

F

Four years

BA

Other province

Arts; Science; Publicity; Transferred to local education board in 2019

Chinese

T3

28

M

Two years

BA

County A

Science; Sports; Security; Current principal

Business

T4

28

F

Five years

BA

County A

Chinese; Morality; Accounting

Chinese

T5

24

F

One year

BA

County A

Math; Dance; Architecture Teaching affairs; Transferred to other schools in 2018

T6

24

F

One year

BA

County A

Chinese; English; Music; Science; Morality; Cafeteria

T7

59

M

41 years

Upper Secondary Education

County A

Math; General affairs; Cafeteria; Retired in 2018

T8

24

F

One year

BA

County A

Math; Chinese; Accounting

Law

T9

24

F

Two years

BA

County A

Math; Chinese; Teaching affairs

Management

T10

24

F

One year

BA

Neighboring County

Math; Publicity

Chinese

English

Source School A, adapted by author

detailed information. By the fall semester of 2019, there were six young teachers in School A. Semi-structured interviews were conducted in May 2018 and one week in December 2019 with the school principals (current and former) and teachers of School A, one central school director in the township to which School A belongs,

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one village official of Village A and 12 guardians. Interviews with guardians (mainly grandparents of left-behind children) were conducted during home visits and at the school gate when they sent children back to campus on Sunday afternoon between 5 and 6 May 2018. Interview questions were mainly related to how teachers collaborated with each other for providing education and responding to the special needs of left-behind children. Also, the questions were related to how School A worked together with guardians, community and other stakeholders to best accommodate the needs of left-behind children and their families. Interviews were digitally recorded with the permission of interviewees. The data were transcribed, cleaned, coded, and analyzed.

2.5 Findings The results of analysis show that School A has been building an educational community for improving the education quality and fostering the well-being of left-behind children. Teachers in School A developed a culture of collegiality that supported them in collaborating for improving the education quality and accommodating the needs of left-behind children’s education. A collegial relationship between teachers enabled them to share know-how and experience in communication with left-behind children. It also allowed teachers to work together on curriculum development for left-behind children. Moreover, the collaborative culture extends to motivation for collaboration with stakeholders outside of school. School A has been using innovative ways to enhance communication between guardians and school for best fostering the well-being of left-behind children. Teachers of School A fully utilized their social networks and digital network to promote the school and mobilize diverse resources from the community, social groups, and the private sector to support the education and well-being of left-behind children.

2.5.1 Building Collegiality Teachers in School A established a collaborative culture to respect each other, take care of each other and work with each other. This culture enabled newly graduated teachers, young teachers and senior teacher to share knowledge and know-how of how to communicate with the parents of children left behind and how to provide a relevant education to meet their special needs. A mutually respectful relationship between young and senior teachers provided teachers an intimate working environment in School A and established mutual trust among them. An interview with the senior teacher showed his full respect for the young teachers:

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J. Liu Since I am going to retire soon [in one year], I would like to leave full space to these young teachers to let them fully and freely take their initiatives in teaching, learning and school management. I think my role is to serve them as a helper. They know more new knowledge and advanced teaching methods [than me]…and my way and knowledge are already been out-of-date…Therefore, I think I should leave more space in teaching and learning for them [young teachers]…I think this benefits our students a lot. (Teacher 7, 5 May 2018)

Moreover, the senior teacher expressed his appreciation to young teachers for their contributions to School A as a rural school. He stated: We should remember these young teachers have diplomas. And they could get better jobs than teachers in rural schools. It is unnecessary for them to work in this small rural village. They left the city and their parents to take care our children. Therefore, I should treat them better…just as a family member. (Teacher 7, 4 May 2018)

Young teachers shared their feelings of being at home while they were working at School A. Support and help from the senior teacher encouraged them to stay in School A and work more actively. One teacher felt parental love from the senior teacher. According to the teacher, the senior teacher always brought fresh vegetables and home-made food to young teachers every week, and they were invited to the senior teacher’s home for dinners on weekends or holidays (Teacher 2, 5 May 2018). These interactions enhanced communication and trust between young teachers and senior teachers. Moreover, the senior teacher served as a role model in terms of looking after students for these young teachers. His love for the students moved these young teachers to devote themselves to education. One young teacher shared a story of the senior teacher taking care of a sick student. The young teacher recalled: In general, we will contact the student’s guardian if the student gets sick at school. One day last winter (2017), one student suddenly felt uncomfortable after dinner at school. Although we called the grandparents of the student, it took time for them to walk to school on a dark winter night. As the student’s fever was getting higher and higher, the senior teacher decided to take the student to the village clinic immediately…The student was hospitalized in the clinic until the next morning. And the senior teacher was with the student without sleeping…What he did really moved us and motivated us to work as a teacher like him. (Teacher 2, 5 May 2018)

Young teachers of School A got information about the students’ family background and village history from the senior teacher. They benefit a lot from the information when they need to deal with the students’ parents and family members. Young teachers learned the background information of the family and parents of the leftbehind children to find better ways to communicate with their families and parents. This also enhances their understanding of the complexity of left-behind children’s situation. Moreover, the senior teacher, originally from Village A, also taught local dialect to young teachers, which enhanced their communication capacity with the grandparents of students. This made communication between young teachers and the grandparents of students much easier. Mutual help through a mentor system also enhanced trust and communication among teachers, especially young teachers. Mentor systems aim to pair newly graduated teachers and a teacher with experience to work together. The teacher with

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experience is supposed to share experience and know-how with the newly graduated teacher, and the newly graduated teacher is expected to learn from the mentor. At School A, newly graduated teachers learned how to communicate with parents from their mentors. Teacher 6 was a newly graduated teacher of School A during the fieldwork in 2018. She had difficulties in communication with the grandparents of left-behind children. Teacher 1, as her mentor, spent weekends with her to pay home visits to get familiar with her students’ grandparents. She learned the ways of communicating with the elderly from Teacher 1, and now she can easily talk with students’ guardians by herself (Teacher 6, 8 May 2018). The above shows that the teachers of School A are jointly constructing a collaborative culture to share and work together for the school and left-behind children. This collegiality also became a cornerstone for the small rural school to accommodate the needs for education of left-behind children.

2.5.2 Joint Curriculum Development Based on the collaborative culture, teachers of School A jointly developed special curriculum to meet the characteristics of left-behind children and contextualize the curriculum to fit the features of small rural school. In rural schools, it is difficult to provide arts, music and manual and technological courses to students. On one hand, school teachers do not have expertise and training experience of teaching such subjects. On the other hand, the limited school budget does not allow teachers to purchase extra teaching materials to conduct such courses. Young teachers of School A discussed with each other and decided to take paper folding as the main content of arts and the manual and technological course. There were two reasons for taking paper folding as the main content. Firstly, paper folding does not need too much investment and it is easy to implement in the classroom. Secondly, this class does not require too much professional knowledge, and the skill is easy to learn for people without any experience. Teacher 2, who makes folded handicrafts as a hobby, took the initiative to look for teaching materials and learn how to fold paper through the internet. She also shared her experiences with other teachers to enable the whole team to know how to do paper folding. Moreover, there is another important reason for teachers to add paper folding class into their curriculum. As Teacher 2 stated, their original purpose for opening this class was to encourage left-behind children to learn how to be independent and to understand that nothing will come true without effort (Teacher 2, 5 May 2018). The course was warmly received by the students, and it motivated them to look for new designs and different ways to fold papers. Also, students and teachers learned new designs and did paper folding together. It enhanced student–teacher communication and relationships. They also decorated their classrooms and teachers’ offices with their works. Teachers of School A also adopted agricultural activities into their curriculum. The senior teacher took initiative to plant vegetables in the farmland that is located in the backyard of the campus. His original plan was to provide some fresh vegetables for

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school lunch and dinner. Young teachers then actively learned how to plant vegetables from the senior teacher and developed this activity into the curriculum. On one hand, these activities allow students and teachers opportunities to work as a team to plant vegetables. On the other hand, teachers could enrich their teaching resources for arts class and science class. Now they could ask students to observe the growth of the plants and take notes of the progress by drawing pictures.

2.5.3 Collaboration with Guardians Teachers of School A took actions to actively collaborate with guardians to accommodate the needs of left-behind children and their families. Teachers enhanced school– family communication by inviting guardians to join open campus and parent–school meetings. Since the majority of left-behind children were living with their grandparents, School A took actions to enhance communication with grandparents. They organized parent–school meetings two times per semester to share the know-how of taking care of children with these guardians. They also introduced the knowledge of preventing security risks for left-behind children while they are back home on weekends and during vacations. Also, the school invited guardians to visit, taste school lunches and join school festivals to let them fully understand the children’s school life. One teacher pointed out that grandparents would share what they saw and learned at school with the parents of left-behind children, and parents would be relieved by knowing about the good learning environment of their children (Teacher 2, 5 May 2018). School A’s activities were highly appreciated by the guardians. One guardian elaborated on his experiences: These young teachers brought new changes to the school. We were invited to observe campus, school facilities and to taste school lunch. Also, teachers reminded us how to keep children safe during summer vacation…We also share the information with their parents… These teachers are very responsible and helpful. (Guardian 1, 6 May 2018)

This shows these practices enhanced parents’ understanding of their children’s school life. Moreover, teachers also utilized mobile phone applications to report on the daily campus life of the left-behind children, and they shared the information with parents who were working outside this way. They also promote communication between left-behind children and their parents working outside by using mobile phones and the internet. In recent years, with the expansion of the internet and usage of mobile phones, the local education authority has been promoting their usage to strengthen information exchange and communication between rural schools and the parents of left-behind children. In an interview, the Director of the Central School pointed out that School A’s practice has become one of the most successful cases in terms of promotion of school–parent communication through the internet and mobile phone (Central School Director, 9 May 2018). One guardian’s experience indicates that the

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role of such communication allowed parents to be willing to send their children back to study in their home town. He said: My son is working in Shandong Province. Since he and his wife are quite busy with their business, they decided to send their daughter back to study at School A last year. In the beginning they worried about the quality [of School A]…We always shared school information and reported what teachers said in the meetings. They could know what happened at School A by checking the school’s WeChat account. And the more they know about the school, the more relieved they were. Therefore, this year, they decided to send my grandson back to study with his sister at School A. The teachers are very helpful here. And we are pleased to see both granddaughter and grandson studying in our hometown. (Guardian 7, 6 May 2018)

An interview with a village official also showed that the online information exchange by School A encouraged villagers to send their children back to study. The official further explained: ‘Villagers who worked outside have an on-line group for information exchange. School A’s information has been shared among the members, and the information encouraged some parents to decide to send their children to stay in their hometown’ (Village official, 7 May 2018). An interview with one mother showed this positive role of online information exchange. She recalled her experiences: I had been following the updates of School A for more than one year before we decided to enroll my son to School A. We know the school from our group… The news about the school life of students allowed me to get familiar with this school and school life there. Then we got in contact with the teachers of the school. And we decided to enroll our son in this school from this year. (Guardian 2, 5 May 2018)

Usage of mobile phones also enhanced communication between parents and leftbehind children. Parents could contact teachers to request phone calls or video chats with their children on school days. One day during the author’s school visit, one parent contacted Teacher 2 to request a photo of his daughter. Teacher 2 took a photo and sent it to the parent immediately. Teacher 2 thought the parent must be missing his daughter. Therefore, she proposed a video chat between the parent and his daughter after dinner, and both the parent and his daughter showed their smiles during the video chat. An interview with Teacher 2 indicated that similar requests happened every week: ‘Although it brought teachers more workload, it is meaningful to provide such arrangement with positive effects for both parents and left-behind children. Communication with parents makes left-behind children happy, and this has positive effects on their studies and health’ (Teacher 2, 5 May 2018). In addition, teachers of School A spent their weekends paying visit to left-behind children’s homes in order to understand their life and difficulties. Moreover, this enhanced their communication with guardians of left-behind children. Teacher 4 addressed the importance of home visits: Home visits give us precious opportunities to further understand the family context of leftbehind children. It also tells us what we should pay more attention to with these left-behind children. I had a bad impression of one student who always did not finish his homework on the weekend. I got angry with him every Monday morning… I finally understood the reason for this after our visit to his home. Both grandparents were busy with farming. Therefore,

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J. Liu they did not have enough time to take care of the student. Also, they always asked the student to help taking care of their bulls and cows. When we visited their home, the student was with the bulls and cows on the mountain. When we found him, he was writing his homework while lying on a piece of rock…We would never know about his home learning environment without the home visit. (Teacher 4, 6 May 2018)

Home visits also allowed teachers to know more about left-behind children’s families. This provided more comprehensive information for teachers to find appropriate ways to help these students. Teacher 2 pointed out that home visits gave her the opportunity to know the details of financial difficulties of one left-behind children’s home. She specified: I would never know that this student’s parents had not contacted them after they left home two years ago. Both grandparents are farmers and have difficulties in supporting the student’s education… From the record we could only know the student is not leaving with the parents. However, it is impossible for us to know the detailed context without home visits…Thanks to this visit, we could fully know their difficulties…We found a donator who is willing to support the student until high school. (Teacher 2, 5 May 2018)

Besides these improvements, teachers of School A also established a collaborative relationship with community members. An interview with a village official showed that these teachers always helped the village committee to make documents using the school’s computer and printer. Teacher 1, the past principal, also helped villagers to repair their electricity and water pipes. ‘Villagers would like to support the school since the teachers really helped people in this village’, the village official emphasized (Village official, 7 May 2018).

2.5.4 Collaboration with Social Groups and the Private Sector Analysis indicates that collaboration between stakeholders outside the village and School A brought additional education resources and support for left-behind children. The usage of the internet and WeChat to publicize the education activities of School A attracted much social attention. The school has been receiving donations of books, air conditioners, stationery and uniforms from NGOs and social groups. Moreover, teachers invited their friends outside the village to bring more education resources to this school to enrich curriculum and activities. For example, Teacher 2 invited her friend, who is teaching calligraphy in an urban area of the province, to teach it to students of School A. She also invited friends who are teaching Chinese traditional music instruments to teach basic knowledge and the history of Chinese traditional music to students of School A. There is no doubt that these activities diversified the education program and widened students’ knowledge and experiences. Moreover, with the support of the Alibaba Foundation, students of School A can listen to a free radio storytelling program before falling asleep every night. In addition, School A was selected to join an English education online program. G1 to G4 students

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could join the online class provided by native English speakers once a week. A more interactive teaching approach motivated students to happily open their mouths to practice English. This is an important opportunity for students in a small rural school to speak in English with native speakers.

2.5.5 Challenges Besides the achievements mentioned above, there are some challenges for School A to best accommodate the needs for education and well-being of left-behind children. Firstly, School A needs more teachers and professional support for fully accommodating the needs of left-behind children. As Table 2.1 illustrates, teachers at School A need to teach not only subjects that they are familiar with, but also the subjects for which they have never been trained. They need additional teachers who can teach arts, music and science to provide a full national curriculum to left-behind children. On the other hand, teachers need professional training in psychological consultation to provide relevant support to left-behind children and their families. Teacher 2 clarified: I think we do need psychological consultation for left-behind children…I can feel their anxiety and emotional instability in their daily life. Although I wish I could help them, sometimes, I just did not have confidence that the way I took was correct or necessary… We do need professional instruction and training… Also, under such work pressure, teachers including myself, also need such consultation. (Teacher 2, 5 May 2018)

Teacher 8, as a newly graduated teacher, shared her concern about the lack of professional knowledge for guiding students. She said: [I]it is necessary for her to have more professional training in how to instruct students and how to take care of students’ psychological development. Since I did not graduate from an education program, I need the relevant support or training to improve myself. (Teacher 8, 12 December 2019)

Secondly, the current workload has been beyond teachers’ capacities, and it will become a barrier for teachers to concentrate on teaching and research. School A needs more teachers or supporters to share the workload of daily management with current teachers. Teacher 3, as current principal, shared his concerns: If you look at our school timetable, you will know how tired our teachers will be…. [showing Table 2.2 to the author] Some teachers need to get up earlier than our students in order to prepare hot water for students in the morning. After all students go to bed, we need to come back to our office to prepare classes for the next day. Also, we need to have meetings which are related to our daily school management, teaching training, and other urgent issues and assignments from the central school. Currently, we are also responsible for the poverty reduction campaign in this village. Each teacher is assigned five households to help. Therefore, every weekend, all teachers have to visit his or her assigned households to collect information and report to the local government in order to look for relevant solutions for helping them to improve their living standard up to the poverty line by 2020. (Teacher 3, 12 December 2019)

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Table 2.2 Time schedule of School A

School timetable 6:20–6:50

Get up

6:50–7:30

Morning self-study

7:30–7:55

Breakfast

7:55–8:05

Cleaning

8:07–8:10

Chinese classics

8:10–11:30

Two sessions

11:30–12:10

Lunch

12:10–14:10

Noon break

14:40–17:00

Three sessions

17:00–17:40

Activity

17:40–18:10

Dinner

18:10–18:20

Cleaning

18:20–19:20

Self-study

19:20–19:50

Shower

19:50

Go to bed

Source School A

In an interview, Teacher 6 also pointed out that the assignment related to the poverty reduction campaign is beyond the teachers’ capacity, and the increased responsibilities made her confused about what should be her main focus as a teacher. She elaborated: I fully support the poverty reduction campaign. And I wish I could help these poor households. However, as a teacher, I think my role is to better foster their children at this school, which should be my responsibility for the poverty reduction. Our current assignments [home visit to the poor households and information collection] did not help them at all. Rather, I felt sorry to waste their time to meet us. I believe they could spend the time for income generation… I felt confused about my role as a teacher. And I did not feel what I am doing is valuable for education. (Teacher 6, 13 December 2019)

Thirdly, it is difficult and there is a lack of solution to transforming parents’ perceptions of education achievement. There are an increasing number of parents working outside who give more attention to left-behind children in their home town. However, their concerns are still limited to exam results and the ranking of their children in the class. Teacher 8, as a newly graduated teacher, shared her dilemma regarding parents’ educational value of performance-first. She specified: I think we still face challenges from parents who pay more attention to students’ performance in the exams rather than their psychological development and well-being. Parents did call us to discuss about their children…However, their main concerns are always related to exam results and their children’s position. We need to find solutions leading to a transformation of their perception and enhance their understanding of the holistic development of a child. Compared with scores, their children’s morality, values, and psychological development are more important. (Teacher 8, 13 December 2019)

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2.6 Discussion and Conclusion Through the analyses above, this study shows School A, as a small rural school, has been taking a collaborative approach to build an educational community, which consists of a collaborative culture among teachers within School A and diverse collaborations between School A and parents, the community, social groups and the private sector to best accommodate the educational needs of left-behind children and foster their well-being. The literature review shows small rural schools have difficulties in accommodating the needs of left-behind children. In contrast, the findings of this study reveal that a collaborative approach of building an educational community that involves all stakeholders can get over these difficulties, although not completely, to best accommodate the needs of left-behind children. A collaborative collegiality among teachers of School A provides a pre-condition for teachers, no matter senior or young, to construct shared values and mutual respect to be willing to work together to share knowledge and experiences, and jointly develop curriculum and other activities to meet the diverse demands of left-behind children and their families. These practices clearly present what Andy Hargreaves explained is the role of collaborative cultures in promoting joint work, mutual observation and focused, reflective inquiry (Datnow 2011; Hargreaves 1994). Individual young teachers still did not have enough skill and capacity to fully accommodate the diverse needs of left-behind children. Nevertheless, the collaboration among teachers, which was motivated by the collaborative collegial relationship, enabled them to innovate new approaches and explore new resources to best provide education for the left behind. Moreover, the collaborative culture extended to the construction of an educational community in which all stakeholders collaborate for meeting the diverse needs of leftbehind children. Communication between teachers and grandparents was strengthened through parent–school meetings, open campus and home visits. Mobile phones and WeChat enhanced information exchange between the school and the parents of left-behind children. More importantly, these became bridges that link parents and their left-behind children to allow more opportunities for communication. In addition, social networks of teachers and the effect of updating School A’s WeChat account brought more educational resources, which could enrich the educational activities and widen the knowledge and experiences of left-behind children. The educational community construction is similar to what researchers define as a whole-community approach in promoting the well-being of left-behind children in rural China (Guan and Deng 2019). Collaboration between schools and other stakeholders can promote communication between school, left-behind children and their families. Furthermore, it can enrich the educational resources for improving education quality for left-behind children and small rural schools. Challenges identified in the findings indicate that it is necessary to strengthen a more comprehensive collaboration among stakeholders for left-behind children and their families. Although there are increasing numbers of new graduates who become teachers in rural China, knowledge and skills they learned in school are still not matching well with the demand. Training for psychological consultation or dispatch

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of psychological counselors are needed by left-behind children and their families. Also, it is necessary to foster more multi-subject teachers who can teach most subjects included in the national curriculum. Moreover, the current workload of teachers of this small rural school is already beyond their capacity. Rather, it has become a barrier or burden for teachers to concentrate on their teaching and education for leftbehind children. It is necessary for local education authorities and local government to guarantee teachers’ time for teaching and education. In addition, teachers in this small rural school found difficulties transforming parents’ perception of the value of education. An education value of results-first is imbedded in Chinese society, especially in rural areas, which have limited educational resources and opportunities. Good academic performance and higher ranking in different examinations are considered qualifications for entering high-performing schools. In contrast, parents in rural areas pay less attention to the holistic development of their children. On one hand, small rural schools can continue disseminating information to influence the guardians and parents of left-behind children. On the other hand, it is necessary to lead a transformation regarding the value of education on a society-wide scale by giving more emphasis to the development of the whole person and balancing distribution of educational resources between rural and urban areas. The findings of this study provide us with hints for building small rural schools to better accommodate the diverse needs of left-behind children and their families. Collegiality appears to be a key factor in constructing a collaborative culture and promoting collaboration among teachers, either young or old, in the same school. The findings indicate that a team with both young and senior teachers has the potential to enable small rural schools to work more effectively. Moreover, recruitment of local teachers who are more familiar with the local context and culture shows a positive impact on teaching, learning and school management. It will also enhance communication between the school and local families. In addition, the findings indicate that it is necessary to provide more professional training for teachers in small rural schools. Meanwhile, these schools need society-wide support to share responsibilities and workload to free teachers to concentrate on teaching, learning and research. To conclude, this study sheds light on how to make a small rural school serve as agent for providing equal, inclusive and quality education for left-behind children by constructing an educational community with internal collaborative culture and external collaboration with diverse stakeholders. It appears to provide a model for small rural schools to provide education for left-behind children. However, the findings could only present a limited scope of stakeholders related to the educational community construction due to the limited time and access to stakeholders. For future study, the perspectives of stakeholders, such as rural–urban migrant parents and left-behind children, could be incorporated into the research design. More diverse perceptions of the role of small rural schools in providing education and fostering the well-being of left-behind children are necessary to make this model sustainable.

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Chapter 3

Migration and Human Capital: Education and Training Considerations Among International Labor Migrants, Municipality of Rizal, the Philippines Francis Peddie Abstract International labor migration is popularly perceived as being motivated by economic considerations. However, recent reports by international organizations and some academic research on this kind of migration have attempted to expand the understanding of migrant motivation by including aspects of human development and human capital accumulation that include education and training opportunities. This chapter explores what place, if any, education and training have in the motivational hierarchy of prospective, current and former international labor migrants from the Municipality of Rizal in Laguna Province, the Philippines. Data gathered from questionnaires, informant interviews and focus group discussions reveal that education and training are secondary motivations for labor migrants behind the economic rationale ubiquitous in studies of labor migration. At the same time, substantial portions of planned and actual remittance from increased wages earned overseas are earmarked for the education of children or the human capital acquisition of young labor migrants. The findings from Rizal cast doubt on some of the human capital motivational claims in literature while adding nuance to others.

3.1 International Labor Migration and the Question of Motivation International labor migrants make the choice to leave their countries of origin to earn more money and be more productive than they would be if they stayed at home. This choice is rational and understandable, and thus for many years dominated the academic understanding of international labor migration (ILM) because it seemed to provide a simple and comprehensive explanation for an important global issue. On the other hand, explorations of what labor migrants do with their increased earnings

F. Peddie (B) Graduate School of International Development, Nagoya University, Nagoya-shi, Aichi, Japan e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 F. Peddie and J. Liu (eds.), Education and Migration in an Asian Context, Economics, Law, and Institutions in Asia Pacific, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-33-6288-8_3

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and new skills and knowledge led to the understanding that the simple wage differential explanation of early migration theorists was insufficient to capture the complex motivations of migrants to accept the risks and costs associated with working abroad. As research on ILM continues, the understanding of labor migration has constantly evolved to include considerations of human capital accumulation as well as more easily quantifiable economic capital gains. In this chapter, the linkages between economic and human capital accumulation are explored by examining data collected in the Municipality of Rizal, Laguna Province, the Philippines. Specifically, data from key informant interviews and purposive sampling questionnaires were used to gauge the motivations to take part in ILM of former, current and prospective international labor migrants and where questions of education and training, as aspects of human capital formation, fit into a motivation hierarchy. The findings from three short-term research sessions reveal that education and training considerations play a secondary but important role in the motivation of actual and prospective labor migrants, but also that increased expenditure on education and training (real and projected) is a major result of economic capital accumulation. In short, education and training gains are an important consideration for migrants from both an economic and human capital development perspective, but at the same time a consideration that requires economic and labor motivations to be first satisfied before the human capital concerns come to the fore.

3.2 Beyond Wages: ILM and Human Capital The common perception that international labor migrants are people from poor countries attempting to earn higher wages in richer nations with more work opportunities has dominated public discourse and affected policy decisions by governments for decades, partly because it contains a strong element of truth. In the realm of academic study of international migration, theories such as the macro and micro neo-classical economics models to explain drivers of migration, or the connected idea of dual market theory, assign primacy to wage differentials and labor market conditions as the best ways to account for why people choose to cross borders for work (Massey et al. 1993, 434–6, 440–4). While these are certainly drivers, the criticism of the neo-classical model is that it tends to treat migrants either as an indistinct mass (in macro theory), or as lone wolf actors making decisions solely on a cost–benefits basis that fails to account for social networks or an assumed continued connection with the country of origin. On the other hand, from the 1980s a school of thought regarding migration, known as the new economics of migration, began to put emphasis on international migration as a group rather than individual decision, often taken at the household level. In this view, ILM was not only a result of wage and labor market concerns, but also a strategy designed to minimize risks and obstacles to family livelihood, such as assuaging credit issues or providing a kind of financial safety net in countries with less developed social welfare provisions such as universal health care or unemployment insurance (Massey et al. 1993, 436–40). The new economics

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of migration also accounted for the continued connection between the migrant and the individual’s community of origin, often but not always seen through the lens of the family, and how migration had potential positive benefits for both the person who goes and those who remain behind. This concept of a continued family or broader social network between the migrant abroad and the people back home also has an echo in the migration perpetuation model known as network theory. This model posits that ILM is likely to continue even if the wage and labor market conditions improve in the country of origin as long as a migration chain that connects current, former and non-migrants exists to make migration less expensive and risky due to network support and the sharing of information (Massey et al. 1993, 448–50). Based on my early exposure to labor migrants from the research site and what they had told me anecdotally about their experiences, and the fact that most had gone to Korea, I began this research working on the assumption that the new economics of migration and network theory were likely the best fitting models for understanding how the people I spoke to decided to undertake ILM (family-based decisions) and where they went (a developing localized migration corridor between Korea and the town that included the sharing of information and migration costs). Further research would reveal that this hypothesis had elements of accuracy, as the findings regarding spending on education for children and siblings will show, but also fell short in a number of respects, especially as it pertained to destination. Apart from whether ILM is an individual or group-based decision, and whether it is perpetuated by the impersonal global economic system or because of migration chains and migrant networks, there is also the question of what migration is in a broader context. In early postwar analyses, migration was an act taken by the downtrodden in poor societies as a survival or escape strategy, but one that left them perpetually on the margins of the destination country (Handlin 2002 [1951]). Later views presenting migrants as transplanted rather than uprooted (Bodnar 1987) provided arguments against this highly pessimistic perspective, emphasizing how migrant communities reconstituted themselves in countries of resettlement, provided mutual support in a sometimes hostile environment, and reproduced some of the features of the homeland, such as food culture, customs, celebrations and, to some degree, language. What both of these stances had in common was that they prioritized the migrant experience in the destination country, and assumed migration was undertaken by the poorest sectors of society, and automatically reduced contact with the country of origin to a minimum. While this certainly was influenced by historical circumstances, when mass migration to the countries where the scholarship had been produced (largely the United States) had often led to permanent settlement, it failed to allow for return migration and continued strong links to the country of origin and family left behind. While technological innovation after World War II, specifically commercial air travel, allowed for greater opportunities to both take part in migration and to return to the country of origin, mobility restrictions resulting from the Cold War and the existence of two distinct economic trade blocs had the effect of stultifying the broader study of the effects of ILM on the areas of origin. The elimination of most mobility restrictions after the end of the Soviet Union and the increasing pace of globalization in the 1990s coincided with a growing view, especially notable among

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international organizations, that the one-sided view of ILM as a drain on developing countries and a gain for developed countries failed to recognize a vital fact: that ILM could be, and in fact was, a means of development for labor-sending countries (International Organization for Migration [IOM] 2013, 12–13). While much of the literature and many of the organization reports that took up this perspective focused initially on the economic gains for developing countries, ranging from the national level to the livelihoods of families with members working abroad, there also emerged a focus on aspects of human development that might to varying degrees benefit from ILM. While not always easy to desegregate, studies on the developmental benefits of ILM in recent years have tried to take into account economic and human capital gains, as well as other considerations like better health outcomes for women and children (Fargues 2017; Tani 2017; UN 2017; UNESCO 2018). In this context, human capital is associated with benefits either to the individual migrant or family members through more stable access to better education and/or training opportunities that can be used abroad (or learned there) and potentially applied upon return to the country of origin. This increase in human capital is also meant to contribute to sustainable livelihoods for return migrants, either by them working in the field of education or training they had learned, or using acquired knowledge and skills to engage in entrepreneurship that will financially support the family of the migrant and perhaps even contribute to local development. In this chapter, the data gathered from the Municipality of Rizal is used to evaluate whether education and training considerations play or played a significant role as a motivation for ILM and to what degree the human capital benefits predicted in the literature materialize in this case study. This may be particularly useful, as human capital gains, especially with regard to education, tend to focus on the children of migrants left behind or resettled with their parents in a destination country (UNESCO 2018) or how training received abroad may benefit returned migrants in terms of entrepreneurship (Thomas and Inkpen 2013). Little attention has been given to the degree to which migrant laborers (and potential migrant laborers) view human capital gains as a reason to engage in ILM.

3.3 Understanding Motivations for ILM While theories to explain why ILM begins, such as the neo-classical and new economics of migration models discussed in the previous section, provide useful general explanations, they often lack specific understanding of what are the main motivators for people who have or are planning to engage in labor migration. Working from the assumption that people who have undertook or are considering ILM have multiple motivations for doing so, since 2005 (Reichlová) some researchers have attempted to elaborate models that place motivation into a hierarchy to explain primary, secondary and tertiary reasons for migration. These efforts at times adapt categories from Maslow’s (1954) Motivation and Personality and apply the hierarchy of human needs to explain why people choose to migrate for work, what they hope to accomplish, what factors influence the migration decision, and so on. Maslow’s

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theory encompasses five sets of needs: physiological needs, safety needs, belongingness and love, esteem needs, and self-actualization, or doing what one is meant to do (Reichlová 2005, 5), but the fact that these categories do not comfortably graph onto migration motivation has meant that research using Maslow seems to have forced an inappropriate framework to try to answer the motivation question. For example, Reichlová (2005), after arguing that the Maslow model could be used to explain motivations for migration, discards the fourth and fifth categories (esteem and selfactualization) altogether, and fails to justify why the physiological need category is more important when the majority of research shows that it is not the poorest and neediest of societies (those who cannot fulfill their physiological needs) who migrate (Clemens 2017, 3; Helms and Leblang 2019, 4). In a similar vein, while Dolman et al.’s (2019, 4) research on migration motivation for physicians attempts to include all of Maslow’s categories in their analysis, their findings show that the first tier of needs, physiological, is mentioned very rarely as spurring migration, whereas the categories excluded by Reichlová appear most frequently. Dolman et al. also choose to redefine the third tier, belongingness and love, as the need for social acceptance, and consider it a deterrent to migration rather than a motivation (2019, 7), as had Reichlová (2005, 3). The fact that this is a demotivating factor calls into question why these authors chose to use Maslow in the first place, although there are grounds to claim that the hierarchy of needs model makes some useful suggestions for how to understand migration motivation, rather than serve as an unadapted framework. The desire to go beyond traditional push–pull views of migration has resulted in other models in recent years that do not rely on Maslow’s hierarchy but nonetheless attempt to create frameworks to better understand why people choose to migrate and related questions such as destination choice and continued engagement with the country of origin. Castelli (2018, 1) posits an explanation based on macro factors (political, environmental, socio-economic and demographic), meso factors (communication technology, displacement from land, and diaspora networks), and micro factors (including education, inclination to migrate, religion and marital status) to explain the drivers of migration. Using a similar three-tier model, Helms and Leblang (2019, 2) present migration as a series of decision points to account for motivation (to go or not to go), destination (where to go), and how to re-engage or not with the country of origin. Both of these works have shortcomings: Castelli’s macro factors are so general as to be largely meaningless, and the land-grabbing element of his meso factors seems to belong to an earlier time; Helms and Leblang perhaps overstate the agency of migrants in choosing their destinations and downplay economic factors while elevating political and social factors such as access to political rights and the possibility of family reunification (6). That being said, both frameworks also have strengths. In particular, Castelli’s identification of multiple levels of drivers lends itself to reframing motivations in a similar way, rather than relying on Maslow’s classifications. Helms and Leblang’s first and third decision points can be useful for understanding migration motivation as having short, medium and long-term features. In trying to identify how migrants or potential migrants from Rizal make migration decisions and for what reasons, aspects of the models discussed above have helped

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shape the final analysis of the data collected, specifically how the data relates to motivations relating to the human capital gains of education and training.

3.4 ILM in the Filipino Context The Philippines features prominently in ILM research of all types because of the enormous number of its citizens who work overseas. According to 2017 statistics from the IOM, the Philippines was the eighth-largest migrant-sending nation, with over five million citizens residing abroad (IOM 2017). Based on numbers from the Philippines Statistical Authority for April to September 2019, 2.3 million of these overseas residents were classified as Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs), 96.2% of whom had official work contracts (Philippines Statistical Authority [PSA] 2019). A strong argument can be made that ILM has become an institutionalized part of the Philippines’ development strategy, with the state acting as a facilitator for overseas migrants (Tigno 2007, 275–8). Defined by the World Bank as a lower-middle income country (World Bank 2020), the Philippines shows many of the features identified as drivers of migration: a steady if unspectacular growth in macroeconomic indicators such as GDP and GNI (gross national income); a reduction in child mortality because of improving health care provision that causes demographic changes; and better educational outcomes associated with increased access to schooling (Clemens 2017, 3). Human development indicators (United Nations Development Program 2019) show that the Philippines ranks respectably in terms of health and education outcomes, but suffers from a paradoxical dilemma that spurs ILM: too many young people who are healthy and well-educated for the number of jobs available in the Philippines’ labor market. To overcome this particular obstacle, working-age Filipinas and Filipinos opt for ILM for the income and productivity advantages it offers, and the positive outcomes for family prosperity that results. As Tigno has noted (2007, 269) ‘most (if not all) have sought overseas employment to support a family or some family members back in the Philippines’. Furthermore, Tigno points out that, despite the social costs of being separated from family (children in particular) and community, as overseas labor migration has become ingrained in society, ‘more Filipinos have come to rely on migration as a short-term or quick solution to problems of unemployment and low income’ (280). This is particularly relevant in the research site of this study, a primarily agricultural community that experiences the ‘low productivity and slow expansion of employment opportunities in rural areas’, areas where two-thirds of poor Filipinos live (Balisacan 2007, 209). In this context, combined with a decline in Official Development Assistance and erratic foreign direct investment that could be used for rural development and poverty alleviation (Pernia 2007, 226), the remittances sent by overseas migrants fill an important gap left as a result of the lack of government and outside financing for development in municipalities like Rizal. Within the micro context of families taking responsibility for their own economic stability and human capital development, Pernia (2007, 227) highlights that Filipino

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OFWs see overseas work and the increased income it brings as a strategy that fulfills short, medium and long-term goals: It makes more sense to regard remittances as the returns to migration, an investment in human capital of the migrant and his/her family, often to provide a better present and a brighter future for the children or younger siblings. Thus, we often hear the remark: “I’m doing this not so much for myself as for my children and their future.”

In addition, the increased spending power of the families of migrants may have positive multiplier effects in places such as Rizal because of higher expenditure on consumption and investment in the local area, thus making ILM a win–win situation for both the migrants and the communities they are from (Pernia 2007, 227). The relative success of this strategy for the Philippines has in turn led to greater reliance on and institutionalization of overseas labor migration in a circular manner: higher levels of ILM have improved livelihoods at the family level, encouraging government support for smoothing the process of going abroad to work, leading to more OFWs, leading to higher remittance, and on it goes. As Asis (2017) has observed, ILM is deeply ingrained in Filipino society from the most basic to highest levels and closely tied to development goals: In the past decade [2007–17], migration governance in the Philippines has gone beyond labour migration policies and remittances, making strides toward linking migration policies to broader development goals. The last two Philippine Development Plans have integrated migration into national development planning; the government’s key planning agency, NEDA, has come to appreciate the importance of migration; and a mechanism, the Subcommittee on Migration and Development, has been established within NEDA to improve coordination among government agencies and devote more attention to migration and development.

While Asis (2017) underscores the governance developments regarding ILM in the Philippines, Tabuga (2018, 33) focuses more on the broad motivations of prospective Filipino overseas labour migrants and concludes that economic considerations are primary, but other motivations more closely related to human capital development are not excluded. In her research in part of Bataan province, 70% of her respondents cited improving living conditions as their main motivation for labor migration, but others (10% of her participants) mentioned paying for their children’s education, while others sought to improve their career prospects or to ‘see the world, [and] experience life in another country’. Echoing the results I found in Rizal, for Tabuga’s respondents who were considering ILM, their ‘desire to seek work elsewhere is associated with the lack of satisfaction with their current livelihood and general living condition’ (34). Her findings also revealed that the lack of job security in their home area drove respondents to consider ILM a viable alternative, although in the long run experience gained overseas may not result in sustainable prosperity and livelihood as the labor market restraints present in Tabuga’s research site persist (37). As will be shown in the case of the Municipality of Rizal, many of the features motivating Tabuga’s respondents toward ILM are repeated in other rural areas of the Philippines.

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3.5 Research Site and Methodology In this context, the Municipality of Rizal is an apt site to conduct research on ILM. In the Philippines’ income classification system, Rizal is a fifth-class municipality with a population of 17,253 according to the 2015 national census (PSA 2019). The fifth-class designation means that Rizal as a municipal entity has low revenue (sixth class is the lowest designation). The main economic activities in Rizal are agriculture, small businesses and some services, with a small number of mediumsized businesses making sweets using local agricultural products. Because of the lack of opportunities in the local labor market, unemployment and underemployment are high: according to data provided to a Nagoya University student working group in September 2016, unemployment among the working-age population (15–65) was 37.9%, disproportionately female, and disproportionately common among residents between 18 and 30 years old (Municipality of Rizal Comprehensive Land Use Plan 2011–2021). While some young town residents commute within the province or to other nearby provinces for work, the lack of productive work can be seen as a push factor for ILM from Rizal, and in early stages of the research was often identified as a primary determinant by respondents who had either taken part in ILM or identified themselves as prospective migrants. This will be explored further in the findings section of this chapter. The data collection for this chapter was conducted over three fieldwork sessions in Rizal. The first session (henceforth RS 1) was ad hoc, resulting from being in Rizal for the two-week 2016 Overseas Fieldwork project for master’s course students of the Graduate School of International Development, Nagoya University. As a supervising faculty member of the project, I became aware of an apparent labor migration corridor developing between Rizal and the Republic of Korea that one of the student working groups investigated tangentially during our stay. While the working group focused on the provision of Korean-language classes by the municipality, I decided to explore how and why the migration corridor was developing, and conducted one key informant interview regarding work in Korea (motivations, working conditions, remittance use, human capital gains) with Arwin Sombilla, a returned migrant who worked in Korea for over two years and was also the working group local guide and a municipal employee. Based on the findings from this exploratory interview, a second fieldwork session (henceforth RS 2) was conducted in February–March 2017. Facilitated and assisted by Arwin Sombilla, individual, pair and small group interviews were conducted with 18 current or former residents: 12 with overseas experience, and six self-selected respondents with no experience but considering working abroad. The participants consisted of 12 men and six women. At the time of the interviews, two respondents were living (and still live) in Calgary, Canada (M59 and F59), and one was working in South Korea but was in Rizal during the research session (F 28B). All other respondents were residing in Rizal or in neighboring municipalities. Two had experience working in Saudi Arabia, including one of the respondents in Canada, and one had experience in both Korea and Taiwan; one had worked as a

3 Migration and Human Capital …

49

seaman. In all, eight of the 12 with overseas work experience had worked or were working in Korea (Table 3.1). During RS 2, semi-structured individual or small group interviews lasting between 25 min and one hour were conducted in person, except for the respondents in Canada, who were interviewed via Skype. Purposive sampling was used along with the snowball method to make contact with respondents. While the original research plan focused only on current and former ILMs with experience in Korea, in the field the scope was expanded on the advice of Arwin Sombilla to include the motivations of self-identified prospective migrants and the preparations they were making (or not) to take part in ILM. The interviews focused on demographic profile, overseas work experience and motivation, working and living conditions, the process and expenses of preparing to go abroad, remittance amount and use, the willingness to undertake ILM again in the future, among other questions. In addition, an unscheduled interview was held with the Laguna provincial Public Employment Service Office (PESO) head in the nearby city of Nagcarlan, and I was allowed to observe a meeting held by the migration-focused non-governmental organization Atikha held in San Pablo, Laguna, with reports provided by provincial government officers who compose the Committee on Migration and Development for the region. From analyzing the results of RS 2, it became clear that a third fieldwork session to further explore questions of migration likelihood, the motivation of prospective migrants and their preferred destination countries and possible work activities would be needed to gain a fuller understanding of the connection between ILM and potential gains for residents of Rizal. Research session three (RS 3) took place in September 2018, again assisted by Arwin Sombilla, who by that point had been elected to the post of barangay1 councilor, a municipal political office. This change in my associate’s professional activity facilitated conducting a questionnaire distributed to the 11 barangays of Rizal, with 55 questionnaires in English and Filipino sent out (five questionnaires per barangay). 38 usable responses were received. Respondents were selected by barangay officials based on professed interest in working overseas and had to be between the ages of 18 and 30. In addition, two interviews were conducted in person using the questionnaire as a guide for a total of 40 responses. A focus group activity was also held with five self-selected (volunteer) questionnaire respondents to get a better idea of how motivations, destinations and potential remittance use were ranked, data which was not captured in the questionnaire. Questionnaire participants were asked about their education and training background; their preferred destinations of migration and motivations for migration (multiple responses, unranked); overseas work experience; and family with overseas work experience or employed overseas at the time of the fieldwork. Focus group participants were asked their top five motivations for migration; their top five preferred destinations; and how they would use remittance from overseas employment by percentage. Follow-up questions after each round of ranking were used to better understand the choices made. 1 The

barangay is the smallest administrative unit in the Philippines, roughly equivalent to a municipal riding or district.

Married

Single

F 24

Married

M 59

F 27

Married

M 34

Married

Married

M 30

Married

Married

M 39A

M 39B

Married

M 46

F 59

Marital status

Gender/age

6

6

4

ND

ND

2

3

3

3

# of dependents

Japanese

Korean; cook; waiter; welding; driver

ND

ND

Beekeeping

Beekeeping

Korean; welding

Korean; welder; machine operator

Other skills/training

Fourth year college SABER online student. BSc ticketing system; Japanese

BSc Business administration and marketing management

College four years (marine transport, nautical)

ND

ND

Vocational (basic seaman, one year; caregiver, six months)

College four years (education)

College four years (nautical)

One year of undergraduate

Highest level of education

Table 3.1 Partial profile of participants, RS 1 and 2

College student

Unemployed

Self-employed (tricycle driver; on-call cook)

Full time (cashier)

Full time (cook)

Self-employed (family business)

Full time (Municipal government employee)

Self-employed (tricycle driver; welder)

Self-employed (tricycle driver)

Employment

N

N

Y

Y

Y

Y

N

Y

Y

Overseas experience

NA

NA

(continued)

Korea

Canada

Saudi Arabia; Canada

Various (seaman)

NA

Korea

Korea

Location of overseas work

50 F. Peddie

Married

Married

Married

Married

Married

Single

Single

Engaged

Married

F 28A

M 45

M 32

F 28B

F 29

M 26

M 31

M 35

M 33

3

1

4

1

11

11

6

4

5

# of dependents PhilGEPS; Japanese

Other skills/training

Korean; welding

Korean

Korean

Korean

Korean

Basic seaman

Three years college Korean (Chemical Engineering)

Vocational (electrical)

Vocational (IT)

High school

Vocational (practical nursing)

High school

Vocational (welding)

Vocational Plumbing; (electrical and pipe carpentry; fitting) agriculture

Two-year college course (restaurant management)

Highest level of education

Contract (municipal office); self-employed (tricycle driver)

Unemployed

Self-employed (family business)

Unemployed

Full time (ND)

Full time (packer)

Part-time (on-call welder)

Self-employed (contractor)

Part-time (bookkeeping)

Employment

Y

Y

Y

Y

N

Y

Y

N

N

Overseas experience

Source Author’s interviews, RS 1 and 2. ND = Not determined; PhilGEPS is the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System

Marital status

Gender/age

Table 3.1 (continued)

Korea

Korea; Taiwan

Korea

Korea

NA

Korea

Saudi Arabia

NA

NA

Location of overseas work

3 Migration and Human Capital … 51

52

F. Peddie

Analysis of the data collected was done in successive stages, with each RS determining the content and structure of subsequent fieldwork. Key informant interviews from RS 1 and 2 were fully or partially transcribed and Excel spreadsheets were made to compare data on education, training, time spent overseas, locations of overseas work, jobs performed overseas, and expenses for preparing for ILM, among other factors. For RS 3, an Excel spreadsheet covering demographic information, education and training completed and in process, current employment, work experience outside of Rizal or outside of the Philippines, and family members previously or currently working as OFWs was continuously updated as questionnaires came in, along with spreadsheets on the likelihood of taking part in ILM, reasons for interest in ILM, and preferred destination countries. Questionnaire respondents were also invited to voluntarily take part in the focus group session. Five respondents took part in this final fieldwork activity. The focus group was voice recorded for later reference and I took notes as the session was in process. Comparative tables were later created to analyze the in-depth answers provided by the focus group participants.

3.6 Findings Before discussing the findings described below, it should be pointed out that these observations focus closely on questions of education and training gains from, or expected from, ILM, including where education and/or training rank as motivations for working abroad. It must be underlined that this was not the only consideration while conducting fieldwork. As previously mentioned, lived experiences during ILM and working conditions were important parts of the semi-structured interviews conducted during RS 1 and 2, but are not discussed here. Similarly, the questionnaire used during RS 3 sought to identify, among other issues, if the existence of a migration network linking prospective migrants and current or former OFWs among extended family relations made migration more likely. As this consideration does not relate directly to questions of education and training, the findings on this question will be excluded in this section. In short, the findings presented here do not encompass the totality of data collected in Rizal; a more holistic analysis of the big picture of ILM and Rizal will be a project for future presentation. Tasked with fitting this research into the broader question of the nexus between education and migration in the Asian context, I re-examined the data tables and interview transcripts to see in what ways respondents mentioned education or training considerations in their answers. Before revisiting the data, I set out to answer several interconnected questions: • To what degree are/were educational and training opportunities a motivation for ILM among former, current and prospective labor migrants from Rizal? • Were there clear human capital gains in education and/or training from ILM for former or current OFWs?

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53

• Where do education and training opportunities rank in a motivation hierarchy for questionnaire respondents? • Are there gender and/or age considerations that influence the importance of education and/or training in the motivation hierarchy? • Can educational and training opportunities be considered primary, secondary or tertiary goals of international migration for respondents from Rizal? In addition, a re-examination of the findings from the focus group conducted during RS 3 revealed interesting links between projected remittance use and education for either the prospective migrant or the children and/or younger siblings of the participant. This prompted me to look again at how interviewees from RS 1 and 2 with overseas working experience and their extended family members had used the money remitted from abroad, which also yielded important references to how improved educational options for the siblings, children, or even grandchildren of OFWs was an important goal of the migrants. This prompted the realization that while education and training often did not figure prominently in the stated motivation for migration of interviewees, considerations of how the economic benefits of labor migration would impact the human capital development of migrants’ families was folded into the phrase most often heard in interviews to explain migration choice: “suportahan ang pamilya”, to support the family.

3.6.1 Supporting the Family: Evidence from RS 1 and 2 A review of questions of motivation, education and skills acquired before and during ILM, and remittance use from the first two fieldwork sessions revealed some interesting findings about the connections between overseas work and human capital gains. In some instances, respondents explicitly testified to how the economic gains from ILM benefited the educational prospects of family members. First of all, interview questions regarding motivation for having engaged in ILM in most cases did not reveal a direct connection to educational or training gains. Table 3.2 shows that of 12 respondents with previous or current (at the time of the interview) ILM experience, three directly related their overseas work to educational concerns, while all others did not. Taken in isolation, these results would seem to indicate that human capital gains were not a significant motivation for ILM among these respondents. However, as previously touched on, the general idea of supporting the family is not confined to economic considerations, which was revealed by examining how migrant laborers and their spouses or other family members used the remittances sent from abroad. Aside from the three interviewees who had mentioned education considerations in their motivations, three additional respondents (Male, 39A; Female, 59; Male, 33) explicitly discussed remittance use for investment in formal education for their children or grandchildren. This shows that supporting the family includes raising the human capital of family members, if not the migrants themselves.

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Table 3.2 Primary motivations for ILM Respondent (age at time of interview)

Motivation

Country of overseas work

Male, 33

Support family

Korea

Male, 46

Build house, pay for daughter’s education

Korea

Male, 39A

Support family

Korea

Male, 39B

Support family

Korea

Male, 59

1. Pay for sons’ education 2. Support family, get Canadian citizenship

Saudi Arabia Canada

Female, 59

Support family

Canada

Male, 34

Support family

Various (seaman)

Female, 28

Support family; pay for sisters’ education

Korea

Male, 32

Make money

Saudi Arabia

Male, 31

Financial difficulties

Korea

Male, 35

Financial difficulties

Taiwan Korea

Male, 26

Support family, learn about new country

Source Author’s interviews, conducted October 2016 and February–March 2017

This point is further supported by testimony from half of the self-identified prospective migrants interviewed during RS 2. Three of the six participants connected their willingness to work abroad to funding the education of their children. A 29-yearold female respondent described her motivation to take part in ILM as ‘I just want help my parents and siblings and secure the future of my child’; she also discussed her long-term plan to work abroad as being for the sake of her child ‘for education’ (personal communication with author, 2 March 2017, Rizal). Another female participant, aged 28, stated: ‘For me my dream is to live simple because I have a family now. I want to support my son and my husband, especially my son. He is studying right now…grade three…I want to support my son until he going to college’ (personal communication with author, 2 March 2017, Rizal). Another participant, a 30-yearold male with a young daughter, described his objective of ILM as ‘To uplift the status of the family. To earn money. And for our future.’ In his further testimony, uplifting the status of the family and future considerations included his daughter’s education (personal communication with author, 28 February 2017, Rizal). This firsthand testimony about the place of improved educational opportunities for children that could result from ILM speaks to the awareness of potential human capital gains for the broader family among prospective migrants, expressed through the lens of better schooling.

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55

On the other hand, while data from RS 1 and 2 revealed that future human capital gains for children, grandchildren or siblings that could result from ILM were understood by people with overseas experience and those contemplating labor migration, the other aspect discussed in the literature, that of skill accumulation, revealed a significant negative finding. Comparison between the migrants’ education and training prior to migration, their overseas human capital accumulation, and their work after returning to Rizal shows that overseas skill accumulation had little relation to life either before or after ILM for the majority of respondents.

3.6.2 The Tenuous Links Between Human Capital Gains and ILM First of all, analysis of the interviews revealed that there is little connection between what respondents studied formally and what they did prior to migration. The exceptions are Male 34 (basic seaman) and Male 32 (welding). This can probably be explained by the fact that while the Philippines scores quite highly in educational attainment, there is a chronic oversupply of qualified workers, one of the triggers of large-scale ILM from the country (Hill and Piza 2007, 257–8). The lack of employment related to fields of study is especially notable in rural areas such as Rizal, even for vocational skills such as welding. In addition, a connection between what respondents studied and what they did abroad is observed in a minority of cases (four of 12): Male 34 (basic seaman), Male 33 (chemical engineering), Male 32 (welding) and Male 39 A (welding). For eight respondents, there is no connection or it was not ascertained during the interview. Few respondents reported receiving any formal training from their overseas employers, though some incidental skills connected to work tasks were learned on the job. The most commonly cited gain in terms of human capital is Korean language acquisition. In addition, the majority of respondents do not use any of the skills they acquired overseas, or indeed many of the skills they trained for in the Philippines. The exceptions are Male 39A (welding) and Male 33 (Korean language). Furthermore, there is an observable and strong tendency for respondents to return to their previous economic activities upon return from abroad. This implies that human capital gain is minimal, and that the labor market constraints that often influenced migration in the first place continue to exist. As can be observed in the table, many of the returnees are self-employed, such as drivers of motorcycles fitted with side cars for paying passengers known as tricycles, and a substantial number work a number of part-time or on-call jobs to make ends meet. Outside of upgrading their tricycles, among the 12 current or former OFWs there was little observable investment in entrepreneurship, one of the expected outcomes of ILM for both economic capital and sustainable livelihoods upon return. Finally, there was no evidence of a business network developing between the town’s returnees and diaspora Filipinos in Korea or Korean businesses, another anticipated result of ILM that

56

F. Peddie

features in the literature, but does not seem to have a bearing on the livelihoods of returnees in Rizal (Table 3.3).

3.6.3 Exploring Motivations and Potential Remittance Use, RS 3 On top of the findings discussed above, analysis of the testimonies collected during R1 and R2 led to the realization that I needed a fuller understanding of what respondents meant when they spoke of supporting the family. With this in mind, I planned the questionnaire for RS 3 to get a view of more specific goals and motivations for people in Rizal considering ILM. As previously discussed, a total of 40 respondents (23 males, 17 females) answered about various aspects of ILM, including motivation options that were unranked to check for how frequently each option appeared. Respondents were allowed to choose as many items from the list as applied. The list of motivations was based on the discussions with current and former ILMs in RS 1 and 2 as well as frequently cited reasons for labor migration in the academic literature. Of the 40 responses received, 33 were judged to have valid answers for motivation. The most frequently chosen motivations as shown in Table 3.4 speak to the lack of employment prospects in Rizal, a desire to invest in land or business, and financially support family members. Motivations stemming from a desire for skills training or to save for further education were not frequently chosen compared to other considerations. Taking into account numerical ties, education and training prospects were 10th and 11th out of the 19 items offered (a 20th item, Other, was not chosen by any respondent). For those who did choose the items related to education and training, male respondents were slightly more likely to choose saving for further education as motivation than females (six to four), but much more likely to see attaining further training as a reason to engage in ILM than their female counterparts (seven to two). The idea of using ILM to finance further studies does not seem to have a relationship to the age of respondents for either males or females, but the prospect of training skews noticeably toward younger males who participated in the questionnaire, and to those who were also more likely to be unemployed or partially employed. Of the seven males who chose training as a goal of ILM, two were employed full time (one as a security guard, the other as an accountant), two were part-time electrician’s assistants working eight hours a week, and three were unemployed. The two women who chose training were also unemployed, though the 26-year-old woman identified as 26A indicated that she is a homemaker. This finding would seem to link to the frequently-cited motivation of finding better employment abroad: five of seven of the men and one of the women also selected ILM as providing better employment opportunities, indicating a lack of gainful employment options in Rizal or the surrounding area.

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Table 3.3 Education, training and occupation comparison, pre and post ILM Respondent Education completed in Philippines (PH)

Training in PH

Occupation prior to migration

Occupation Skills overseas acquired during ILM

Male 39A

College four-year degree (nautical)

Korean language; welding

Tricycle driver Welding; Forklift; deliveries; improved forklift; welding team supervision

Tricycle driver; on-call welder

Male 46

One year of Korean undergraduate language; (electronics) welding;

Tricycle driver; ran a small family business (ramen shop)

Korean language

Tricycle driver

Male 34

Vocational (basic seaman, one year; caregiver, six months)

Beekeeping Family Seaman business (alcohol manufacturing and sales)

None

Family business

Male 59

Not ascertained

Not Carpenter; ascertained cook

Cook

None

Cook

Female 59

Not ascertained

Not Office worker ascertained

Cashier

None

Cashier

Male 39 B

College four-year degree (marine transport, nautical)

Korean language; cook, waiter, welding, driver

Tricycle driver, catering, waiter, cook

Machine operator

Korean language

Tricycle driver; on-call cook; on-call driver

Male 32

Vocational (welding)

Basic seaman

Welder

Welder

Not On-call ascertained welder

Female 28

High school

Korean language

Worked in electronics factory

Vegetable packer

Operating packing machine

Vegetable packer

Male 26

High school

Korean language

Packer

Pipe assembly

Machine operation and tool use

Unemployed

Male 31

Vocational (IT)

Korean language

Family business (poultry)

Factory worker

Machine Family operation business and forklift

Male 35

Vocational (electrical)

Korean language; welding

Tricycle driver Packing tape factory; recycling company

Machine operator

Forklift

Occupation at time of interview

Unemployed

(continued)

58

F. Peddie

Table 3.3 (continued) Respondent Education completed in Philippines (PH)

Training in PH

Occupation prior to migration

Occupation Skills overseas acquired during ILM

Occupation at time of interview

Male 33

Korean language; welding; food and beverage; catering

Musician; tricycle driver

Machine operation, preparation of chemicals

Tricycle driver; job order contracts for municipal government, including Korean language teaching

Three years undergraduate (chemical engineering)

Additional training with chemicals; Korean language

Source Author’s interviews, conducted in October 2016 and February–March 2017. Note that Male 59, Female 59 and Female 28 were employed overseas at the time of the interviews. Further note that on-call signifies part-time work as contracted; hours per week or month vary according to demand

To test the ranking of motivations, questionnaire respondents were invited to voluntarily join in a focus group discussion where their answers would be explored in greater detail. Although nine respondents originally volunteered to join this activity, in the end only five came in time to participate (two females, three males). The focus group participants were asked to rank their motivations one to five from a list of 10 chosen from the questionnaire results and an Other option. As the results show in Table 3.5, education and/or training considerations only received one selection, from the 18-year-old female respondent who ranked financing further education as her fourth motivation for considering ILM; she had also indicated saving for further education as a motivation in her questionnaire. Male, 27, Male, 19B, and Female, 26 had also chosen either saving for further education or getting training as reasons in the questionnaire but did not rank them in their top five motivations in the activity. Better employment opportunities was again the highest consideration for participants, though saving for future business did not rank as highly as the frequency of choice from the questionnaire would suggest. On the contrary, improving the quality of an existing house was more highly ranked than the frequency of mention would imply. Thus, it is safe to assert that traditional views of economic and labor market motivations for ILM have great currency in the case of Rizal residents. Ensuring housing stability, either through using remittances from ILM to renovate existing structures or buying land to build new residences, also rank high. If we were to assign motivations to a primary, secondary or tertiary hierarchy of consideration, education and training would have to be placed in the secondary or tertiary range. At the same time, the focus group activity regarding potential remittance use revealed that financial gains from ILM in many cases would be dedicated to education spending at a higher rate than respondents’ real remittance use from RS 1 and 2 would suggest. When asked to distribute salary earned through ILM in increments of 10 to a total of 100 to 11 different options, spending on education was chosen by four

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Table 3.4 Frequency of selection, motivation to take part in ILM Motivation

Total response/33 valid responses

Male

Female

T1. Better employment opportunities

23

14

9

T1. Save for future business

23

14

9

2. Build new house

21

14

7

3. Buy land

20

15

5

4. Send money to family

18

12

6

T5. Send money to parents

15

10

5

T5. Improve house

15

9

6

T6. Want overseas experience

12

10

2

T6. Current salary is low

12

10

2

7. Save for further education

10

6 Ages: 18A, 19A, 20, 23, 25, 27

4 Ages: 18, 26A, 26B, 30

8. Get training

9

7 2 Ages: 18A, 18B, 19B, 20, Ages: 19, 26A 21, 22, 23

9. Send money to children

7

2

5

T10. Send money to spouse

5

1

4

T10. Health care costs

5

4

1

11. Save for current business

4

3

1

T12. Buy farm machinery

3

3

0

T12. Expand current business

3

2

1

T12. Equipment for current business

3

3

0

(continued)

60

F. Peddie

Table 3.4 (continued) Motivation T12. Join relatives

Total response/33 valid responses 3

Male

Female

2

1

Source Author’s questionnaire, conducted 17–21 September 2018. Ages in bold indicate respondents who chose both options

Table 3.5 Ranked motivations to take part in ILM, one to five Male, 27

Male, 19

Male, 19B

Female, 26

Female, 18

Save for future business

Better employment opportunities

Better employment opportunities

Better employment opportunities

Better employment opportunities

Better employment opportunities

Want overseas experience

Improve house

Improve house

Improve house

Buy land

Improve house

Send money to family

Health care costs

Want overseas experience

Improve house

Save for future business

Want overseas experience

Send money to family

Save for further education

Send money to family

Buy land

Health care costs

Save for future business

Send money to family

Source Focus group activity, conducted 22 September 2018. Male, 27, and Female, 26, did not rank saving for further education in their top five despite choosing the item in the questionnaire; Male, 19B, did not choose getting further training overseas despite having chosen the item in the questionnaire

of the five participants, three of whom allotted 30% of their potential remittances to their own future education, the education of younger siblings, or the education of a child, which represented the highest budget use for three of the four. Table 3.6 shows the complete results of this activity and where educational expenses rank relative to other projected uses. This finding suggests that education, as a human capital gain, ranks very high in the consciousness of potential labor migrants, though not necessarily for the migrant personally. Rather, the investment in human capital is folded into the idea of supporting the family as a general, broad goal of ILM for the residents of Rizal. Supporting the family certainly includes the idea of financial support and providing a stable place to live, but it also includes more medium- or long-term goals such as improving the educational attainment of siblings and children. This leads to the conclusion that if we wish to assign migration motivations a place in a hierarchy of needs expected to be fulfilled by ILM, education and training gains as part of human capital accumulation are important but not primary concerns.

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Table 3.6 Projected remittance use by percentage Male, 27

Male, 19

Male, 19B

Female, 26

Female, 18

Education, 30% (for child)

Investment, 40%

Education, 30% (for younger siblings)

Save for land, 20%

Education, 30% (own)

Food, 20%

Save for business, Food, 20% 30%

Save for business, Pay debts, 20% 20%

Save for land, 10%

Save for land, 10%

Save for land, 10%

Food, 20%

Save for new house, 20% (for parents)

Improve house, 10%

Food, 10%

Improve house, 10%

Education, 20% (for child)

Save for business, 10%

Save for business, Financial support 10% for parents, 10%

Save for business, Health care costs, Emergency 10% 20% savings, 10%

Health care costs, 10%

Investment, 10%

Emergency savings, 10%

Emergency savings, 10%

Source Focus group activity, conducted 22 September 2018. Male, 27, and Female, 26, are married and their projected remittance use for education is for the same child

3.7 Proposing a Motivation Hierarchy Model Based on Conclusions from the Fieldwork Data As previously discussed, neither attempting to graft Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory onto ILM nor using tiered models proposed by researchers such as Castelli (2018) and Helms and Leblang (2019) result in a satisfactory framework for understanding how migration motivations rank. This complicates answering the questions posed in this chapter about the role education and training play in motivating people in Rizal to engage in, or consider, ILM. Before proposing a tentative model for ranking motivations, it is important to first present some important general conclusions drawn from the results of the three research sessions: (1) The primary motivations for former, current and prospective international labor migrants from Rizal relate to traditional economic considerations: better employment opportunities, higher wages, and other similar considerations like investment in business. (2) However, the blanket term most often heard in interviews, ‘to support my family’, has a broader implication than clear-cut economic considerations. It includes human development considerations, including improving educational prospects and skills training. (3) Deeper analysis about what supporting the family means for respondents revealed that this included getting further training or education abroad (human

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capital) for the individual, or supporting the further education of children, siblings, or the prospective migrant himself or herself. (4) The importance of education and training do not come out clearly in questions of motivation; however, the focus group session showed that remittance expenditure used for education is a primary consideration (ranked first or tied for first, four out of five respondents). (5) Training considerations appear more often among young men; those who see ILM as a tool for further education do not see it necessarily as a personal gain but may see it as a way of improving the educational attainment of other family members. In particular, young parents see ILM as a way of providing for their children’s education. Using these five points as a guide, and drawing on the strengths of the motivation hierarchy models proposed in other research, a schematic for understanding where human capital gains rank among motivations driving ILM is presented as follows: (1) Primary motivations: meeting short-term needs and economic goals. This category includes fulfilling the motivations of attaining productive employment and earning higher wages than would be possible without ILM. The data from Rizal lends credence to the idea that, regardless of human capital considerations discussed in more recent literature, unsatisfactory labor market and economic conditions are the still the most immediate motivating forces for most international labor migrants most of the time, as theories such as neo-classical economics suggest. (2) Secondary motivations: providing for the well-being of those left behind. These appear to be more medium-term motivations, which are envisioned as potential positive results of increased income leading to remittance flow. These motivations, as reflected in the interviews and questionnaire results, include economic aspects such as investment in land and housing (including renovating existing structures), but also human capital considerations for the family members of migrants, rather than the migrants themselves. Evidence for this assertion can be found in actual and projected remittance use: the 46-year-old male respondent and 28-year-old female respondent from RS 2 using remittance to pay for the education of a child and siblings, respectively; half the prospective migrants from RS 2 mentioning paying for the education of children as a reason for considering ILM; and the primary place of spending on schooling for children or the migrant herself uncovered in the focus group study from RS 3. These findings also support the assertion that the blanket motivation ‘to support my family’ covers more than economic considerations of food and shelter. As posited in the new economics of migration, broader considerations of family benefits from ILM certainly have a large role in the decisions of people in Rizal regarding going abroad to work. (3) Tertiary motivations: investing in a sustainable future. This level of motivation encompasses more long-term goals that are harder to realize but would be fulfilled ideally. In this category I would include the possibility of acquiring training and skills that may be usable upon return, as well as investment in

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current businesses or capital goods such as farm machinery. There may seem to be some grounds to consider skills training, as a human capital gain, to be a secondary motivation for young men from Rizal contemplating ILM, but it has been placed here as a reflection of the fact that the respondents from RS 1 and 2 have in most cases not been able to use the activities they worked in abroad once back in Rizal. Taken as a whole, the data from Rizal show that education and training cannot be considered primary motivations for ILM, but receive important consideration from former or current migrants (especially investment in education for children) and have some weight in the planning of prospective migrants, in particular investment in children’s education for young parents, and the possibility of acquiring useful skills among young, single, un- or underemployed men. Although some types of migrants (such as the doctors presented in Dolman et al. [2019], or naturally international students) may place higher priority on education and training opportunities than the people involved in this study, data gathered in Rizal suggests that human capital gains are a potentially positive consequence of ILM, rather than a first-rank reason for engaging in it. With this in mind, revisiting the questions that guided this research results in the following answers: To what degree are/were educational and training opportunities a motivation for ILM among former, current and prospective labor migrants from Rizal? They appear to be secondary or tertiary concerns, but the education of children or siblings is closely connected to a broader conception of family support. Skills training is more important to young men, but the lack of opportunities in Rizal to utilize skills used abroad likely means that this should be seen as a tertiary motivation, being more aspirational and relating to long-term hopes for a sustainable livelihood upon return to Rizal. Were there clear human capital gains in education and/or training from ILM for former or current OFWs? For the most part, there was no great gain made in this regard. As shown, the majority of returnees or current OFWs did not have much opportunity to use skills or abilities acquired through ILM. This can be largely explained by the labor market conditions in Rizal. While the findings do not disprove the assertion in the literature that human capital gains from ILM can help in questions of sustainable family livelihood and local development through knowledge and skill transfer to non-migrants, neither do they provide any proof to prove the assertion. Where do education and training opportunities rank in a motivation hierarchy for questionnaire respondents? In the three-level model I propose, they are secondary or tertiary motivations. In the questionnaire, they ranked in the middle, and the key informant interviews show mixed results where evidence exists. At the same time, the small sample of projected remittance use from the focus group activity seems to show that spending on education for siblings or children have an important place in the consciousness of prospective migrants. Are there gender and/or age considerations that influence the importance of education and/or training in the motivation hierarchy? Gender does not seem to play an important role in identifying education as a motivator, while the opportunity

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for training clearly skews toward men, who also tend to be young within the sample group age and are likely to be un- or underemployed. More than age or gender, placing higher importance on educational gains seems to relate strongly to whether a respondent has children or not, and relate somewhat to having younger siblings still in school. Can educational and training opportunities be considered primary, secondary or tertiary goals of international migration for respondents from Rizal? Depending on the respondent in question, they must be considered secondary or tertiary. Echoing Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, I would also argue that the model proposed in this chapter also relies on the satisfaction of one level of motivation before the other becomes important. Therefore, in order for the secondary and tertiary motivations to rise to the front of a migrant’s (or prospective migrant’s) priorities, the more immediate economic and productivity motivations must first be fulfilled. This being done, support for the family, in all its manifold meaning, can begin in earnest. Taken as a whole, the results of this research confirm that ILM from Rizal follows a typical pattern of motivation for the Philippines in general and results from a lack of well-paid, productive employment that is particularly prevalent in rural areas. Despite relatively good levels of education and training, economic reasons lead young Filipinos to consider ILM as a viable option, and for a considerable number of people to act on that consideration. At the same time, the economic gains from ILM (real or potential) are seen as important for funding the further human development of young migrants, their siblings, or children, with the end goal of creating a new generation of people with sustainable income options who will not need to contemplate ILM for their well-being. Acknowledgements Funding for RS 3 was provided by the Toyoaki Scholarship Foundation (Toyoaki Shougakukai). I would like to express my gratitude for the support. In the Municipality of Rizal, I would like to thank the 11 barangay secretaries who selected respondents and distributed the questionnaire used in RS 3 and the employees of the Local Government Unit (LGU) who provided statistical data, and all the residents who gave their time to participate in the research. The fieldwork was greatly facilitated by former mayor and current vice-mayor Antonino A Aurelio, who allowed me access to the LGU facilities and employees and made me feel welcome during my time in Rizal. I would also like to thank Joemark Tunay for helping me during all stages of the research and for his participation in the project, as well as for his friendship. My deepest gratitude is for the extended Sombilla family for the kindness they have shown me since the first day we met, and to Arwin, Sharon, Aaron and Aendee, in particular, for opening their home to me. My final and biggest thank you is for Arwin Sombilla, without whom none of the research would have been possible. Maraming salamat po, kuya konsi.

References Asis, M M B (2017). The Philippines: beyond labour migration, toward development and (possibly) return. Migration Policy Institute. https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/philippines-beyondlabor-migration-toward-development-and-possibly-return#:~:text=Migration%20Information% 20Source-,The%20Philippines%3A%20Beyond%20Labor%20Migration,Toward%20Develop

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ment%20and%20(Possibly)%20Return&text=This%20dual%20approach%20of%20facilitati on,also%20providing%20protection%20to%20OFWs. Accessed 11 October 2020. Balisacan, A M (2007). Why does poverty persist in the Philippines? Facts, fancies and policies. In R C Severino and L C Salazar (eds), Whither the Philippines in the 21st century? (pp 202–21). Singapore: Institute of South East Asian Studies. Bodnar, J E (1987). The transplanted: a history of immigrants in urban America. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Castelli, F (2018). Drivers of migration: why do people move? Journal of Travel Medicine, 1–7. https://doi.org/10.1093/jtm/tay040Perspective. Clemens, M (2017). Migration is a form of development: the need for innovation to regulate migration for mutual benefit, UN Population Division, Technical Paper No. 2017/8. New York: United Nations. Dolman, L, Dimeglio, M, Hajj, J and Laudanski, K (2019). Global brain drain: how can the Maslow theory of motivation improve our understanding of physician migration? International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 16, 1182; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16071182. Fargues, P (2017). International migration and education – a web of mutual causation. Think piece prepared for the 2019 Global Education Monitoring Report Consultation. Paris: UNESCO. Handlin, O (2nd edn, 2002; originally published 1951). The uprooted: the epic story of the great migrations that made the American people. Philadelphia: University of Philadelphia Press. Helms, B and Leblang, D (2019). Global migration: causes and consequences. Oxford Research Encyclopedia, Politics (oxfordre.com/politics). https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/978 0190228637.013.631. Hill, H and Piza, S F (2007). The Philippine development record: a comparative assessment. In R C Severino and L C Salazar (eds), Whither the Philippines in the 21st century? (pp 246–76). Singapore: Institute of South East Asian Studies. International Organization for Migration (2013). Migration and the United Nations Post-2015 Development Agenda. F Laczko and L J Lonnback (eds). Geneva: International Organization for Migration. International Organization for Migration (2017). World Migration Report 2018. Geneva: International Organization for Migration. Maslow, A H (1954). Motivation and personality. New York: Harper & Row. Massey, D, Arango, J, Hugo, G, Kouaouci, A, Pellegrino, A and Taylor, J (1993). Theories of international migration: a review and appraisal. Population and Development Review, 19(3), 431–66. https://doi.org/10.2307/2938462. Municipality of Rizal Comprehensive Land Use Plan 2011–2021. Pernia, E M (2007). Diaspora, remittances and poverty. In R C Severino and L C Salazar (eds), Whither the Philippines in the 21st century? (pp 222–43). Singapore: Institute of South East Asian Studies. Philippines Statistical Authority (2019). For numbers of OFWs. https://psa.gov.ph/statistics/survey/ labor-and-employment/survey-overseas-filipinos. Accessed 11 October 2020. For population and income class. https://psa.gov.ph/classification/psgc/?q=psgc/citimuni/043400000. Accessed 13 March 2020. Reichlová, N (2005). Can the theory of motivation explain migration decisions? Working Papers IES 97, Charles University Prague, Faculty of Social Sciences, Institute of Economic Studies. Tabuga, A D (2018). A probe into the Filipino migration culture: what is there to learn for policy intervention? Philippine Institute for Development Studies Discussion Paper Series No 2018–02. Tani, M (2017). Migration and education. Think piece prepared for the 2019 Global Education Monitoring Report Consultation. Paris: UNESCO. Thomas, K and Inkpen, C (2013). Migration dynamics, entrepreneurship, and African development: lessons from Malawi. The International Migration Review, 47(4), 844–73. www.jstor.org/stable/ 24542809.

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Tigno, J V (2007). Overseas employment from the Philippines – the nexus between development and governance. In T S Encarnacion Tadem and N M Morada (eds), Philippine politics and governance (pp 267–81). Quezon City: University of the Philippines Diliman. United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division. (2017). International Migration Report 2017: Highlights (ST/ESA/SER.A/404). United Nations Development Program (2019). Human Development Index Ranking. http://hdr. undp.org/en/content/2019-human-development-index-ranking. Accessed 3 April 2020. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (2018). Global Education Monitoring Report 2019: Migration, displacement and education – building bridges, not walls. Paris, UNESCO. World Bank (2020). https://datahelpdesk.worldbank.org/knowledgebase/articles/906519-worldbank-country-and-lending-groups. Accessed 11 March 2020.

Chapter 4

Migration and Settlement of First-Generation Japanese–Peruvians and the Educational Challenges of Second-Generation Nikkei in Japan Jakeline Lagones Abstract International migration has increased substantially over the past few decades. Three decades after the revised migration policy in Japan (1990), firstand second-generation Nikkei Peruvians of Japanese descent continue residing in Japan. The Nikkei population will increase further in the near future. Given these circumstances, it is important to assess the employment and educational status of the Nikkei as migrants between Japan and Peru. This chapter tracks the movements of second-generation Nikkei between the two countries and identifies the factors influencing migration while also highlighting the multiple hardships they face and their efforts to overcome them. This chapter is subdivided into sections focusing on the problems faced by first-generation Nikkei migrants, and the educational challenges faced by the youth after being uprooted from one country and continent and moved to another. This qualitative study specifically analyzes the migration of people between Japan and Peru, highlighting not only the factors that influence people to migrate or remain in the same place but also the educational challenges of their children, the second generation in Japan. The results reveal that, although second-generation Nikkei Peruvians have significant human resources, their potential is often wasted because of different circumstances.

4.1 Introduction The term ‘Nikkei’ commonly refers to people of Japanese descent who live abroad. In this chapter, it is used to describe people of Japanese ancestry whose ancestors immigrated to Peru and have returned to Japan since 1990. In 1989, the Japanese government revised the Immigration Act to permit Nikkei to obtain long-term resident visas: ‘Japan revised its immigration laws beginning in 1989… so that Visas could be offered to Nikkeijin (mainly Brazilians and Peruvians of Japanese descent) to come and work in Japanese factories. This heralded the beginning of an increase of J. Lagones (B) Kansai Gaidai University, Osaka, Japan e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 F. Peddie and J. Liu (eds.), Education and Migration in an Asian Context, Economics, Law, and Institutions in Asia Pacific, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-33-6288-8_4

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new comers’ (Chapple 2009, 4). Consequently, the number of Nikkei entering Japan has increased rapidly since 1990. Nikkei from South America are most commonly Brazilian and Peruvian. The economic difficulties of Peru (poverty), social problems (inequality), and unemployment were the push–pull factors for Nikkei Peruvians to return their ancestral land, Japan. Therefore, many Nikkei Peruvians migrated to Japan for better salary remuneration. The first goal for most Nikkei was savings: they believed that by getting a better salary they could save a lot before returning to Peru. However, after three decades, Nikkei Peruvians have continued residing in Japan even after a global financial crisis occurred. Most people of the first generation (the first group who came to Japan) have expanded their families, while most people of the second generation (children of the first generation) have continued their studies in Japan. Consequently, the Nikkei family has had to face many problems in Japan, which is why their originally planned return to Peru has not been possible. According to the Ministry of Justice (MOJ), when the global financial crisis began in 2008, the number of Nikkei Peruvians residing in Japan was 56,052; after four years, in 2012, this population shrank to 49,483. This difference in the total indicates that approximately 12% returned to Peru between 2008 and 2012. Even though the Japanese government enacted an assisted return policy, compared to Nikkei Brazilians, most Nikkei Peruvians decided to continue living in Japan (Fig. 4.1). However, they noticed that their situation as foreign workers in Japan and the cost of living was not what they had imagined before migration. Most of them were unskilled or semi-skilled manufacturing workers, which left them vulnerable during the crisis. Compared to other foreigners in Japan, because of their Japanese descent, Nikkei Peruvians have the right to work legally and gain permanent resident status. When they began migrating to Japan, they believed they would be judged as Japanese in every way; but, as Kondo claimed, ‘Japan’s ancestry-based policy for ethnic repatriates constitutes a rare front door opened to immigration’ (Kondo 2008, 25). Although Nikkei could work and stay legally in Japan, they were treated as foreign workers, not as Japanese. The first generation endures labor market issues and underuse of their human capital, which leaves them vulnerable to economic shocks. This results in their poor integration into Japanese society, and creates a divide between them and their children because of communication issues. The second generation’s main problems include challenges posed by the Japanese education system, the limitations of a new language, and forgetting their native language. Thus, the second generation is faced with the dilemma of whether or not to complete their tertiary education (or in some cases senior high school) despite the many hurdles they encounter as foreigners in Japan. The first generation did not have choices regarding their labor status; almost all of them were employed as unskilled workers at Japanese factories. However, this has been different for the second generation because most of them were educated in Japan. Even though they have faced some hurdles, they have had the chance to be included in the Japanese skilled labor market. The objectives of this chapter are, first, to examine the push–pull factors of Nikkei Peruvian labor migration to Japan; second, to explore the work and social integration problems faced by first-generation Nikkei migrants in Japan; and, third, to describe

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Fig. 4.1 Numbers of Peruvians and Brazilians leaving Japan (1990–2013) (Source Lagones [2016a])

the educational challenges faced by Nikkei youth raised and educated in Japan both during and after the global financial crisis of 2008–2009.

4.1.1 Research Methodology The largest populations of Nikkei in Japan are in the Kanto, Chubu and Kansai regions. Many Nikkei Peruvians and Nikkei Brazilians are employed at Japanese factories in these areas. Therefore, to achieve the first and second objectives of this chapter, I conducted interviews and surveys between Aichi prefecture (part of the Chubu region) and Tokyo (part of the Kanto region). In 2009, I conducted the first set of interviews with about 50 families, using a survey. I first analyzed the demographic characteristics of Nikkei Peruvians in 2009 during the global financial crisis, with most data derived from respondents in Aichi prefecture. The survey was conducted in the consulate of Peru in Nagoya city, the prefectural capital of Aichi. I then selected

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some families who had migrated to Japan in or after 1990, specifically families with children. The language used in the interview and survey was Spanish. To achieve the third goal, I conducted a second set of interviews between January 2014 and July 2015 in the Kanto area, home to many Nikkei Peruvian families because many manufacturing industries are located in the region’s cities. I interviewed Nikkei Peruvians to examine the educational challenges faced by the youth who are in the awkward position of being not fully Peruvian nor Japanese. Snowball sampling was used to contact second-generation Nikkei Peruvians who live in Japan. For the interview and survey, I used Spanish and Japanese, because some of the second generation only speak Japanese, while others understand Spanish but cannot read and write it. This chapter is divided into four parts. The first part describes the background of the Nikkei Peruvian migration to Japan. The second part examines the Nikkei Peruvian migrants in Japan during the global financial crisis of 2008–2009. The third part explores the educational challenges and other issues of second-generation Nikkei Peruvians in Japan. Finally, the fourth part comprises the conclusion of the study.

4.2 Nikkei Peruvian Migration to Japan In 1990, Japan revised the Japanese Immigration Control Law that permits the spouses of second-generation overseas Japanese, third-generation Japanese and their spouses, and fourth-generation Japanese who are dependent on their parents to enter Japan. As a result of the revised law, many Nikkei Peruvians migrated to Japan during the 1990s, as it permitted them to obtain the visa status of long-term permanent residents. The law and other socio-economic factors encouraged them to migrate to Japan. Although Japanese descendants could go to their ancestral land, it was not what they expected. While Altamirano (2009) claimed that migrants carry their human, social and cultural capital to the country that receives them in the global context, many Nikkei Peruvians went to Japan in the 1990s and took up jobs as unskilled workers regardless of their previous educational and employment backgrounds. The majority of those who entered Japan on a descendant visa began working at Japanese factories. During the 1980s, Peru’s unemployment levels were disturbingly high, and wages were far from enough to make a decent living compared to Japan, which had experienced a recent economic boom and boasted an average income of 250,000 yen (approximately 2,500 dollars) for unskilled factory workers. Therefore, thousands of Nikkei Peruvians moved to Japan with the hope of escaping unemployment, poverty and inequality.

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Fig. 4.2 Peru and Japan: unemployment (percentage of the total labor force) (Source Lagones [2016a])

4.2.1 Unemployment Figure 4.2 shows that the Peruvian rate of unemployment was higher than that of Japan in the 1990s. Therefore, it can be inferred that unemployment pushed Nikkei Peruvians to migrate to Japan as dekasegi (labor migrants). Because of this reality, many Peruvians—including Nikkei Peruvians – wanted to establish their own businesses, as it was the best way to support their families despite the low earnings. Peruvians tend to be self-employed, particularly in times of economic crisis and terrorist problems, when poverty and inequality characterized the Peruvian economy (Fig. 4.3). The Nikkei in Peru had long years of experience in establishing businesses, especially in the capital city of Lima. Although many businesses belong to people of Japanese descent, because of Peru’s social, economic and political issues in the 1990s, the first difficulty they faced was securing initial investment, for which they needed savings. Therefore, after the newly revised law benefiting people of Japanese descent was passed, many of them migrated to Japan from Peru with the hope of amassing savings to create and improve their businesses.

4.2.2 Poverty and Inequality Between 1985 and 1990 the average household in Lima experienced a 55% drop in per capita consumption and poverty rose from 0.5% in 1985 to 17% in 1990; 20% of poor people, especially the poorest 10%, experienced further deterioration, with a 60% fall in consumption per capita. Therefore, the unemployment rate rose significantly in this period (Glewwe and Hall 1992). As described, unemployment,

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Fig. 4.3 Peru’s self-employment rate and total (percentage of total employed) MSME (micro, small and medium enterprises) (Source Lagones [2016a])

inequality and poverty were some of the factors that encouraged Nikkei Peruvians to seek new horizons in Japan. In this context, saving and sending remittances back home to Peru became the two major purposes for Nikkei Peruvians to migrate to Japan.

4.2.3 Remittances Peru’s socio-economic problems pushed many Nikkei Peruvians to Japan, where they started to work in Japanese factories. First, most of them focused on saving and remittances as goals to improve their standard of living after returning to Peru. Consequently, some researchers have argued that Japan became one of the most important countries from which Nikkei sent remittances to Peru, which had a significant impact on the Peruvian economy (Aquino 2011; Vela 2006). As shown in Table 4.1, the most significant amount of remittances was sent by Peruvian migrants from the United States (33.5%), Spain (15.9%) and Japan (9.2%). Although the Peruvian migrant population in Japan is not the largest of Peruvian diaspora communities, the amount of remittances that were sent by Nikkei Peruvians was considered high. According to the RENIEC (the Peruvian statistics bureau), Japan is the fifth most commonly chosen destination for immigration by Peruvians and the third in importance for sending remittances. In 2011, more than 4% of Peruvian immigrants were living in Japan.

4 Migration and Settlement of First-Generation … Table 4.1 Remittances from various countries to Peru 2011

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Remittances sent by country to Peru (2011)

Amount

United States

902 million dollars (33.5%)

Spain

430 million dollars (15.9%)

Japan

248 million dollars (9.2%)

Chile

161 million dollars (6.0%)

Italy

221 million dollars (8.2%)

Other countries

735 million dollars (27.3%)

Source Lagones (2016a)

Although poverty, inequality and unemployment were the main factors pushing Nikkei Peruvians to Japan, the revised migration law of 1990 that permitted thirdgeneration Nikkei Peruvians to enter Japan was the key in their decision to move to Japan as dekasegi.

4.3 First-Generation Nikkei Peruvians in Japan and the Global Financial Crisis After the global economic crisis of 2008, most Nikkei Peruvians continued residing in Japan. A study on those who remained in Japan during and after the Lehman Shock between 2009 and 2014 revealed that ‘marital status and Japanese language are the main variables during the crisis in 2009, and that age and children are the main variables after the crisis in 2014’ that determined whether Nikkei Peruvians would remain in Japan (Lagones 2016b, 17). I conducted interviews in Aichi prefecture to highlight the demographic characteristics of first-generation Nikkei Peruvians and to describe the educational challenges of second-generation Nikkei Peruvians who stayed in Japan during the global economic crisis. The convenient location of Aichi prefecture and its multiple industries with many factories were some of the reasons that many Nikkei Peruvians chose this place for both working and living.

4.3.1 Educational Background Regarding their educational experience, 74% of the interviewees came to Japan after completing only high school studies, while 26% of them came with a university degree. Most of the interviewees with a university diploma or degree felt frustrated because they could not use their knowledge or skills acquired in Peru (Fig. 4.4). The first limitation was the lack of knowledge of the Japanese language. In addition, many of them came with their children, so their priority was to support their families.

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Fig. 4.4 First-generation Nikkei Peruvians’ educational status (Source Lagones [2016a])

However, people who wanted to continue their studies or work in a field related to their education or training had to study the Japanese language for their applications for a better job in Japan to even be a possibility.

4.3.2 Networking Some of the interviewees, even though they had lived in Japan for more than 15 years, still did not have the ability to communicate in Japanese. This factor pushed the community closer together. There are two Peruvian consulates in Japan, one in Nagoya and the other in Tokyo. The majority of Nikkei families reside near these cities. There are small Peruvian communities in these cities and, according to the interview data, they consciously try to live near the Peruvian part of town not only because of the networking factor, but also because the majority of them cannot speak Japanese. Thus, daily life would be more difficult if they were far from the community network.

4.3.3 Wages First-generation Nikkei Peruvians work in factories because these jobs do not require the ability to communicate in the Japanese language. The salary of the majority of Nikkei in Japan is about 200,000 yen (approximately 2,000 US dollars), which would have been impossible to earn working in their jobs in Peru. With regard to the financial aspects of the interviewees during the global financial crisis, 52.5% of respondents were working, but 47.5% of them lost their jobs after the collapse of

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Lehman Brothers signaled the start of the crisis. Of those who were working, 42.5% experienced a change in wages. Their monthly salary ranged between 100,000 and 149,000 yen (17.5%); 150,000 and 199,000 yen (17.5%); and 200,000 and 249,000 yen (7.5%) of the first-generation respondents. The final 10% who were working did not have any change in salary during the time of the interview. The difference in salaries of those who were working was due to their ability (e.g., machine operator) or experience inside a factory. Therefore, some Nikkei’s salaries were higher than the average salary per hour (800–900 yen) during the financial crisis, and such jobs were usually done by men. According to the interviewees, before the financial crisis, the average salary per hour was 1,000 yen or more, but during the crisis it was reduced to between 800 and 900 yen. The 47.5% who lost their jobs affirmed that they were looking for a new job at the time of the interviews, but only 8% of them had been using their unemployment insurance or their insurance coverage as a single parent. The last group (39.5%) did not receive any unemployment insurance benefits because they did not pay their employment insurance when they were working before the crisis and, consequently, were not permitted to receive unemployment benefits when they lost their jobs. Some of those in this group were supporting themselves with their savings, while others were getting by with family support at the time of the interview, although they refused to provide clear answers to these questions.

4.3.4 Unemployment Insurance In Japan, different types of insurance are available for the Nikkei. For example, 6% of the unemployed interviewees were covered under unemployment insurance and 2% enjoyed insurance cover as single mothers. It is possible that one of the reasons that Peruvians decided to stay in Japan even when unemployed was that such different kinds of insurance benefits would have been impossible to obtain in Peru. The result of the survey also reveals that Nikkei Peruvians continued saving even during the global financial crisis and they continued sending remittances to Peru even in 2009. Since arriving in Japan, Nikkei families have faced many difficulties, especially those who have children. The second generation of Nikkei returnees in Japan is the major reason that their families continued living in Japan despite the unemployment issue caused by the financial crisis and their precarious working situation as unskilled factory labor. Therefore, I conducted a new set of interviews in 2014 to understand the educational situation of the second generation between 2009 and 2015. In the following section, the educational challenges of second-generation Nikkei who stayed in Japan after the financial crisis are described.

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4.4 Second-Generation Nikkei Peruvians in Japan 4.4.1 Educational Situation After the Financial Crisis (2014–15) During the first migration of Nikkei Peruvians to Japan in the 1990s, most came alone without their families. Thus, before the world crisis, almost all first-generation Nikkei were employed at Japanese factories as unskilled workers, working hard and long hours even though they could not speak Japanese. Their first goal was to save money so that they could return as soon as possible to their country of origin. Unfortunately, most of the Nikkei in Japan could not obtain their savings as they hoped. Therefore, some of them decided to work and stay in Japan with their family. Those who already brought their families had many problems concerning the education of their children in Japan but, despite this, even those who came alone decided to start bringing their families to Japan. As the first-generation Nikkei generally worked hard at Japanese factories for long hours, they were not very interested in learning Japanese or in understanding the Japanese education system. Therefore, they could not support their children in the second generation with their school work. The second generation, who came to Japan because of their parents’ jobs, had to attend Japanese schools, but not all of them did because, according to Japanese law, compulsory education is not obligatory for foreign children. Thus, some foreign children attended Japanese school, some were irregular in their attendance, some quit, while others did not attend at all. The first problems that the second generation faced at Japanese schools were language and age. At Japanese schools, children enter grades according to their age. For example, a child of 10 years old has to enter the fifth grade, even if the child cannot speak any Japanese. In this situation, many problems arose for the second generation at Japanese schools, varying according to the age at which secondgeneration Nikkei entered Japanese schools. During and after the financial crisis, the educational problem continued. Thus, many Nikkei families relocated within Japan after losing their jobs, which resulted in their children having to change their school. Consequently, most of the second-generation Nikkei who attended Japanese schools have to deal with two important and connected issues: learning the Japanese language and being integrated into the Japanese labor force after completing their schooling. The language problem is related to the age at the time of entering Japanese schools. For example, children who entered Japanese school at an early age were more successful learning the Japanese language; hence, they found it easier to be integrated into the Japanese labor force. The educational situation of second-generation Nikkei Peruvians will be described using seven categories. These categories were created based on their age and grade of studies at the time of the interview because not all those who grew up in Japan were born in Japan (Table 4.2).

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Table 4.2 Categorization of second-generation Nikkei Peruvians in Japan Categorization Description 1

The second generation who were born in Japan

2

The second generation who came to Japan at an early age (1–6 years old)

3

The second generation who came to Japan when they were in early elementary school in grades 1–3 (7–9 years old)

4

The second generation who came to Japan when they were in grades 4–6 (10–12 years old)

5

The second generation who came to Japan when they were in junior high school (13–15 years old)

6

The second generation who came to Japan when they were in high school (16–18 years old)

7

The second-generation who made a u-turn between Japan and Peru

Source Lagones (2016a)

4.4.1.1

The First Categorization: Social and Cultural Issues

The first category includes members of the second generation born in Japan and who received education only in Japanese schools. They can manage communicating in Japanese with Japanese people, and their social and cultural background has been developed in Japan. Some of them can speak Spanish, but they cannot write or read. Others can understand Spanish but find speaking difficult. They also grow up with Peruvian social and cultural influences because of their parents. Yet, some of them prefer to connect their social environment with Japanese friends because they do not identify with some social and cultural practices of their parents. As interviewee N1 noted, ‘My parents like to go to church, but I do not feel any identification with their religion, I prefer to stay home because I do not have any religion, I do not believe in religion as well’ (personal communication with author, 22 January 2015). N2 similarly observed ‘I do not like to attend my parents’ meetings because sometimes after the meetings they have arguments when they do not share the same opinions’ (personal communication with author, 12 February 2015). Again, on the subject of religion, N3 stated, ‘When I was a child, I attended the Catholic Church and religious processions, but then I did not agree with religion, so I decided to stop attending those events’ (personal communication with author, 12 February 2015). N4 also described the distance she felt from the first-generation community: I attended some Peruvian culture meetings because I like Peruvian food, but when the meetings turn into arguments because of differences in opinion between my parents’ friends, I prefer to go home. And I do not speak Spanish very well, so sometimes I cannot understand what they ask me, so I have to ask for help to understand the meaning in Japanese. (Personal communication with author, 14 February 2015)

I attended some church meetings in the community. One day, the priest asked a young Peruvian girl (N5, 16 years old) to read part of the Bible, but she did not want to do it. I could not understand why, because for Catholics it is normal for

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everybody to read the Bible. Later, the girl asked me to read instead because she felt embarrassed to tell everybody that she cannot read Spanish. I was surprised because her Spanish speech was native. She belongs to the first category I described above (personal communication with author, 24 November 2013). In short, being brought up in the Japanese education system both creates a distance from the Peruvian social circle but also enhances ties to Japanese society because of the language and socialization through schooling. This creates some distance between students and their parents and the Peruvian community, but it does not affect their access to the labor market. Some first-generation interviewees confirm that sometimes their children do not want to speak in Spanish in front of their classmates because they feel embarrassed; this happens because in Japan, being different is not encouraged. They always tend to think as a group. Bullying often occurs when someone tries something different from the group. That is why sometimes Japan is considered a monocultural and insular country.

4.4.1.2

The Second Categorization: Communication Issues

The second category includes those who came to Japan at an early age (1–6 years old). When I visited a Nikkei family, I noticed a problem of communication between the children and their parents because of the language. The mother said to the 6-yearold girl (N6), who came to Japan at the age of three, ‘Please give me the maleta.’ The girl brought her a pair of shoes because she did not understand that the world maleta in Spanish means a bag. The girl sometimes feels confused at school as well. She learns everything in Japanese, but when she returns home, her parents speak only Spanish (personal communication with author, 25 July 2014). First-generation Nikkei’s lack of Japanese language ability resulted in failure to successfully integrate into the community, which led to problems with their children in terms of communication as well as other issues related to education and socializing with their local community. Therefore, it seems that those who master Japanese from a young age are better integrated into Japanese society, although this leaves them with communication problems with their parents and their ethnic community. According to the latest survey by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) in 2019 (10 years after the crisis), issues regarding the Japanese language and the mother tongue of foreign children have not been resolved. However, some local boards of education (BOEs) provide support to foreign children by employing new staff who teach the Japanese language and the mother tongue in some Japanese cities. Among all the BOEs (1,741), only 502 (28.8%) provide support with remedial Japanese language instruction, while 1,231 (71%) do not; 399 (22.9%) provide support in the students’ mother tongue, while 1,342 (77.1%) do not (Fig. 4.5). The lack of an educational infrastructure to address home and school language issues is one of the various obstacles second-generation Nikkei face in their lives in Japan.

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Fig. 4.5 Number of local governments that support foreign children at school with Japanese language instruction and mother tongue instruction: survey results of foreign children’s schooling status (Source MEXT [2019])

4.4.1.3

The Third Categorization: Obstacles in the Education System

The third categorization comprises the second generation who came to Japan at early elementary school age (grades 1–3, ages 7–9), being born in Peru and beginning their education there. They continued studying in Japan from elementary grades in Japanese schools and had fewer problems learning the Japanese language than did children who began their education later, who had grown up in Peru with their native language, but were placed in a group with others of the same age when they entered schools in Japan, where their knowledge of Spanish and academic level from Peru did not matter. With regard to their Peruvian education, students cannot remain with their peer group if they do not pass an evaluation in each grade; the level of knowledge is more important than age. The first generation’s background education influences their children, because they think that the Peruvian system of education is similar to that of the Japanese. Parents of children neither understand nor care about this problem before they enroll their children in Japanese schools. They believe that the responsibility of their children’s education belongs to the school and teachers, as is the case in Peru. Their socio-cultural background did not permit some of them to understand the problems their children face at Japanese schools. Therefore, the language limitation and the educational background of the first generation did not help the second generation in terms of educational support. This problem is amplified because the rules and internal regulations of local governments related to school guidance and school attendance procedures for foreign children re provided by only a small number out of a total of 1,741 local governments (Table 4.3).

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Table 4.3 The status of regulations related to school guidance and school attendance procedures for foreign children Total Percentage

Local governments (n)

Prescribed

Not specified

1,741

64

1,676

100

3.7

96.3

No answer 1 0.1

Source MEXT (2019)

The placing of children in grades according to age rather than ability to comprehend the content of lessons is an important problem faced by second-generation children who enter the Japanese education system in the early elementary grades. This problem is exacerbated by the lack of information provided by BOEs that would allow the first-generation parents to better understand the rules of the education system and how they might affect their children.

4.4.1.4

The Fourth Categorization: Socio-Economic Marginalization Continuing into the Second Generation

This category comprises the second generation who came to Japan when they were in grades 4–6 (10–12 years old). For them, it is complicated to learn and understand Japanese lessons at school unless they receive some support from a private tutor. Lack of Japanese language ability will pose a problem for their tertiary education and, at times, the ability to cope with senior high school (grades 10–12), which is not part of Japanese compulsory education and requires payment. Furthermore, education is not mandatory for foreign children in Japan; thus, many from this category just stopped studying. The high pressure owing to the lack of Japanese language ability, the problem of understanding the content of the lessons, the limitations of communication with their classmates and the lack of support of their parents who did not understand the Japanese system of education compelled some second-generation Nikkei students to drop out of school. Those who had less chance of mastering Japanese often ended up in the same line of work as their parents. This has significant implications for their ability to thrive in Japanese society. In addition, education for foreign children who need Japanese language instruction was not implemented by most BOEs; only 211 (12.1%) out of the total of 1,741 implemented any measures, while 1,530 (87.9%) did not (Fig. 4.6). Therefore, the language issue for Nikkei Peruvian children continues even three decades after the first generation arrived in Japan. Consequently, their integration to the Japanese labor force at a level higher than their parents continues to be difficult for children who cannot master the Japanese language.

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Fig. 4.6 Implementation status of the board of education’s own training on education for foreign children who need Japanese language (Source MEXT [2019])

4.4.1.5

The Fifth Categorization: Barriers to Integration

This category comprises the second generation who came to Japan when they were in junior high school (between 13 and 15 years old). It is almost impossible for them to learn Japanese and understand lessons in a typical public school. Therefore, it is difficult for them to enter a high school, unless they first attend a particular Japanese program in an international school or a unique Japanese program that some municipalities have prepared specifically targeted to foreign students, as CL1 (a public official) affirmed (personal communication with author, 10 March 2015). As mentioned before, according to a recent survey published by MEXT (2019; Fig. 4.7), because education is not mandatory for foreign children, most BOEs did not distribute the school guidebook for foreign families. In total, 1,741 BOEs took the survey and only 218 distributed the school guidebook. From among the BOEs that distributed the school guidebook, only 78 distributed it in Spanish (Fig. 4.8). The implication of this is clear; as with previous categories, the kind of remedial language programs that would help second-generation Nikkei in their schooling in largely absent in Japan and, as the age of children on arrival rises, their opportunities after school finishes are reduced. As with the fourth category, this issue is made worse by the fact that parents do not have information about their children’s school available in a language they can comfortably access. It can also be argued that the barriers to education faced by second-generation Peruvian Nikkei who arrive in Japan during their junior high school years create conditions that push children into the same kind of low-skilled and precarious work as their parents.

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Fig. 4.7 School guidebook distribution by Japanese boards of (Source MEXT [2019])

Fig. 4.8 School guidebook distribution in different languages by Japanese boards of education from among the 218 boards of education that distributed the school guidebook (Source MEXT [2019])

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The Sixth Categorization: Alternative Strategies

This categorization includes the second generation who came to Japan when they were in high school (16–18 years old). I thought it would be more difficult for this group to continue tertiary education in Japan. However, one of the interviewees (N7) told me his strategy to pursue tertiary education in Japan after joining in the last year of high school: ‘I came to Japan when I was 15 years old; I entered high school, and now I am studying at a private university in Japan, I am in the faculty of English program’ (personal communication, 30 June 2015). While N7 was living in Peru, his parents were working in factories in Japan and sending money to him for his education. He finished his entire elementary schooling and part of junior high school in Peru, where he studied in his native language. He did not have the pressure of learning the Japanese language, but his family devised a good strategy before bringing their son to Japan. While N7 was completing his secondary education in Peru, he attended a private English school and, before coming to Japan, he obtained a high score in the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL). Therefore, even though he entered Japan in the last year of junior high school, he could use his English score to apply for a private university in Japan and continue English studies as his major. Another essential part of his strategy to continue tertiary education was the high school where he studied in Japan. It is one of the exceptions in the Japanese school system that has a program to help foreign students because it is located in one of the cities most populated by Nikkei Brazilians and Peruvians in Aichi prefecture. A part of this city looks like a small Brazilian town and has many foreign stores and restaurants. One of the key interviewees (CL2), an interviewee highly placed in the community, showed me around the town and introduced me to several members of the community, who informed me about the education problems of those who grow up in Japan and their worries about the future of second-generation youth who cannot obtain tertiary education. CL2 was working as a translator at one municipality in Japan where many Nikkei families live. Therefore, he was acutely aware the Nikkei family’s problems. It seems that most first-generation Nikkei work long hours at their factories, while their children are alone most of the time. Thus, when the children encounter difficulties at school, they quickly drop out. Because of their ability to communicate in Japanese, most of them find a part-time job or engage in factory work. The typical high school in Japan is challenging even for Japanese teenagers due to the strict evaluations before entering a high-level university. For Nikkei Peruvians who cannot receive help from their parents, it becomes doubly difficult (CL2, personal communication with author, 10 July 2015). In this situation, I think N7 had better opportunities because of the strategy of his parents for his education and his proficiency in academic English, even though his Japanese level was deficient compared with most of second-generation Nikkei youth. Because of his visa status, he could also apply for scholarships and student loans to pay for his university education and, at the time of the interview, a loan of 100,000 yen (about 800 US dollars) per month had just been approved. This loan must be paid back after graduation when he enters the labor market.

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4.4.1.7

The Seventh Categorization: Between Two Worlds

This categorization includes the second generation who made a U-turn between Japan and Peru; in other words, their residence status was unstable. This family choice was often influenced by the problems Nikkei Peruvian children faced at school. As interviewee N8 affirmed: I came to Japan when I was 10 years old. The Japanese school was difficult for me, I could not understand the lessons, and I was sitting down on the chair trying to understand something all the time. I could understand my friends when playing, but when there were tests, I usually stayed outside of the classroom. So, I returned to my country. Later, I came back during junior high school and continued studying until high school, but my Japanese level was not enough for tertiary education. (Personal communication with author, 30 June 2015)

Another interviewee admitted: I grew up in Japan, but when I was in the first grade of junior high school, my family returned to Peru, so I had to stop my Japanese education and continue it in Peru. Later my parents decided to return to Japan, but high school was difficult for me, so I had to return to Peru to study at a Peruvian university. After I had studied languages in Peru, I decided to return to Japan to use my Japanese ability at Japanese companies because the salary in Japan is better than that in Peru. (N9, personal communication with author, 30 June 2015)

It can be argued that the children of first-generation Nikkei Peruvian returnees were the main reason to stay in Japan after the financial crisis. This is because if the second generation who had been educated in Japan returned to Peru, they would not receive a regular education there because of their lack of not only the Spanish language but also understanding of the content of the Peruvian education system. At the same time, the children who stayed in Japan also had to face three hurdles: first, the family factor, which includes the lack of knowledge of the Spanish language and limited communication with their parents who only speak in Spanish. Second, they have to deal with Peruvian socio-cultural factors, as the second generation often did not continue their parent’s customs, such as religion and participating in social meetings, because the second generation grew up in Japan’s social and educational environment. Consequently, they are often confused about their identity. The social network of second-generation returnees who were born in Japan, in particular, differs from that of their parents. Third, the second generation had to overcome many problems to continue their education in Japan. These problems differ according to the category they belong to, as described above. Some of the specific issues faced by secondgeneration respondents regarding education, such as school attendance related to employment and family issues, will be discussed in the next section.

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4.4.2 Second-Generation Issues in Japan: Interviews 2014–15 4.4.2.1

Family Issues

This chapter also details the in-depth interviews conducted with five Nikkei Peruvian families (designated as I, II, III, IV and V to conceal and protect the residents’ identities) who represent typical experiences of living and working in Japan and serve to combine the issues of the first and second generation discussed to this point (see Table 4.4). Being married in Japan as a Nikkei family in most cases means sharing expenses because of the high cost of living; being married with children can be even harder for the Nikkei family. First, the Nikkei parents need to find a job and understand the Japanese labor system, even if they do not understand Japanese and despite some of them having been skilled workers in Peru. Second, they most often have to send their children to Japanese school, even though their children sometimes do not understand Japanese or the Japanese system of education. In part, as has been argued previously, even during the financial crisis, most families with children did not return to Peru because their children were attending Japanese public schools and the parents did not want to disrupt their education or put them in a situation where they would be excluded from the Peruvian education system. As we can see in Table 4.4, some Nikkei families are in fact multinational families. Factors like the similarity in language in Family II facilitates communication between the parents, but it can become a communication problem for their children. In these multicultural families, the main problem for the children has been language. Children study Japanese at school but come home to hear their parents talk to them in their native language, as in Family II where the mother speaks in Spanish and the father Portuguese. Some Nikkei people think that their children are becoming multilingual, but in fact they do not master any language. They are becoming semi-lingual; that is, they can speak a smattering of each language that they speak at home, but they cannot practice the Japanese language that they learn at public school at all. Therefore, their reading and writing skills are insufficient compared to monolingual children. In general, the language the children write, read and speak best is Japanese. As a result, even when the global financial crisis occurred, and their parents wanted to return to their countries of origin, it would have been doubly hard for their children. For example, Family III wanted to return to Peru because they lost their jobs but, at that time, their three children were aged 16, 14, and 3 years old (see Table 4.4). They were studying at Japanese schools, which made it difficult for the family to return to Peru despite the unstable economic situation in Japan. It would have been worse if they returned to Peru, because their children were not proficient enough in Spanish to be admitted into Peruvian schools. Moreover, although some of these children were born in Japan, they are not Japanese. In effect, they are caught between multiple worlds.

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Table 4.4 Nikkei Peruvian families in Japan, interviewed in 2014 after the financial crisis Family

Nationality

I

Working time

Children’s language at school

Language at home

Husband (Nikkei Three (5, 9, and Peruvian) 13 years old) Wife (Peruvian)

Husband and wife work at factories from Monday to Saturday, eight hours per day

Japanese

Spanish

II

Husband (Nikkei Three (4, 7, and Peruvian) 11 years old) Wife (Nikkei Brazilian)

Husband works Japanese at a factory 8–10 h per day from Monday to Saturday Wife works at a factory eight hours per day from Monday to Friday

III

Husband (Iranian) Wife (Nikkei Peruvian)

IV

Husband (Nikkei Three (5, 9, and Peruvian) 13 years old) Wife (Nikkei Peruvian)

Husband works Japanese at the factory 8–10 h per day from Monday to Saturday Wife works at a factory eight hours per day from Monday to Friday

Spanish

V

Husband (Nikkei Three (four, six Peruvian) and nine years Wife (Japanese) old)

Husband works Japanese at the factory 8–10 h per day from Monday to Saturday Wife works as part-time office worker from Monday to Friday

Spanish and Japanese

Source Author

Children

Three (8, 19, and Husband and 21 years old) wife work at factories from Monday to Friday, eight hours per day

Japanese

Spanish and Portuguese

Spanish and Persian

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Table 4.5 Distribution of the school guidebook for foreign children Distribution of the school guidebook

Boards of education (n = 1,456)

Everybody received the school guidebook

748 (51.4%)

Only those who want to have the school guidebook received it

539 (37.0%)

If foreign people asked about the school guidebook, they received it

174 (12.0%)

A simple pamphlet of the school guidebook was distributed 32 (2.2%) Others

32 (2.2%)

Source MEXT (2019)

4.4.2.2

Language Issues

Some children begin to speak only in Japanese, especially those who were born in Japan, making communication with their parents difficult. The children’s networks are at school and in their neighborhood because of their ability to speak in Japanese. As foreigners limited to factory work, the parents are required to work long hours, resulting in decreased time with family. Also, in four of five cases, children did not receive support for their Japanese education from their parents. However, in the case of Family V, the husband is Nikkei Peruvian and the wife is Japanese, and the children were born in Japan. Therefore, the mother and children are native Japanese speakers. They do not have much problem with the Japanese language, but if they decided to live in Peru, the Spanish limitation would be the main problem for the children. Thus, Nikkei families in Japan have to ensure the education of their children by themselves because according to the Japanese constitution it is not mandatory for foreign children to have basic education, although it is for Japanese children. Even though the national government directs municipalities that foreign children should receive compulsory education based on the human rights regulation, the problem continues. According to the last survey by the Ministry of Education in 2019, even the education guidebook has not been distributed to all foreign families (Table 4.5). Furthermore, in many cases the guidebook is not available in a language the parents can understand (Table 4.6).

4.4.2.3

School Attendance and Employment Issues

As stated above, compulsory education in Japan is mandatory for Japanese citizens, but it is not for foreign children. Thus, some foreign children end up not attending at all, while others drop out because of the lack of Japanese language proficiency and the differences between the Japanese education system and that of their country of origin. The last survey reported by the Japanese Ministry of Education in 2019 reveals that there are a total of 124,049 registered foreign children, out of whom 87,164 are registered at elementary school and 36,885 are registered at junior high

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Table 4.6 School guidebooks for foreign children from Japanese boards of education Language

Boards of education that prepare the school guidebook for foreign children (n = 218)

Japanese

193 (88.5%)

English

146 (67.0%)

Korean

125 (57.3%)

Portuguese

97 (44.5%)

Chinese

87 (39.9%)

Spanish

78 (35.8%)

Philippine

69 (31.7%)

Vietnam

62 (28.4%)

Thai

15 (6.9%)

Indonesian

13 (6.0%)

Myanmar

1 (0.5%)

Others

23 (10.6%)

Source MEXT (2019)

school (MEXT 2019). However, not all of them are attending school, which will affect the labor force in the future because education and work prospects connect to job hunting and their quest to be included in the Japanese labor force (Table 4.7). With regard to post-educational issues, I classified the employment status of second-generation Nikkei Peruvian in two groups: they comprised children who came to Japan later and who did not have high Japanese language skills, did not do well at school, and were limited to the same kind of work as their parents; and the Table 4.7 School attendance of foreign children in Japan

Source MEXT (2019)

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children who came earlier, mastered Japanese, had better access to higher education and training and, therefore, better job prospects. Group 1 engages in the same kinds of precarious jobs as the first generation. Some second-generation Nikkei Peruvian children dropped out of school for various reasons, such as the language barrier, not enough support from the government for foreign children, bullying and economic status. They believed that working from a young age is better than wasting time at school because they realized that they could not go on to receive tertiary education. N11 is an example from Group 1 who was born in and completed her junior high school education in Japan but could not go to high school. She is an unskilled worker, with the same labor status as her parents. N14, who came to Japan at 10 years of age, completed his junior high school in Japan, and then did a U-turn migration to Peru, but could not work there and is doing the same job as his parents. Group 2 does not engage in the same jobs as the first generation and they can receive tertiary education. Therefore, their employment status is not the same as their parents. An example is N16, who came to Japan at five years old and completed his high school in Japan, but could not go on to tertiary education and has ended up changing from one job to another. He does not share the same labor status as his parents. N10, who came to Japan at 19 years of age, completed his high school in Peru, and studied Japanese, is doing a part-time job that is different from the unskilled job of his parents. N13, who came to Japan at two years of age, received tertiary education (obtained a university degree), speaks three languages (Japanese, Spanish and English), and works at a Japanese company. Another interviewee (N30), who was born in Japan, could not receive tertiary education but attended a short training course sponsored by the government during the financial crisis. He could then use the skills acquired at the training course to stop working at a factory. N7, who was discussed as a representative of the sixth category, came to Japan at 15 years old, after mostly completing junior high school in Peru. Because he studied English in Peru, he could study at a Japanese university because of his high score on the TOEFL English proficiency test. N7 was working part time while simultaneously studying at university. N7 does not speak Japanese but is fluent in Spanish and English. There was the possibility that, after completing his university course, he would seek a job in a Japanese company that required human resources with language skills necessary for international business.

4.5 Conclusion The Nikkei Peruvian migration to Japan has been an important phenomenon over the past few decades. This chapter focused specifically on migration by Nikkei from Peru to Japan and highlighted the factors that influenced people to migrate and remain in Japan. It also tracked the movements of second-generation Nikkei between the two countries, while also highlighting the hardships they faced in school and work and their efforts to overcome them.

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Furthermore, this chapter endeavored to pursue three objectives: first, to examine the reasons for Nikkei Peruvian labor migration; second, to explore the problems faced by the first-generation Nikkei migrants in Japan; and, third, to describe the educational challenges faced by the youth with feet in two (or more) cultures during and after the global financial crisis of 2008–2009. Several conclusions can be drawn from this chapter. First, the existing law was revised in Japan in 1990, permitting people of Japanese descent to enter Japan with the visa status of long-term resident. Factors that pushed Nikkei Peruvians to migrate to Japan as dekasegi workers were poverty, inequality and unemployment. Therefore, the first generation came because of the push–pull factors of problems in Peru and the ease of entry to Japan, hoping to save money for small businesses in Peru that would help mitigate the problems there. However, once in Japan, their human capital was devalued and they largely ended up as unskilled factory workers because of language issues and having skills that were not easily transposed and used. They were also vulnerable in the labor market as non-citizens in unskilled positions, as the 2008 crisis showed. Second, during the financial crisis, Peruvian Nikkei families could be broadly divided into two groups: those who continued to live in Japan and those who undertook a return migration to Peru. However, the reality of children in school in Japan, caught between being Peruvian and Japanese, meant that many families decided to stay despite the economic hardships they faced. The composition of Nikkei Peruvian families is also multinational, as reflected by the sample of five families. The parents of the second generation are not only Peruvians, but also Peruvian–Brazilian, Peruvian–Japanese, and so on. As a consequence, second-generation children face the problem of communication with their parents because of language. They study at Japanese schools, in most cases without any support at school for the language they use at home and without any support by their parents at home for the language they speak at school, because the majority of the parents cannot speak Japanese. Therefore, the parents cannot support their children in their school studies. Third, the second generation faces challenges in education because they do not all share the same migration experience. Some came at younger ages, some at older ages, and their parents often cannot do much to help with education because of their own language issues and long working hours. The findings reveal that many second-generation Nikkei have the intention to continue on to tertiary education by pursuing a technical career or going to a university, but some of them cannot complete high school education because of their low grades related to language proficiency, bullying or economic problems. Second-generation Nikkei Peruvians could be significant human resources, and some have formulated strategies to mitigate the disadvantages they may have because of the time they arrived in Japan, language issues or other problems. Most of the interviewees who pursued tertiary education received the support of their parents in identifying different strategies to continue their studies. The testimonies show that the classification of the second generation into skilled and unskilled workers has to do with the preparation for tertiary education and the Japanese language. Effective strategies can be found, as interviewee N7 demonstrates. This means that the Nikkei families have to understand the Japanese

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education system better. Ironically, they came to Japan to improve their economic status and the education of their children but, often, this did not happen at all. Finally, according to the Japanese constitution, compulsory education does not apply to foreign children. Therefore, Nikkei Peruvians and other foreigners in Japan are disadvantaged in terms of education. Although they can attend school and pass the grades according to the Japanese system education, they do not learn the content of the subject as well as their Japanese classmates. As a consequence, they will have difficulties entering high school or tertiary education and their employment options will be limited. Therefore, the national government should consider the experiences of first- and second-generation Nikkei and develop policy measures that incorporate their experiences to achieve a better understanding of the multicultural society that is growing in Japan. Acknowledgements This work was supported by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS), Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research KAKENHI (grant number, JP19K23302).

References Altamirano, T (2009). Migración, remesas y desarrollo en tiempos de crisis. CISEPA. Lima: Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú. Aquino, C (2011). Migración de Peruanos a Japón. Pensamiento Crítico, 13, 7–21. Chapple, J (2009). Increasing migration and diversity in Japan: The need for dialogue and collaboration in education, language and identity policies. Afrasian Centre for Peace and Development Studies. Working Paper Series No 45. www.afrasia.ryukoku.ac.jp. Accessed 4 September 2020. Glewwe, P and Hall, G (1992). Poverty and inequality during unorthodox adjustment: The case of Peru, 1895–1990. LSMS Working Paper No 86. Washington, DC: The World Bank, Kondo, A (2008). Migration and globalization. New challenges for managing immigration in Japan and comparison with Western countries. Tokyo: Akashi Shoten. Lagones, J (2016a). Challenge of Japanese–Peruvian descendent families in the XXI century, Peruvian dekasegi in Japan: Overview of Socio-Economic Issues of Nikkei. Doctoral dissertation. www.gsid.nagoya-u.ac.jp/ja/research/dissertation/#list02. Lagones, J (2016b). Socioeconomic characteristics of first-generation Nikkei Peruvians who remained in Japan during and after the Lehman Shock (2009–2014). Forum of International Development Studies, 47(1), 1–19. Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology-Japan [MEXT]. (2019). Survey results on foreign children entering school. www.mext.go.jp/content/1421568_001.pdf. Accessed 22 September 2020. Vela, J (2006). Impacto de las remesas de los peruanos residentes en Japón. Cuadernos diffusion, 11(20), 133–51.

Chapter 5

Going Home to Learn: Educational Journeys of Children in Filipino Transnational Families in Japan Derrace G. McCallum

Abstract This chapter provides an elaboration of how and why Filipino transnational families in Japan often adopt temporal physical mobility as a strategy for social advancement. Particularly, the chapter explores the practical realities of families whose children, due to various societal issues, are not able to access suitable education in Japan, and are therefore forced to travel to the Philippines to pursue their education. The evidence presented shows that these families do not only aim for their children to acquire institutional education, but are also invested in cultural socialization and the acquisition of various forms of cultural capital that are perceived as valuable for future transnational careers and the maintenance of kinship ties.

5.1 Introduction In recent decades, the nature and magnitude of human mobility have been notably transformed due to diverse factors linked to globalization and the resultant blurring of international borders. Significant advancements in communication and transportation technology have increased the likelihood that transnational migrants will have to maintain their participation and presence in various processes occurring in their home countries and in other locations in their transnational networks. As families are increasingly being pulled into the global economy, various transnational processes have significantly impacted the ways in which families function and maintain their bonds across time and space (Baldassar and Merla 2014). Indeed, the migration of individual or multiple family members has reconfigured the idea of family life and forced many families to reorganize the roles and responsibilities assigned to their members, resulting in new questions surrounding the social reproduction of the family. In this process of change, some social identities are reinforced while others are reconsidered. Transnational families often adopt new strategies to secure their socio-economic survival and maximize their chances of moving up the social D. G. McCallum (B) Department of Global Liberal Arts, Aichi University, Nagoya, Japan e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 F. Peddie and J. Liu (eds.), Education and Migration in an Asian Context, Economics, Law, and Institutions in Asia Pacific, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-33-6288-8_5

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ranks. Filipino families, unsurprisingly, have featured prominently at the forefront of transnational processes. Since the 1970s, the Philippine state has been deploying workers to the global labour market. Now, approximately 10% of the Philippine population are living and/or working in various parts of the world, including Japan. Consequently, after more than four decades of state-sponsored human capital export, internationaration has become a way of life in the Philippines. It is well documented that the Philippines is a country of migration, and many Filipinos are expected to migrate at least once in their lifetime (Asis 2006). Moreover, young people who are more educated, healthy and well-connected to existing overseas social networks have a higher likelihood of emigrating. In a report published by the OECD and the Scalabrini Migration Center (2017), it is documented that the intentions of young people to migrate rises with their education level. Furthermore, Asis and Battistella (2013) found that most young Filipinos between 15 and 24 years old are interested in migration for work, education and cultural exploration. Indeed, even younger children are looking forward to migrating at some point in the future. These desires are fueled by a strong culture of migration in the Philippines, coupled with a struggling national economy, among other push factors. According to the earlier cited report, 75% of young people in the Philippines are motivated to migrate in order to send back remittances to their families, 72% want to experience other cultures, and 6% would migrate due to the lack of local opportunities. Analysis of current studies on transnationalism and family life show that children within transnational families have become the focus of many scholars and policy makers. White et al. (2011) argued that, until recently, scholars, to a great extent, ignored children in their analyses of transnational families (see also Mazzucato and Schans 2011). Moreover, Nagasaka and Fresnoza-Flot (2015) contended that although children have increasingly been considered in migration research, they are usually framed as immobile, left-behind or abandoned. However, given the increasingly high propensity that many children will migrate during their childhood (Ní Laoire et al. 2011; White et al. 2011), it is reasonable that children be brought to the forefront of transnational migration studies. It should be noted, though, that the education and general well-being of children have long been featured as the main motivating factor for parents’ migration (Asis et al. 2004; Dreby 2007; Madianou 2012; McCallum 2019; Parreñas 2005; Pratt 2009). It is clear that scholars have recognized the necessity of understanding transnational family migration from the perspective of children. Still, there is an equally important need to rethink the meaning of family in the context of transnational migration and to consider that children (whether they move or not) are individuals operating within broader transnational social fields and who are affected by global socio-political processes (Levitt 2004). In this sense, calls for children-inclusive approaches in migration studies (see Bushin 2009; Dobson 2009; Ní Laoire 2011), while necessary, do not go far enough to paint a full picture of how families, as a whole, respond and adjust to changing transnational dynamics. In this chapter, I explore the physical, social and temporal mobility of children in Filipino transnational families in Japan. By focusing on their schooling and familial

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experiences, I elaborate why these children are often ‘sent home’ (to the Philippines) for education and argue that their migration and educational trajectories are often based on carefully calculated rational choices, even as they are imbued with symbolic and emotional links to the homeland. This chapter explains why a focus on intergenerational relationships, as opposed to a child-centered approach, is necessary to reveal how different family members at different stages of their lives affect each other and how their intertwined lived experiences inform our understanding of familial links and social reproduction. From a more practical perspective, the chapter also provides insight on how and why, in a context of socio-economic marginalization, transnational families often view temporal mobility as a strategy for social advancement, especially with regard to the future prospects/outcomes of children. Tyrrell and Kraftl (2015) highlighted the value of an overlapping life course perspective and argued that such an approach would reveal the ways in which the hopes, dreams and fears of family members are intertwined with each other. This chapter is organized as follows. After a brief introduction, the second section summarizes current scholarly perspectives regarding the mobilities of children. The section also provides statistics on children’s migration trends and makes the case for a closer interrogation of the numbers. The third section explains the methodological approach adopted. The next two sections elaborate the essence of this chapter. In those sections, I outline and analyze public discourses and policies regarding education in both Japan and the Philippines. By sharing the narratives of respondents, I also demonstrate the practical and symbolic aspects of familial separation to secure children’s education. Before the final section, which provides some concluding thoughts, the sixth section discusses the future prospects/outcomes of children who have experienced mobility.

5.2 Mobilities of Children Literature on contemporary migration trends show that more and more people, including children, are experiencing new kinds of mobile lives and socialities, and these new experiences are affecting their ways of relating to others and themselves. Some scholars have referred to the ‘mobility turn’ in sociological and migration studies, while others have elaborated a new ‘mobilities paradigm’ (see Elliott and Urry 2010; Urry 2000, 2007). With this new framework of research, the focus is on people’s passage through time and space, as well as between social classes. Moreover, the broader implications of those movements are foregrounded and scholars are now recognizing the significance of various patterns of mobilities across and within international borders for diverse reasons. This paradigm emerged from a sociological need to theorize the complexities involved in current social, economic and political spaces. Research on transnational family migration has mainly focused on certain groups of children. Those that are left behind when their parents migrate locally or internationally feature prominently (see Carling et al. 2012; Dreby 2010; Parreñas 2005;

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Zentgraf and Chinchilla 2012). It is also common to study the experiences of children born to immigrant parents in their host communities. These studies often focus on issues of assimilation and/or integration (see Waters and Jiménez 2005). Another popular focus group are those children who are categorized as vulnerable migrants, such as children who are trafficked (see Fekete 2006; UNICEF 2009). Finally, there are those children who migrate along with other family members at the same time or later to reunite with their parents or other guardians. These children would initially fall within the first group of studies that focus on or explore left-behind children (see Caneva 2015). Regardless of the category they fall in at a specific point in time, it seems that all of these children are experiencing what Fresnoza-Flot and Nagasaka (2015) called mobile childhoods. They defined mobile childhoods as ‘the socially constructed life stages of children aged below 18 who experience fluxes and movements in different contexts (familial, social, political, cultural, material, symbolic, and so on) and periods of life related to migration’ (Fresnoza-Flot and Nagasaka 2015, 30). In elaborating this analytical lens, they stressed that, as well as spatial mobility, it is necessary to consider the temporal and contextual mobility of children in transnational families. According to them, these considerations will help us to focus on the diverse forms of mobilities that children experience as a result of migration. Whether they move physically or not, many children, nowadays, are considered as transnational children because they exist within transnational networks and social fields. Over the last few decades, a growing number of migration scholars have embraced a transnational perspective, which investigates the varied social relations and links that migrants and their family members sustain across international borders. According to Basch et al. (1994), transnationalism refers to ‘the processes by which immigrants forge and sustain multi-stranded social relations that link together their societies of origin and settlement’ (p. 6). This initial definition has since been widely accepted and developed by other scholars (see Levitt and Glick-Schiller 2004; Pries 2005; Smith 2005 among others) who highlighted the fluidity of social spaces within which transnational migration takes place. Moreover, they elaborated the simultaneous embeddedness of transnational migrants who maintain multidimensional links in multiple geographies. As some researchers pointed out, transnational migrants ‘live across national borders and link together different contexts’ (Schuerkens 2005, 550). Thus, through their interactions with migrants, even those members of the network who have not actually migrated are drawn into these processes of change. That is to say, even the lives of family members who are left behind are transformed by new life experiences and perspectives obtained and shared by migrants (Levitt 2001). Peggy Levitt and Nina Glick-Schiller’s contribution to this theory came through their articulation of what they called transnational social fields, which refers to ‘interlocking networks of social relationships through which ideas, practices, and resources are unequally exchanged, organized, and transformed’ (2004, 1009). These relationships transcend social, political and geographic borders (Levitt and Glick Schiller 2004). This idea of transnational social fields highlights the creation of a space where national boundaries blur and actors and processes in different geographic locations become as one, virtually cohabiting the same transnational space.

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Naturally, not everyone subscribes to such a conception of children’s mobility. However, scholars such as Veale and Donà (2014) contended that children of migrants are often experiencing physical immobility even as they are imaginatively mobile. This dimension of mobility is possible based on Urry’s (2007) elaboration of five forms of mobility: physical, corporeal, imaginative, virtual and communicative travels. For Urry, these different manifestations of mobility are interconnected and contingent upon the maintenance of social relationships across diverse spaces. Children who experience physical mobility (and in many cases, a resultant class mobility) are getting more attention (Ní Laoire 2011). Surely, it is challenging to quantify these various migratory flows. According to the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA 2019), the estimated number of children who are living in a country other than their country of birth increased from 28.7 million in 1990 to 37.9 million in 2019. Furthermore, at the end of 2019, child migrants accounted for 14% of the total migrant population worldwide. It is also estimated that the number of young migrants (aged 15–24) increased by approximately seven million between 1990 and 2019. In addition, a UNICEF analysis based on the aforementioned data from the United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, in 2019, 33 million of the 272 million international migrants globally were children. In addition, UNICEF estimated that, in 2018, 17 million migrant children were refugees or asylum seekers. These statistics demonstrate a significant increase in the physical mobility of different categories of children across the globe. However, as many scholars and policy makers have stressed, there is an urgent need to explore questions such as: Who are these children? What are their migration trajectories? In what numbers are different categories of children moving? Why are children moving? The answers to these questions would be useful for understanding the ways in which children experience migration. Moreover, a deeper understanding of children’s subjectivities and perspectives would be possible. Whatever the actual numbers are, as it relates to the flows of children across borders, researchers have made much progress recently in sketching a full picture of the lived experiences of transnational children. Moreover, it is becoming more and more imperative that children’s experiences of migration be appropriately documented and theorized (Ní Laoire 2011). Indeed, Oswell (2013) highlighted that the new social studies of childhood have started emphasizing the agency of children in situations of mobility. Still, many scholars continue to agitate against adult-centric studies—research that is referred to as adultist. Such research, it is argued, tends to discuss children in the shadows of adults or as objects of adults’ direction and guidance on a path to a desirable adulthood (see Lam and Yeoh 2019; Nagasaka and Fresnoza-Flot 2015). In other words, children’s agency and perspectives are often muted or, at best, diluted. One of the main targets of critics is the assumption or suggestion that parents or other adult guardians know and orchestrate what is in the best interest of children. Therefore, it is suggested that regarding migration decisions and deliberations, adults usually make final decisions with little or no input from children, even if their best interests are, supposedly, at the forefront of parental considerations (see Huang and Yeoh 2011; Lam and Yeoh 2019).

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5.3 Methodology The data presented in this chapter is drawn from a larger qualitative study that investigated the circulation of love and care within Filipino transnational families in the Chubu region of Japan. That study was conducted between 2016 and 2020, with most of the data collected between July 2016 and May 2019. As the emphasis of this chapter was slightly different from the main focus of that larger study, additional interviews were conducted between September 2019 and June 2020. Data was collected through in-depth interviews as well as participation in and observation of family life in five prefectures in Japan (Nagano, Aichi, Shizuoka, Gifu and Mie), as well as some parts of Metro Manila, Bulacan and Cavite in the Philippines. Some interviews and/or conversations were also conducted online via Zoom, Skype, FaceTime or other videoconferencing media. In addition, some data was also derived from my experiences and close interactions with Japanese–Filipino children (JFCs) and their mothers while I was serving as an intern for two months at the Development Action for Women Network (DAWN) based in Manila. During these interactions, I was able to get a real sense of how children and their parents negotiate and strategize to increase their opportunities for physical and social mobility in the future, usually after high school graduation. Although the larger study interrogated the lives of 43 Filipino transnational families, only the data for 20 families were analyzed for this chapter. This was based on a decision to focus only on the most relevant data. In keeping with the larger study from which the data was drawn, respondents were selected by snowball sampling, and interviews/interactions were largely conducted in English with some mixture of Japanese. For the purpose of anonymity and the protection of privacy, pseudonyms are used in the narratives. As mentioned earlier, a key aim of this chapter is to bring children to the foreground of studies regarding transnational families. To that end, in this study children are treated as primary respondents while parents and grandparents are treated as secondary respondents. It should be noted that the ‘children’ featured in this chapter are now adults reflecting on their childhood. These Filipino children in Japan can be categorized in much the same way as Takahata and Hara (2015, 121–5) did. They identified three main typologies considering their political circumstances and their means of entering Japan. Type A are those children who have been adopted by their Japanese stepfathers and whose immigration status was petitioned by their Filipino mothers who have married a Japanese man. Type B are those children who are born to Filipino mothers and Japanese fathers. These are mixed-race children who identify as JFC. The third category; Type C, are descendants of Japanese migrants who went to the Philippines before the outbreak of World War II. They are referred to as Nikkeijin and are usually born in the Philippines.

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5.4 Public Discourse and the Importance of Education in the Philippines Despite, or perhaps because of, various global and local challenges—such as the oil crisis in the 1970s, structural adjustment programs in the 1980s, the Asian financial crisis in 1997, the global recession in 2008, and a series of political conflicts and natural disasters, migration from the Philippines has not waned. The unabated migration of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and the resultant increase in financial remittances have long attracted the attention of Philippine policy makers who identified the migration sector as a key economic driver and a cornerstone of the national economy. Consequently, international labor migration is an essential economic strategy pursued by the Philippine government (Rodriguez 2010). To sustain this strategy, the state often deploys a discourse of heroism to laud the efforts of overseas-based migrant workers. Migrants are often framed as self-sacrificing national martyrs who faithfully send back remittances to the homeland to care for family members, primarily children. These remittances, no doubt, have the potential to help improve educational outcomes and boost familial well-being. However, in the Philippines, many are worried about the negative impacts of parental migration on left-behind children and family life. It is generally agreed that education is a human and social capital that can be harnessed for upward social mobility and the enhancement of personal and collective well-being (Echaune et al. 2015; Yuen and Cheung 2014). Despite the efforts of the Philippine government, the country continues to experience high rates of poverty and educational challenges. Albert et al. (2015) found that even though the Philippines has experienced some economic growth, that growth has not been translated into poverty reduction across different segments of society. Furthermore, they revealed that school dropouts were particularly high among children from poorer circumstances. Existing literature shows that children who live in poverty have more academic and behavioral problems (see Berliner 2013). According to the National Statistics Office of the Philippines, low school attendance is due to the high cost of education for poor households and a general lack of personal interest in school among Filipino youth. Yap (2011) also documented that, in the preceding decade, particularly among poor children, high school enrollments dropped by approximately 20% compared to elementary school. Despite the grim picture, Filipino families deeply believe in the idea of educating their children (Reyes and Resurreccion 2015). Filipino parents believe that education is the best legacy they can give to their children. Therefore, supporting children’s education is a responsibility they take seriously. Filipino parents consider education to be an investment in their children’s future, but also as a safety net for the entire family (Blair 2014; Medina 2001; Ying and Han 2008). Consequently, limited economic resources often compel parents to migrate to achieve their dreams of being investors in their children. Indeed, the dream of providing a better future for their children through education acts as a major impetus for Filipino parents to migrate (Aguilar

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et al. 2009; Asis et al. 2004; Lam and Yeoh 2019). Notwithstanding the major challenges experienced by migrant parents, their efforts are often framed as a blessing as well as a curse. While their remittances are used to enhance children’s material comfort and boost their chances in school, parental migration (especially of mothers) is seen as ultimately destructive and undesirable (McKay 2005). Public discourse (the government, the media, religious groups, NGOs and scholars, among others) often rebuke parents for going abroad for work while their children are performing poorly in school or, in some cases, dropping out of school (Asis and Roma 2010; Asis and Ruiz-Marave 2013). In that sense, as Asis and Ruiz-Marave (2013) noted, these critics claim that parents’ efforts would be for nothing. On the positive side, however, it is well documented that migration increases household income which ultimately leads to greater investments in children’s education (Adams 2005). Moreover, scholars and policymakers alike have confirmed that, in the context of the Philippines, remittances have been used productively. Migrants and their families have built or renovated houses, started small businesses, invested in financial portfolios and, importantly, increased spending on children’s schooling (see Aguilar et al. 2009; Yang 2008).

5.5 Living and Learning on the Margins of Japanese Society 5.5.1 Education for ‘Foreign’ Children Japan has long had an acute aversion to immigration and the residence of foreigners in its society. Not only is Japanese immigration policy exclusionary, but public sentiments suggest a xenophobic orientation among some Japanese people, particularly the older generation. For instance, data from the World Value Survey 2014 shows that 36 per cent of Japanese respondents would prefer if their communities did not have immigrants or foreigners. Regarding this sentiment, Japan ranked third behind South Korea and Estonia and scored far above the average ratio of 19% among OECD countries. Yet, Japan’s closely linked demographic and economic challenges threaten the country’s position as a global powerhouse. Given its aging and declining population, it would be sensible for Japan to reconsider its long-held debunked idea of ethnic/racial homogeneity and embrace a more open cosmopolitan society. A look at Japan’s history of immigration reveals several points of increased immigration followed by reductions, sometimes drastic. Green (2014) explained that Japan has historically invited foreigners when the economy booms and labor, primarily manual, is needed. However, as soon as an economic crisis occurs, foreign laborers are excluded (see also Kingston 2011). Considering Japan’s political discourse of ethnic/racial homogeneity, and its need to ease labor pressures, an amendment of the Immigration Control Act in 1990 served as a compromise of sorts. It allowed foreigners of Japanese descent (mostly Latin

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Americans and later Filipinos) and their families to immigrate to Japan, not only but mainly as cheap laborers. Suzuki (2009) noted that it was the belief of the government that the ethnic heritage of these immigrants would facilitate easier integration and assimilation while the labor market issues would be addressed. At the end of December 2019, the population of immigrants in Japan reached a record 2.9 million people, which represents just over 2% of the general population (Statistical Bureau of Japan 2020). The number of foreigners has grown exponentially in recent decades. However, according to data from the Statistical Bureau of Japan, when compared with other OECD countries, the proportion of foreign residents in Japan is still relatively low. The recent rapid growth in foreign-born nationals living in Japan can be attributed to a rise in intermarriages and the issuance of temporary visas for students, skilled workers and technical interns or trainees. With these new streams of migrants, debates regarding the necessity of immigration as a solution for current demographic challenges continue to rage. Moreover, provisions made for the education of foreigners’ children in Japan, or the lack thereof, has become a major area of research and public discourse. Public education is a vital service provided by modern governments. Education for all children is enshrined in fundamental human rights conventions and the constitutions of countries across the world. In the case of Japan, whether and how the government should educate the children of foreigners has been a controversial topic of academic and public discourse. Even though Japan is a signatory of major international conventions and agreements that mandate the provision of equal opportunities for education and the creation of infrastructure and systems that guarantee free access and availability of at least basic primary education, domestic laws do not reflect such obligations. Indeed, according to the Constitution of Japan and the Basic Act on Education, non-Japanese residents are not mandated to pursue education (Green 2014, 403). As a consequence, the central government, through the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), does not play an active role in planning and executing educational plans for multicultural education. The dominant view in Japan, that it is a monoethnic and homogeneous society, serves to reinforce the notion that the country’s education policy should be uniform. Therefore, the government’s assumption is that all students share a similar cultural, ethnic and linguistic background. In other societies, like Canada, Australia and the United States, which have embraced multiculturalism, appropriate provisions are made to accommodate the differing needs of various groups. However, in Japan, cultural pluralism is seen as a threat to social cohesion and as an inherently destabilizing force. As a consequence, the historical approach of Japan is to enforce a uniform education policy that does not make allowances for linguistic or cultural diversity (Nomoto 2009; Tai 2007). In essence, Japan’s national education policies have sought to propagate an image of ethnic and cultural homogeneity. While the national government has been reluctant, so far, to address the unique educational needs of students who are not native Japanese, local governments in areas where there are large populations of foreigners have been stepping up to ameliorate the situation. Vogt (2017) pointed out that the landscape of demand for multicultural education in Japan is quite diverse but could be categorized based on three factors:

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(1) the geographic distribution of foreigners across the country; (2) the number of foreigner students enrolled at each school who need special education; and (3) the native language of those students. Taking these factors into consideration, scholars have found that some prefectures barely need any form of special education, while other prefectures have a great demand for programs that are sensitive to the needs of foreign children. Data from MEXT shows that prefectures like Aichi and Shizuoka in the central region of Japan are in need of much more support than other regions. This can be attributed to the high concentration of Brazilians, Filipinos and other foreigners who work in the Chubu region, the manufacturing epicenter of Japan. In this region, many schools need to conduct classes in languages other than Japanese. In addition, in keeping with multicultural educational policies, cultural intermediaries who share the language and cultural background of the students are needed (Gordon 2015). However, for schools with limited numbers of foreign students, they are unable to access government funding for such personnel. In some cases, NGOs or other community-based groups offer assistance, but this kind of support is unequal and uneven across prefectures (Gordon 2015; Kawato et al. 2015; Takahata and Hara 2015; Yamoto 2014).

5.5.2 Schooling Experiences in Japan Given the preceding conditions of multicultural education in Japan, many respondents in this study reported unfavorable experiences. Takaya et al. (2013) found that foreign students who arrived in Japan during their junior high school years, to a large extent, have a significantly lower school enrollment rate and, if they enroll, they tend to perform poorly compared to native Japanese students. Takahata and Hara (2015) also reported that, as a result of the language barrier, students arriving from the Philippines tend to get low scores in their junior high school classes, except for English language. This was Tomiyoshi’s reality. He is now 25 years old and living a well-adjusted life in Japan. However, when he first arrived in Japan at the age of 13, he was on the cusp of transitioning to high school but experienced many challenges before he could finally enroll in a Japanese high school in Nagano. Reflecting on his experience, he said: It was so difficult that time. I didn’t know anyone here and I couldn’t speak Nihongo [Japanese] then. My mother tried to register me at many schools but I did not finish junior high school in Japan so it was a problem for me. Finally, I started studying at a center and I could improve my Japanese skills.

Tomiyoshi was able to enroll in a local high school after studying Japanese at the community center for two years. But even with his improved language skills, he still struggled to get good grades. Other students had similar challenges. Alex (now aged 20) was also not able to immediately transition to a Japanese high school when he arrived at age 14. He worked hard to improve his Japanese skills but his entry into high school was still

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delayed. According to him, after his enrollment, it was difficult for him to study complex subject matter in a language he could hardly speak. He told me that his grades were consistently bad compared to the other (Japanese) students. However, during English classes, Alex was the star of the show. He beamed as he told me: “Yes, of course, that was the best part of my schooling here in Japan. I could understand and speak English well; and sometimes I could help my Japanese classmates if they also helped me”. Notwithstanding Alex’s excellence in English classes, he did not manage to secure good grades overall. Another respondent, Tina (now aged 23), had a more dramatic outcome. She arrived in Japan when she was 15 years old. Despite much effort on the part of her mother and Japanese stepfather, Tina never enrolled in a public high school in Japan. She was, however, enrolled in a community-based language program run by elderly Japanese people before she was sent back to the Philippines to continue her education. We see that in Tina’s case, even if she had to ultimately leave, her parents’ social network was crucial in finding a temporary solution for her education. In fact, recent studies have shown that Filipino mothers in Japan have often used their social capital to secure education for their children (see Miura 2013; Shikita 2013). As elaborated by some Japanese scholars (see Takahata and Hara 2015; Takaya et al. 2013; Tokunaga 2018), when newcomer children arrive in Japan they are at a disadvantage regarding their transition into the Japanese school system, particularly senior high school. This is due to their poor Japanese language skills, which affects their performance in entrance exams and their junior high school grades, assuming they were even able to enroll in junior high school. In keeping with my discussion in the previous section, Tamaki (2012) highlighted that even though some prefectures make special provisions for foreign children, these are limited and vary across prefectures. Foreign students’ school-based tribulations are not limited to enrollment and academic matters. Many of the respondents in this study shared experiences of bullying, public shaming and other forms of social exclusion. As mentioned earlier, since English is a widely spoken language in the Philippines, many Filipino children in Japanese schools tend to do well in English classes. While superior English language skills are usually favorable, they sometimes become a point of contention in the Japanese classroom and may even be an impediment to forming valuable friendships for some newcomers. Derrick (now aged 19) was told by his classmates to go back to the Philippines where they speak English because ‘[t]his is Japan and we talk Japanese in here.’ Moreover, he reported that his English teacher, who is Japanese, once asked him to not show his superior English skills too much in the classroom. Derrick told me that he was really surprised that a teacher would not encourage him to actively participate in classes. For Derrick it may be surprising, but in Japan there is a saying that ‘[t]he nail that sticks out gets hammered down.’ This adage reflects the Japanese tendency to conformity and conservatism, which contrasts with a Filipino culture of expressive interactions and open displays of achievements and skills. In another case, Celine (now aged 24) told me that she was often ostracized, by both teachers and students, for being too friendly with her male classmates. Her classmates sometimes described her as kimoi (weird) or subtly referred to her Filipina

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heritage, as if to say that Filipino women are often looking to mingle with men in a sexual and promiscuous way. This feeds into and is likely based on a long-held belief in Japan that Filipino women are usually prostitutes or sex workers, a belief that is predicated on a history of Filipino women travelling to Japan as hostesses described as ‘entertainment workers’. Although many Filipino children in Japan are products of those sexual encounters, it is unfortunate that they have to live in the shadows of those former sexual passions. For these children and others like them, they just want to be accepted and treated like other ‘normal’ students. However, they are often ostracized, alienated and socially excluded because of their race, ethnicity, lived experiences and the apparent transgressions of their parents. Given the challenges of adjusting to an ill-equipped, and sometimes biased, school system some children opt to exit the Japanese system and go back home to pursue their education.

5.5.3 Going Home for Better Schooling As discussed earlier, education as an aspect of child well-being is of paramount importance in the Philippines, and continuous efforts have been made to improve the education system. Since 2013, the Philippine government has reformed the country’s education system and converted to a K-12 program, which extends the length of schooling by two years. Under the current system, basic education consists of six years of elementary school and six years of high school, and basic public education is free for all children. Undeniably, the Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2013 brought the Philippines up to par with international educational standards. Despite its developing country status, the Philippines has shown outstanding improvements in international educational indicators. According to a report published by the OECD and the Scalabrini Migration Center (2017, 139), the mean years of schooling in the Philippines is relatively high when compared with other countries in the region. The statistics show that the mean years of schooling increased from 5.4 years in 1980 to almost 9 years in 2014. UNESCO (2016) also reported that the Philippines has shown significant improvements regarding enrollment rates for elementary school. In 2013, elementary school enrollment rates stood at 96% while secondary school enrollment rates were 67%. Nevertheless, as discussed earlier, national statistics show that enrollment rates are much lower among low-income households, with some poorer students showing a lack of interest in school. Asis and Ruiz-Marave (2013) implied that lack of interest may be a manifestation of lack of financial resources. Moreover, they pointed out that poorer children may choose to forego education to work or because they perceive that public school education is not good quality and, therefore, will not be useful for their future. Nevertheless, the remittances that migrants send home increase the likelihood that children will attend school and do well (Aguilar et al. 2009; ECMI/AOS-Manila, SMC and OWWA 2004; Yang 2008). Paris et al. (2009) noted that remittances have boosted the household incomes of rice farmers in the Philippines (see also Gregorio

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and Opiniano 2011). In addition, it is important to note that children of overseas-based Filipinos tend to have higher enrollment and attendance in private schools, which are considered more favorably in the Philippines. This is due to a higher quality of education and better school facilities compared to public schools. Furthermore, the ECMI/AOS-Manila (2004) study showed that children of migrants performed equally or better than other children. Besides, these children were more likely to partake in extra-curricular activities, be members of academic associations and receive school honors and awards. In light of the foregoing, it seems reasonable that many Filipinos in Japan would choose to send their children back to the Philippines where they would get a better quality education and enjoy more comfort and prestige. Moreover, they would be expected to feel a greater sense of belonging. Jared (now aged 20) was sent back to the Philippines after living in Japan for four years. At that time, he was 15 years old and about to start high school. However, his parents and grandmother thought that he was not thriving in school and would, perhaps, do better if he went back to the Philippines. It turns out that their idea was right. Jared reported that after he was enrolled in a private school in Manila, he felt more comfortable and was able to better relate to his teachers and fellow classmates. His grades improved significantly and he was even given an academic award for his performance. With this new enabling environment, he was also able to make new friends and rekindle his old friendships. Tatiana (now aged 22) is another respondent who thrived after returning to the Philippines. During one of my trips to the Philippines, I met Tatiana at the University of the Philippines Diliman campus, where she had just enrolled after completing two years of private high school in the Philippines. She seemed quite comfortable and well-adjusted. Moreover, she told me: ‘Diba? [right? / isn’t it?] This is where I belong.’ Tatiana’s apparent comfort and assertion about her belonging in the Philippines is an idea that many Filipino mothers and grandmothers in Japan would agree with. In this study, I found that many Filipinas in Japan espouse the idea that their children and grandchildren should be sent home to the Philippines, at least temporarily, to study or spend time in order to reconnect with their roots. To this end, they are often quick to decide about sending their children home. I found that the nostalgia that parents and grandparents often associate with sending children home to what they perceive as the homeland is often out of step with the sentiments of some children, especially those that were born and largely raised in Japan. Akari (now aged 24) fumed about how her mother, with the influence of her Philippine-based grandmother, had sent her to the Philippines to complete high school because they perceived that she was not well-behaved. They apparently thought that she needed to experience what it means to be a disciplined Filipino child. Akari said: No way. I wanted to stay here in Japan. All my friends are here. This is my home. There [in the Philippines] I don’t know anyone and I could hardly speak Tagalog back then. I went to a [private] school where we always use English there so it was kinda ok. But when I was at my lola’s [grandmother’s] home and in my community there, it was really difficult. I didn’t like it at all. I was happy when I finally graduated and I could come back to Japan.

Akari’s experience seems to be the result of strict Filipino parenting/grandparenting that mandates children to go to the Philippines to be

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rectified when they are perceived to be losing their way. One such grandmother is Rose (aged 48). She told me: Sometimes Filipinos here [in Japan] behave so bad. Why do they have to be like that? Maybe they didn’t learn good Filipino manners. I think some of these children should go back to the Philippines. Maybe they will behave better. I told my daughter to send them [her grandchildren] there for their schooling. They can come back here [to Japan] later. Right?

From these two narratives, it would seem that children are commanded to take unwilling journeys they are not interested in or do not consider important. However, as I found, some children are more than happy to exit the Japanese school system and go ‘home’ to learn. Moreover, the decision is often a deliberative process that involves the active negotiation of children. With a nostalgic sense of reflection, Suzette (now aged 26) said: Back then, Japan was not for me. I convinced my mom that it would be better for me to go to the Philippines for my schooling. After I went home, things were much better. I was comfortable and happy, even if I missed my mom. …Of course, I missed my father too but mostly my mom. Life was good in the Philippines until I came back here [to Japan].

As the title of this chapter suggests, Filipino children often ‘go home to learn’. However, it is critical to interrogate what they actually learn when they go home. Moreover, what is their idea of home and to what extent does the Philippines qualify as a home for them? Although the limits of this chapter do not allow for a full elaboration of these dimensions of their mobility, what is obvious from this study is that Filipino transnational families in Japan often consider it fit for their children to exit the Japanese education system, but also Japanese society. Gordon (2015) noted that negative stereotypical constructions of some ethnic groups in Japanese society are often not corrected and are, therefore, propagated. For instance, according to a cultural intermediary in a public school in Shizuoka prefecture, Brazil is often depicted as a jungle with apes swinging in the Amazon; however, this idea is not refuted by Japanese teachers who should, perhaps, clarify that Brazil is a modern country with a vibrant emerging economy. Likewise, as mentioned earlier, Filipino children in Japan usually have to deal with negative stereotypes about the Philippines and Filipino people. In this situation, it is easy for children to feel ashamed and lose pride in their ethnicity. Unlike the Brazilians in Japan who sometimes have the option of sending their children to designated Brazilian schools where they can receive culturally appropriate schooling, Filipinos in Japan do not have such options. Although in some cases Filipino parents who can afford to send their children to international schools do so, it is comparatively cheaper and more culturally favorable for them to send children to the Philippines where they would have better educational opportunities. The idea that schooling in the Philippines would be better than schooling in Japan is, certainly, a potential point of contention for educational scholars who would point to statistics showing Japan’s high rankings in international educational standards. However, the main point to note here is that foreign students often do not have access to that high standard of education. Therefore, if they were to get full access (possibly privileged access) to a comparatively lower standard of education elsewhere, they

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would be better off. This is to say that, unlike Chinese immigrants in Japan who consider the Japanese educational system inferior to China’s (see Gordon 2015), Filipinos do not necessarily subscribe to the idea of Japanese inferiority. They are simply trying to find the best option for their children’s education, with the hopes of a better future. However, beyond the practical benefits of an elite education in the Philippines, many Filipino parents and grandparents in Japan believe that it is imperative for their children and grandchildren to spend time in the Philippines to acquire necessary cultural capital for future success, and also to invest in familial and ethnic bonds. As Rose (aged 48) puts it: ‘They must go home [to the Philippines]. They must understand who they are. They are Filipino.’ Many scholars have sought to theorize the concept of ‘home’; particularly, how children make sense of their physical mobility and how their movements from one place to another affect their senses of identity and belonging. Ní Laoire et al. (2010) theorized that the idea of home should be understood as a relational concept, as opposed to a physical domestic space. Accordingly, whereas the notion of ‘home’ is not a deterritorialized abstraction, it becomes ‘a concrete site of social relations and practices, involving familial and other social relations, daily practices and materiality, often conducted and experienced across territorial boundaries’ (Ní Laoire et al. 2010, 159). In that sense, children in Filipino transnational families would not need to physically move to the Philippines to experience ‘home’ or to reconnect with their ethnic roots. Their sense of home could be understood as networks of connections and bonds that are revealed through their relationships of belonging. Therefore, not just their ‘roots’ but also their ‘routes’ (virtual or otherwise) would be key in their understanding and experience of ‘home’. Nevertheless, as demonstrated in the narratives, parents and grandparents insist on physical mobility.

5.6 Future Prospects/Outcomes In the previous section, Rose implied that her grandchildren could come back to Japan after their schooling in the Philippines. Suzette also stated that life was good in the Philippines until she came back to Japan. In addition, Akari said she was happy to return to Japan after her high school graduation. In these narratives, we see that children’s exit from Japan was not an ending point. The time they spent in the Philippines was a crucial strategic stop on their journeys of physical and social mobility. In fact, except for three of the primary respondents, all the others are currently living in Japan. Two are studying in Japanese universities while another respondent is about to complete her studies in a fashion/beauty academy. The other Japan-based respondents are working in Japanese companies. For the respondents that are still based in the Philippines, they are all currently college students with another year or two before completion. Given several existing studies that show the high propensity of young Filipinos to migrate, at least temporarily, it is no surprise that most of the respondents in this study have already returned to Japan and those that are still in the Philippines are

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likely to migrate soon. As discussed earlier, young people who are more educated, healthy and well-connected to existing overseas social networks are more likely to emigrate from the Philippines. Even Tatiana, who has a strong sense of belonging in the Philippines, is not ruling out moving back to Japan or migrating to another country after her graduation. However, given current inequalities and prejudices in the global economy, it is highly likely that many young emigrants from the Philippines will be low-skilled workers, even if they are highly educated. As Battistella and Liao (2013) highlighted, these young aspirants often experience brain waste or deskilling in their receiving contexts. This is the reality of some of the respondents in this study. Tomiyoshi (now aged 25), whom I introduced earlier, works as a factory worker for a car manufacturing company, even though he was certified as a medical technologist in the Philippines before returning to Japan. He, like some of the other respondents, is contemplating moving on to another country like the United States, Canada, Italy, Singapore or Hong Kong. This concurs with Takahata and Hara’s (2015) finding that some Filipino children in Japan consider Japan as a stepping stone to other countries where they perceive better chances for upward social mobility. As they highlighted, the concept of Japan as a stepping stone is a new perspective that sheds light on how the recent strategies adopted by newcomers are different from the established patterns of settlement in Japan. In addition, this new mobility of these transnational children challenges the assumption that they will ultimately be subsumed into the lower ranks of the Japanese labor market. This is possible because these children now have broader options and greater transnational competences. On another note, the respondents in this study also aspire to see the world and experience various cultures. They are keen on exploring their chances of being globetrotters, cosmopolitans and highly skilled expatriates of multinational companies. Interestingly, as we can see from the next narrative, Japan as a stepping stone might not necessarily mean that the children will ultimately leave Japan and settle in another country. Rowell (now aged 24) explained that he aspires to become a top manager in a Japanese company. Additionally, he hopes that he will be deployed to an overseas branch before being repatriated to Japan. In that sense, Japan could benefit from valuable human resources, if the country is able to make more room for diversity and inclusion within its society.

5.7 Conclusion This chapter shared the experiences of children in Filipino transnational families in Japan. The narratives presented demonstrate the importance of intergenerational relationships for effective social reproduction. We have seen that the migration and educational trajectories of children are often based on carefully calculated choices that are expected to secure a better future for children. As parents and grandparents endeavor to ensure that their children and grandchildren become productive and well-adjusted members of society, the challenges they face remain formidable. To boost their odds of success, marginalized families

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are crafting creative strategies to invest in children’s education, even if it means temporal separation across international borders. Indeed, these families have realized the increased value of mobility as a form of capital and as an investment. As I found, families are keen to ensure that their children are able to straddle international borders in order to access resources and take advantage of opportunities wherever they exist. Several themes have been discussed in this chapter, all of which are attentive to children’s perspectives, subjectivities and agency. This chapter has underscored the complicated situations surrounding children’s mobilities and the need to not just focus on physical movement. The argument is made for a relational perspective that is sensitive to children’s imaginations and mental experiences as transnational beings. Also, the chapter has stressed the interdependent nature of social, political and familial contexts, and the importance of taking those factors into consideration. Finally, based on substantive discussions undertaken in the chapter, it is clear that given Japan’s significant and increasing population of foreign-born children and the recent immigration policies that will see more foreigner workers coming to Japan with their children, the government must carefully consider how to appropriately provide education for foreign children living in Japan, and thereby create a society where Japanese and foreigners can live together harmoniously in an inclusive society. This is particularly critical in an increasingly globalized world where accelerated transnational processes of social change are compelling prominent global players like Japan to reassess their approaches to maintaining social cohesion and economic sustainability.

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Chapter 6

Optimizing the Benefits from Schooling: School-Switching Behavior Among Return Migrants in India Adrienne Lee Atterberry

Abstract This chapter examines school-switching behavior among Indian and firstgeneration Indian American return migrants in Bangalore, a city in southwest India. It does so by addressing the following question: Why do parents switch their children from one school to another? Through analyzing interviews with return migrant parents from 37 families, I argue that those who switch schools do so because what parents want from their children’s schooling changes as their children age. I suggest that parents make initial schooling decisions designed to ease their children’s transition to attending school in Bangalore. However, as children progress through their schooling parents become more concerned with their educational and professional futures. Thus, as their children advance through their education, parents make schooling decisions designed to give them the skills necessary to navigate future educational and professional opportunities around the globe. This chapter demonstrates how what parents want from their children’s schooling changes as their children age. This change in what they want from their children’s schooling motivates parents to switch them from one school to another.

6.1 Introduction When Kavita, a mother of two and return migrant from Solon, Ohio, relocated her family to Bangalore, a city in Karnataka, India, one of the first things she had to do was decide where to educate her children. In making her decision, she considered schools that offered international, national and state-level curricula. The factor that had the most influence on her decision was the reality that her children would need time to transition from a US style of schooling. This led her to enroll them in a school that resembled their school in the United States. However, once her oldest child reached tenth grade, Kavita decided to move her to another school. When making this decision she considered where her daughter would A. L. Atterberry (B) The Maxwell School of Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY, USA e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 F. Peddie and J. Liu (eds.), Education and Migration in an Asian Context, Economics, Law, and Institutions in Asia Pacific, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-33-6288-8_6

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attend college. She wanted her to be competitive for admission to Indian colleges, while leaving open the possibility of her attending college in the United States. These factors led her to enroll her daughter in a school that teaches the state curriculum. At the same time, Kavita encouraged her daughter to prepare for and take the Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT). When describing why she made this educational decision, Kavita says: ‘So her options are not limited by the education choice we have made for her. She’ll equally fit in a US university as equally as she would fit into a Karnataka state university.’ As the example from Kavita illustrates, a change in parenting logic as it relates to school choice drives return migrant parents’ school-switching behaviors. Project participants are socially privileged middle-, upper-middle-, and upper-class individuals who came to the United States between the 1980s and early 2000s. They came to the United States to pursue higher education and professional opportunities, and returned to the subcontinent for a variety of personal and professional reasons. When these families first arrived in Bangalore, their goal was to transition their children to the reality of life—and attending school—in the city. However, as their children age, parents become more concerned with their future. This includes considerations as to where they will attend college. If their children are enrolled in schools that are inconsistent with their new schooling criteria, then parents switch them to a different school. While much has been written about how transnationally mobile families navigate global educational choices, relatively few studies focus on how these same families navigate local schooling options (Ball and Nikita 2014). This chapter seeks to fill this gap in our knowledge by examining how Indian and first-generation Indian American return migrant parents make initial and final schooling decisions for their children. It does so by asking the question: Why do parents switch their children from one school to another? It focuses specifically on the schooling decisions of parents from 37 Bangalore-based families: 19 who switched their children from one school to another and 18 who kept their children enrolled in one school. Richard Welsh (2017) conceptualizes the movement of children from one school to another as student mobility. According to him, there are two types of student mobility: (a) structural; and (b) non-structural. Structural mobility refers to expected school changes that are based on the structure of the education system, such as moving from middle school to high school. Non-structural mobility occurs when students change schools for other reasons, such as preferring to attend a better quality school or a school better suited to a child’s needs. This chapter specifically focuses on parents who engage in non-structural student mobility. In doing so, I argue that parents use a logic of comfort and accommodation when making initial schooling choices for their children. They enact this logic when making school choices that forefront their children’s ease of transition to schooling in Bangalore. This includes parents choosing schools that are conveniently located and provide their children with a relatively familiar educational environment. However, as their children age, parents become more concerned with their futures. Consequently, they begin to desire schools that will prepare them for life beyond high school. They do so by taking into consideration where they would like their children to attend

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college, the school’s ability to nurture their children’s interests and the types of skills and resources they would like them to acquire. In this way, I conceptualize schoolswitching behaviors as a change in parenting logic. Importantly, 18 of the 37 families I interviewed are school stayers. These are parents who kept their children enrolled in one school throughout their primary and secondary education in Bangalore. As a point of contrast, this chapter considers why some parents do not engage in schoolswitching behavior.

6.2 Navigating Local Primary and Secondary Schooling Options Current scholarship illustrates the lengths affluent parents will take to ensure that their children are educated in a ‘good’ school. This includes sending their children abroad (Ayling 2015); consulting with friends and acquaintances to determine the best schooling option (Devine 2004); and engaging in time-and labor-intensive practices that generate school-based resources, while making their children’s school feel safer academically, socially, and physically (Cucchiara 2013). When determining the best school for their children, parents consider factors such as their children’s classmates’ ethno-racial background (Ayling 2015) and motivation for academic success (Devine 2004), as well as school quality, class size, perceived link between the school and college admissions, and fit with the child’s interests and skillsets (Sherman 2017). Thus, selecting children’s school is a multi-faceted process. According to DeWiele and Edgerton (2016), the notion of school choice is just one manifestation of the changes taking place in education within a neo-liberal context. Affluent parents face increased pressure to give their children every opportunity to actualize their talents (Gillies 2005) and achieve educational and professional success. The choices around academic matters, such as where to educate their children, can be especially anxiety-inducing (Gillies 2005) because of the perceived long-term effects of making the ‘wrong’ choice (Cucchiara 2013), such as downward social mobility (Gillies 2005). Therefore, school-switching can be an effective tool that maximizes children’s chances of doing well academically and professionally. As elaborated by DeWiele and Edgerton (2016), parents must prepare their children for an increasingly competitive opportunity structure by facilitating their acquisition of credentials, skills and experiences valuable to their educational and occupational advancement. By doing so, parents facilitate their children’s development through skill-enhancing educational experiences. In other words, school choice and the decision to switch schools represents parents’ efforts to facilitate their children’s cultivation of skillsets they see as valuable to their development at different points in time (Kimelberg 2014a, b). Consequently, the process of choosing schools should be conceptualized as a series of choices, as opposed to a one-time event (Kimelberg 2014a). This is especially the case within localities that have a variety of schooling options that are of different

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perceived value (Dauter and Fuller 2016). This conceptualization of school choice and school switching is consistent with the ecological perspective of development as discussed by Brofenbrenner (1996). According to this perspective, an ecological environment is a nested arrangement of concentric structures that has the developing person at the center. This perspective conceptualizes the developing person as a dynamic entity who simultaneously influences and is influenced by their environment. In this perspective, the switch to a different school represents an ecological transition, which should further children’s development through the cultivation of new skills and resources. Because the likelihood of switching schools is based on an individual child’s perceived needs as much as it is on the availability of alternatives in the local community (Dauter and Fuller 2016), it becomes important to consider the broader field of primary and secondary schooling options to understand how parents choose schools for their children. For example, urban centers like Bangalore have a wide diversity of primary and secondary schools. This diversity is based on medium of instruction and board examinations, among other important factors. These attributes place schools within a hierarchy (LaDousa 2007, 2014). Based on their placement within this hierarchy, schools can charge parents differing amounts in tuition and fees (LaDousa 2007). Scholarship on school choice within India documents how parents consider factors such as medium of instruction, curricular support, and teaching pedagogy (Gupta 2020) when deciding where to educate their children. The options available to different families are constrained by parents’ wealth and level of education (Choudhury 2020), caste (Jeffrey et al. 2005), and social networks (Waldrop 2004). As a result, those from affluent, socially privileged backgrounds, much like those who participated in this study, can choose from the widest variety of schooling options. Private schools serve as an especially popular option for affluent and educated families (Desai et al. 2010; Waldrop 2004). This may be the case because private schools tend to demonstrate better educational outcomes relative to government sponsored schools (Desai et al. 2010). Additionally, socially privileged families seek out English medium schools due to a belief that these schools will give their children the skills necessary for ‘good’ jobs and future geographic mobility (LaDousa 2014). According to Ball et al. (2010), parents can choose among schools that are differently situated in relation to local, national, regional and global economies. Consequently, these schools prepare children for entry into these differentiated economies. In the Indian context, this means choosing among schools that offer different board examinations, including international, national, and state boards, in different mediums of instruction. This may lead some parents to decide to move their children from one school to another, as they begin to take into consideration their aspirations (Bourdieu 1974) beyond high school. Therefore, examining how a relatively affluent group of return migrants navigate different schooling options may provide important insight into how a segment of the transnationally mobile elite prepare their children for future educational and professional success.

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6.3 Data and Methods The data analyzed for this chapter come from interviews with Indian and firstgeneration Indian American return migrants from 37 different families that settled in Bangalore, India. The men and women who participated in this study initially came to the United States for work or higher education before returning to their country of origin. Thirty-five of the interviews featured here come from a larger study on the impact of the global information technology (IT) industry on the lives of Indian and first-generation Indian American return migrants and their families. When I use the term first-generation Indian American return migrants, I am referring to individuals born in India who acquired US citizenship as adults. In addition to these 35 interviews, the analysis includes two additional interviews with return migrant mothers separate from this larger study. I completed these interviews between May and August 2015, and between March 2017 and January 2018. I conducted the interviews in India except for one, which was completed in the United States. Interviews took place in family homes, unless it was otherwise requested by the parents that they be held elsewhere. This happened on two occasions. When the interview did not take place in a participant’s house, I arranged for it to be conducted at a local restaurant. One interview took place via phone as the family lived more than a two-hour car ride from my residence. Each interview lasted between 20 and 137 minutes. Only one interview lasted 20 minutes, while the remaining interviews lasted at least one hour. All interviews were conducted in English. Apart from four, all the interviews were tape recorded and then transcribed. When participants requested that they not be audio recorded, I took written notes of our conversation that I used to create a detailed description of what was said. The questions I asked during the interviews related to how migrants selected a school for their children and in what other ways they sought to nurture their children’s development—including any involvement in volunteer work, college admission test preparation courses and related activities. I used grounded theory (e.g. Charmaz 2006) to analyze the interview data. As I analyzed the data, I made lists of actions, activities and goals that the parents discussed related to how they raise and educate their children. This process uncovered the logics that guide parents’ school-switching behaviors. Only after conceptualizing the findings did I connect parents’ school-switching decisions to literature on school choice.

6.3.1 Participants I differ from this project’s participants based on age, wealth and stage of life. This precludes me from being part of their social group, living in the same communities and having children who attend the same school. Therefore, I relied on local schools to put me in touch with relevant families. This may bias my sample in several ways.

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Families with a generally positive view of their children’s school, who are naturally inclined to participate in voluntary activities, may be more likely to be represented in this project. As I do not have access to those families who did not self-select to be part of this research, I do not know if the parents who I spoke with are exceptional relative to those who did not participate. All participants currently live in Bangalore, India, except for one family who returned to the United States when their oldest child finished tenth grade. I spoke to 22 families from one International Baccalaureate (IB) school, 13 families from two different Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) schools, and two families from one Karnataka state school. Parents from 19 families switched their children from one school to another. The remaining families enrolled their children in only one school. Participants come from middle-, upper-middle-, or upper-class backgrounds with at least one parent employed in the information technology or medical field. Thirtyfour of the families come from Hindu, upper or dominant caste backgrounds. Of the other families, one is Syrian Christian, one is Catholic and the other is Jain. They stayed in the United States between six and 22 years, returning to India due to job transfers, family obligations or to fulfill a personal commitment to return to the subcontinent after getting relevant professional experience abroad. While in India, they live in single-family homes or apartments in affluent neighborhoods or gated communities containing apartment high rises, bungalows or a mixture of the two. Their children attend English-medium, private schools that offer international (e.g. IB), national (e.g. CBSE) or state (e.g. Karnataka state) board examinations, and they enjoy vacations both within and outside of India. To protect their identities, I use pseudonymns for all participants. I also obscure any identifying information. Details about the participants can be found in Table 6.1. The majority of those interviewed come from a relatively privileged, Hindu background. Therefore, the findings from this research may not be generalizable to those from other class, caste or religious backgrounds. While the findings cannot be generalized to the broader population of return migrants, this work does illuminate how parents navigate local, primary and secondary schooling options.

6.4 Findings: School Switching Among Return Migrants Nineteen of the 37 return migrant families I spoke with moved their children from one school to another. I argue that what motivated the school-switch decision is a change in what parents valued in a school. As will be discussed in more detail, parents initially use the comfort and accommodation parenting logic when choosing their children’s school. This is exemplified by parents choosing schools based on their ability to ease children’s transition to life in India, all while ensuring that they receive a quality education. However, as children age, parents adopt a new, future-oriented logic when making schooling decisions. Parents apply this logic when they consider the following factors when making their schooling decision: the transnational field

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Table 6.1 Family school-switch status Family name

First name

Switch status

Initial choice

Final choice

Abraham

Matthew + Soniya

Stayer

International

Not applicable

Acharya

Sharath + Apoorva

Switcher

International

International

Agrawal

Sajana

Switcher

International

CBSE

Bhaktavatsal

Akanksha

Stayer

CBSE

Not applicable

Bhalsod

Amara + Vihaan

Switcher

International

CBSE

Bhosekar

Kavita

Switcher

ICSE

State

Biswas

Maya + Anush

Stayer

International

Not applicable

Borah

Lavanya + Tarun

Stayer

CBSE

Not applicable

Chapekar

Sowmya + Pradeep

Switcher

ICSE

CBSE

Chokshi

Suneeta

Stayer

International

Not applicable

Chola

Dhaval + Kamda

Switcher

International

International

Chowdhury

Karun + Malvika

Stayer

International

Not applicable

Ghatak

Shaan + Priyanka

Stayer

International

Not applicable

Gowda

Shefali

Stayer

International

Not applicable

Haldar

Riya

Switcher

ICSE

International

Iyengar

Pramila + Janak

Switcher

CBSE

International

Iyer

Naresh + Damini

Stayer

CBSE

Not applicable

Kaleka

Ramesh + Kanika

Stayer

CBSE

Not applicable

Kuber

Saanvika

Stayer

CBSE

Not applicable

Kular

Swati

Stayer

International

Not applicable

Kulkarni

Saraswati

Stayer

International

Not applicable

Lawrence

Nina

Stayer

International

Not applicable

Mannan

Kalpita + Rohit

Switcher

International

International

Menon

Kamala

Stayer

CBSE

Not applicable

Namilam

Neelam

Switcher

International

CBSE

Pancham

Meenakshi

Switcher

International

International

Rahurkar

Rani

Switcher

ICSE

State

Rai

Ravika

Switcher

Montessori

CBSE

Sahukar

Divesh + Danvi

Switcher

International

International

Saxena

Vikram + Divena

Stayer

International

Not applicable

Sisodia

Roopa + Anirudh

Switcher

International

CBSE

Sodhani

Govil + Prapti

Switcher

CBSE

CBSE

Subashree

Ananya

Switcher

CBSE

International

Talwari

Anita

Stayer

International

Not applicable

Tayal

Sandeep + Champa

Switcher

International

International

Verma

Savitha

Stayer

International

Not applicable

Yeleswaram

Niraj + Aashna

Switcher

CBSE

International

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of higher education options, their children’s interests and the type of cultural capital their children would be able to acquire. I suggest that when their children’s current school does not match this change in parenting logic, return migrants move them to a school better aligned with their present value system. The following sections discuss the comfort and accommodation and future-oriented parenting logics as they relate to choosing schools. Not all parents choose to switch their children from one school to another. As such, the last part of the findings section examines why some parents do not engage in school-switching behavior.

6.4.1 Initial Schooling Choices: Enacting the Comfort and Accommodation Parenting Logic Many families who make the return trip to India are not successful. I refer to them as boomerang families because, after one or more failed attempts to relocate to India, they find themselves back in the United States (for a discussion of ‘failed’ return migration see White 2014). Therefore, parents’ initial considerations about where to educate their children may be just as much a part of them wanting to ensure that their return migration journey is successful, as it is about wanting their children to receive a good education. As such, when making their initial schooling decisions, parents focus on how to provide the most comfortable and accomodating educational environment for their children. This parenting logic consists of three parts: a concern with their child’s adjustment to life in India, the school’s relative proximity to home and/or work and the quality of education provided by the school. What follows will describe each part of this parenting logic.

6.4.1.1

Children’s Adjustment Needs

Meenakshi (Meena) Pancham relocated to Bangalore from North Carolina with her husband and eldest son Viju. Her husband was inclined to enroll Viju in one international school; however, Meena and her husband eventually chose to place him in a different one. Meena describes how they made this decision by saying, ‘One of his [her son’s] friends was moving literally the same year—who lived in Charlotte [a city in North Carolina] too. They were playing together and all. At least one familiar face—we thought it would lessen a little bit of burden.’ Meena and her husband chose Viju’s first school in Bangalore based on the belief that he may have an easier time adjusting due to the presence of a friend from the United States. Viju would stay there for many years before being moved to the international school that his father had originally suggested. Another example comes from the Acharya family. When Sharath and Apoorva Acharya first relocated to Bangalore, they stayed with Apoorva’s parents for

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three days while they looked at schools. At some point in their school-search journey Sharath says that he ‘realized probably something that had more international flavor’ would be more appropriate for their son, Sovan. Sharath defines ‘international flavor’ as ‘the way they run the classes, the curriculum, expectations of tests, etcetera.’ He believed that sending Sovan to such a school ‘would allow him to adjust easily.’ This family chose an international school that had a more relaxed academic environment in hopes that this would enable Sovan to make an easier adjustment to life in India. Sovan would stay at this school through his tenth grade board examinations before moving to a more rigorous international school. Sharath and Apoorva’s goal of providing their son with an academic environment where he felt more comfortable and in which he could more easily adjust is echoed in Neelam’s story. About her family’s process of finding a school for her daughter she says: First, we tried to look [for] something close to our house and where she’d get in and where she’d feel comfortable. We wanted the school to be this and that and we wanted more play area and we didn’t want it to be a crowded school. We wanted something clean and we were more particular that the bathrooms should be clean and all that. So I used to go and check out the schools and finally I think we actually got her into an international school at the time.

Neelam and her husband wanted a school to which their daughter could easily adjust. They eventually enrolled her at an international school, where she stayed for two years before Neelam moved her to a CBSE school.

6.4.1.2

Proximity to Home and Work

Some families chose their children’s initial school based on its proximity to their home and/or workplace. This may seem like a relatively superficial criteria for their decision; however, given the density of Bangalore traffic at certain times of day, choosing a school close to home and/or work may have a determining factor in shaping a child’s—and a family’s—overall quality of life. This very much is the case in the stories of how Sajana and Riya initially chose where to educate their children. Sajana relocated to Bangalore with her husband and eldest son almost on a whim. Not liking their life in the United States and having to constantly contend with her son’s eczema problems, Sajana, her husband and her son went to Bangalore on a vacation. While there, Sajana and her husband noticed that in a short time their son’s skin cleared up and he seemed quite happy. This prompted them to look around for jobs and, according to Sajana, ‘in 15 days both of us landed good IT jobs.’ Because their son, Roshan, continued to have health issues as a young child, it was important that he remain relatively close to at least one of his parents. This impacted where Sajana enrolled him in school. She says: So, it was like which is the [school] that’s closest to home or closest to my place of work so that in case he has a health issue we could quickly reach him. That is how it was. And we chose [this school] because it was very close by. I was working in Whitefield, so it was more close to both home, as well as workplace.

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Due to Roshan’s healthcare needs, Sajana could not risk having to navigate dense Bangalore traffic to reach him in a time of crisis. As a result, she enrolled him in a school that put him near home and work so that she could take care of him easily if the need arose. Riya Haldar chose her daughter’s first school in a similar way. Riya lived in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and New Jersey prior to relocating to Bangalore. When talking about how she chose to enroll her daughter in a single-sex, highly reputed school that offers Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE) board examinations she says, ‘The school is next to my house. My office is one kilometer away. What else do I need in this world? I have work – I love to work. My kids are young, I need to be with them.’ For Riya, choosing a school close to her home and office meant that she could work and manage her family responsibilities. As someone who loves to work but understands the demands of her family life, choosing a school based on proximity to home and work enabled her to have the best of both worlds with minimal strain.

6.4.1.3

School Curriculum

Several of the families I spoke with chose their child’s initial school based on the type of curriculum offered there. This includes the school’s formal curriculum, such as board examinations, the course syllabus, and grades (Giroux and Penna 1979) as well as aspects of the hidden curriculum. Evidence of a school’s hidden curriculum may be found in how staff, students, and teachers interact with one another, the values promoted by the school, as well as the content of a course’s curriculum and how it is conveyed to students (Cornbleth 1984; Giroux and Penna 1979). For parents who chose their children’s school based on this criterion, aspects of the formal and/or hidden curriculum drove their initial schooling decision. For example, Pramila Iyengar’s experience in a CBSE school growing up influenced the school she and her husband chose for their daughters. When describing how she and her husband chose their daughters’ first school Pramila says, ‘When we moved back here, we put them in [a school in North Bangalore]. We put them there because it was a CBSE school and I got CBSE. It’s easy to get in and out of and things like that.’ For this family, their primary concern in choosing a school centered upon the type of board examinations available. Unlike the Iyengars who chose their daughters’ school based on their mother’s familiarity with the curriculum, Dhaval and Kamda Chola chose a school that would offer a different academic experience from what they had growing up. Dhaval Chola explains how they chose their twin daughters’ school by saying: We were keen that they shouldn’t be going through the same experience that we did where it’s all about academics all the time. So we put them in [a school], which we thought was a good mix. It was sort of halfway between a purely scholastic school and not quite a fully international school. I think it worked out pretty well. They really liked the school and the school had some pretty good extracurricular activities around music and drama and things like that. So it worked out well.

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When the Chola family relocated to Bangalore they looked for a school that had an orientation towards learning that did not emphasize academics all the time, but rather also provided avenues for children to explore their other interests. In the case of Dhaval Chola’s daughters, these other interests centered upon the arts (e.g. music and drama). In this way, the school’s formal curricular and extracurricular offerings played a determining role in his decision to enroll his daughters there. Other parents expressed more of an interest in the school’s hidden curriculum as a driver of their schooling decision. When Ananya Subashree first relocated to Bangalore with her children, both she and her husband wanted their two sons to attend a school with ‘more of a local crowd.’ She elaborates by stating, ‘We wanted our kids to be in that crowd because we wanted them to get exposed to that in the first place.’ When I asked her about the importance of her children attending school with a more local crowd she says, ‘We were very patriotic. When we made the decision to move back, we were like okay, now here we go. We are going to be in our community. We are going to get our kids exposed to our culture.’ For this mom, her concern with where her children receive an education does not concern the formal curriculum— such as the type of board examinations her children may take—but rather the hidden curriculum. Through mingling with local students, she hoped her children would get exposed to and learn more about Indian culture.

6.4.2 Switching Schools: Adoption of a Future-Oriented, Capital-Intensive Parenting Logic Consistent with other scholars’ findings (e.g. Kimelberg 2014a, b) as their children progressed in their schooling, parents began to consider their future beyond high school more seriously. Parents’ school-switch decisions may be conceptualized as their desire to provide their children with beneficial resources, or what Pierre Bourdieu (1986) refers to as capital. In doing so, parents consider where their children will attend college, their interests and the kinds of skills their school teaches them. They take these considerations into account because they want to give their children the skills necessary to be globally competitive. Part of being able to cultivate globally competitive children includes providing them with the ‘proper’ education (Ong 2006; Waters 2012). This includes sending children to excellent high schools, which should put them on the path to elite colleges and universities around the world (Stevens 2007). Increasingly, those with the ‘right’ skills and resources can use geographic mobility as a tool for upward social mobility (Berg 2015; Forsey 2015; Schuerkens 2005). Therefore, for some, the ‘right’ high school is an international school that offers the IB curriculum in eleventh and twelfth grades, which prepares students to go abroad for their undergraduate education. However, other parents prefer to put their children on a more ‘secure’ path to college in India. Parents who want to place their children on a more ‘secure’ path to college in India tend to enroll their children in a school that offers the CBSE or Karnataka state

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board examinations. The following discusses how parents’ desire for their children to cultivate valuable forms of capital prompts the school-switch decision.

6.4.2.1

Schools as Sources of Social Capital: Navigating Higher Education Options

As described earlier, different schools—and even different curricula—lead children on a path to higher education in various parts of the world. For those parents who moved their child from one school to another, the majority made the switch to put their children in an advantageous position to enroll in a college or university of their choice either within India or elsewhere. In other words, parents want their children to benefit from membership to a school that has the resources to propel them forward academically and professionally. These resources may include the school’s reputation and academic offerings, including college coaching opportunities. The idea of schools providing students with the resources necessary to propel them towards their future educational and professional goals relates to Bourdieu’s (1986) notion of social capital. According to Bourdieu (1986), social capital represents the actual or potential benefits linked to group membership. In the context of this chapter, schools serve as social capital to the extent that they provide children with the means to cultivate advantageous forms of cultural capital, namely through rigorous courses and college coaching opportunities, that put them on the path to good colleges and universities. Most, but not all, made the school-switch decision to better prepare them to attend college in the United States. The interest in sending their children to the United States is due partly to its position as one of the centers of higher education (Altbach 2004). The stories featured here attest to how the intended higher education destination influences parents’ school-switching behaviors. When Riya first moved to Bangalore, she enrolled her daughter, Ishta, in an allgirls’ school located close to her home and workplace. However, a chiding from a work colleague led her to reconsider this decision. Riya initially settled on an international school that she felt was like the school her daughter would leave, while having a greater diversity of students. At the time, this school only offered the ICSE curriculum. However, when Ishta entered the eighth grade, the school introduced the International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) curriculum. This curriculum is studied in the ninth and tenth grades. Children who study the IGCSE curriculum usually enroll in the IB curriculum for their last two years of high school. About this change Riya recalls, ‘They said that that’s a much better curriculum. They kind of appealed to all the NRI [Non-Resident Indian]-types community saying why don’t you send your kids to this curriculum and it offers you yada yada-kind of stuff.’ Being a savvy businesswoman, Riya was not sold on the school’s description of the benefits of IGCSE relative to ICSE and so she made an appointment with a school administrator to find out more. During this conversation, Riya learned that the administrator came from another international school that is considered one of the pioneers of international schooling in Bangalore. She eventually decided that she would not enroll her children in the IGCSE board at their current school but

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would rather try to gain admission to the more prestigious school. Riya describes her rationale for doing so in the following way: We decided it’s a better thing because I think even in the USA many colleges knew about [this school] in Bangalore and they spoke very highly about it and its quality of students. So, we thought that, oh okay, if it is a known school all over the world and having that is going to mean a better life then why not. We looked at the fact that [this school] has the best college placements that are available in this side of the world for studying in the USA and European countries. So, if that’s where we think our kids may potentially go based on their [US] passport, then why not go to the best.

Riya intended for her daughter (and son) to attend college in the United States. This propelled her to move them from one school to another. Not content to enroll her children at just any school that offers international curricula, she opted to enroll them in the school that would provide them with the best chance of going abroad for higher education. In other words, Riya sought a school that would benefit her children the most. Those parents who intend for their children to go abroad for higher education tend to switch their children into a school that offers an international board examination if they are not enrolled in such a school from the start. Such is the case for Ananya Subashree. Ananya Subashree initially enrolled her sons in a school that offers the CBSE curriculum. About this decision she says, ‘We thought we’d let the kids do their undergraduate [degrees] in India because there are good institutions, reputed ones, like IITs [Indian Institute of Technology] and IISc [Indian Institute of Science]. But then we made this trip back to the USA when Sonam [her son] had finished his ninth grade – and the kids wanted to go back.’ Upon realizing her children’s preference, she says, ‘We thought, why not give them that freedom. Since they’re citizens it’s not a big hassle to move around, have them come back and study if they’re interested. They weren’t attracted to the place [India] and I said fine, they can go. Now we decided that we would let them go [abroad] for undergrad.’ Due to their sons’ desire to go abroad for higher education, Ananya and her husband moved them from a CBSE school to a school that offers the IB to prepare them to apply to universities abroad. However, similarly to Riya, Ananya and her husband did not want to send their sons to simply any school that provided international board examinations. They sought out a school that focused primarily on academics and eventually enrolled both their sons there. It is important to mention that Ananya and her husband enrolled their sons in what they considered to be the best school that offered international board examinations even though it was more expensive than comparable schools. The Iyengar family also moved their children from one school to another with the expectation that their daughters will complete their undergraduate studies outside of India. When they first arrived in Bangalore, Pramila and Janak Iyengar decided to enroll their children in a CBSE school because Pramila was familiar with the curriculum. After some time, they became dissatisfied with the school because they felt the system promoted rote learning and did not believe their children were getting a particularly good education. They then moved them to a school that had a much smaller, more inclusive environment. Their daughters remained enrolled at this school for several years; however, at a point it also began to grow out of favor with them. In

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regard to their misgivings about their daughters’ second school, Janak says: ‘It wasn’t really competitive in terms of college placements and we were a little concerned that our kids were in a small pond and they were getting very comfortable in the pond.’ The Iyengars wanted a school that could provide more academic rigor and more opportunities so that their children could get a better sense as to what they would want to do in the future as it concerns their education and their career. For these reasons, they moved their children from their relatively small, private school in the northern part of the city, to a very well-known international school that offers the IB. In describing their reason for sending their daughters to an IB school, Janak says: We honestly thought that the IB programme would be better for them in terms of going to the USA for college. We wanted our kids to be as well or better positioned than public school students in the USA. A lot of private schools in the USA offer IB programmes. We wanted to make sure that they were in a position to apply to the best school in the USA.

Their rationale for moving them from the one, small school where they were doing quite well to another more competitive school, is due to the belief that this school and its curriculum would put their daughters in a position to gain admission to the best colleges and universities in the United States. Later in the interview, Janak confided in me that ‘college admissions at’ their daughters’ school ‘had a better track record.’ As seen with other families, the Iyengars wanted to enroll their daughters in a school that would provide them with the best chance to achieve future success. While most of the parents I spoke with moved their children from one school to another with the intent of them enrolling in a US college or university, not all parents made the school-switch decision for this purpose. As detailed in this chapter’s introduction, some parents wanted their children to have a better chance at being accepted to a college in India. Like Kavita, whose story is featured in the introduction, Rani first enrolled her children in a school that she felt would enable them to easily adjust to life in Bangalore. After some time though, she began to consider her oldest daughter’s academic interests and her higher education trajectory more seriously. Regarding how she and her husband made the decision that their daughter would complete her last two years of high school in another institution Rani says, ‘What we thought was for higher education she’s kind of interested in bio or medicine field. That field depends on the entrance exam—like the CET [Common Entrance Test]. So, the CET is based on the state board. So that’s the reason we thought it’s better to go with that.’ She elaborates on the decision to switch her daughter’s school by stating, ‘She’s interested in medicine and in India what they get for medicine is entirely based on the CET results. We thought, if she has to get free seating for all these colleges for medicine, so she’ll get well-trained in the CET. So, it’s better. That’s why she chose to go there.’ Rani enrolled her daughter in a school that offers the state board examinations because she felt this would provide her with an advantage in terms of admission to college in India. She is particularly interested in her daughter being admitted to a government college, what she refers to as ‘free seating,’ which offers an education at a much lower cost relative to private institutions. When further explaining

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why her daughter’s new school would be the best for her anticipated career path, Rani explained, ‘They have an integrated way of learning. They teach them the regular board and the [college] entrance. They coach them there.’ Not only does the school where Rani enrolled her daughter provide a good high school education, it also prepares pupils for future academic success by providing coaching for college entrance tests.

6.4.2.2

The Benefits of Objectified Capital: Developing Children’s Interests

Some parents sought out a school rich in objectified cultural capital, as demonstrated through tangible resources, such as curricular materials (e.g. textbooks), spacious auditoriums, and expansive sports fields, that provide their children with the opportunity to develop their academic and extracurricular interests. Bourdieu (1986) suggests that being able to benefit from objectified cultural capital requires access to the ‘right’ resources and the knowledge of how to use those resources to attain the desired results. As it relates to this study, parents were concerned with ensuring that their children’s schools had the curricular and extracurricular resources they wanted and translating those resources into assets such as higher grades and preparation for future professional endeavors. Parents believed that moving their children to a school well-endowed in objectified cultural capital would enable them to flourish both academically and professionally. For example, Sandeep and Champa Tayal relocated to Bangalore after spending several years in New Jersey. When they first moved to the city, they wanted their son, Pratap, to attend a very well-reputed school that offers CBSE board examinations. Having missed the deadline for registration when they first arrived, they waited one year, enrolling Pratap in an international school in the interim, before sending him to their ideal school. They were happy with their decision for a while. However, Sandeep says that at some point they realized that Pratap and the school were not a good fit. Sandeep elaborates on this revelation by saying: We were actually stumped by whether there is any good fit in India. And the problem was he was not a science and math student. He’s not. It’s not his ambition. So, the academics in India essentially means you have to be in STEM. If you’re not in STEM, you’re not academic.

While the Tayals began to see how their son’s interests did not fit into the normative academic trends, they did see him take an interest in the arts. In addition to his regular schooling, the Tayals enrolled Pratap in a drama center where he could develop his artistic skills. Sandeep noticed that at this center his son was thriving. Driven by their concern over their son’s academic performance, the pressure in his school to pursue STEM disciplines, and their son’s preference for arts subjects Sandeep and Champa made the decision to switch schools. When they looked at possible schools that he could attend in Bangalore, Sandeep and Champa eventually narrowed their interest to one international school. The Tayals liked this school because Pratap had friends there. They also found support from the

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school’s administration for Pratap’s relatively ‘unorthodox’ combination of courses. While Sandeep recalls Pratap experiencing some pushback for his course schedule from the generally STEM-oriented student body, Champa says that ‘When they saw his grades, then he’s appreciated. Everywhere he’s like shining grades. So now they’re like this guy must be up to something.’ Understanding their son’s interests led Sandeep and Champa to seek educational environments that would support him. Upon enrolling their son in a more suitable school, the Tayals noticed him doing well and being appreciated by those around him for his efforts. Ravika also moved her daughter from one school to another so that she would have a better chance to explore her interests. When Ravika and her husband first relocated to Bangalore, they briefly enrolled their daughter in a Montessori school before moving her to their preferred institution. They liked the CBSE school from which their daughter would end up graduating because it had plenty of space for children to run around and play, had a lot of extracurricular activities and had a slightly lower teacher–student ratio relative to other schools. In addition, they liked how the school enabled a more relaxed work environment that did not drive students to study all the time. They kept their daughter at this CBSE school for many years. However, over time they noticed the school’s quality begin to deteriorate. For example, Ravika’s daughter did not have a full-time math instructor during her seventh grade year. She also noticed other issues, such as the school admitting many more students, which resulted in teachers not being able to give her daughter the support and individualized attention she needed. As a result, Ravika moved her daughter, Krishi, to another CBSE school in the area known for being very academic-oriented. She stayed at this school for three years. However, in the middle of her tenth grade year Krishi stated that she wanted to do the arts stream for her eleventh and twelfth grade board examinations. Knowing that her daughter’s current school, ‘wasn’t really offering arts’ Ravika reenrolled Krishi in her original CBSE institution due to receiving feedback about the school being good for those interested in the arts. While Champa, Sandeep and Ravika all chose schools that would enable their children to further engage their academic interests, Amara and Vihaan Bhalsod moved their daughter, Divya, to a CBSE school that would better enable her to explore her extracurricular interests. The Bhalsods wanted to educate Divya in a school that would allow her to explore her interests in musicals and fashion design, because these interests are related to fields that she plans to pursue professionally. They did not think that her previous school would be able to develop these interests as much as her current school. They are happy that they made this switch because they know that the resources available in her new school will enable her to pursue her professional goals more easily.

6.4.2.3

Cultivation of Embodied Cultural Capital

The parents featured in this section describe how they wanted their children to cultivate embodied cultural capital (for a detailed discussion of this concept see Bourdieu

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1986) through the development of certain skill sets and dispositions regarding their work and how they live their lives. For example, when describing how she chose her son’s current school, Sajana said that she wanted a school environment that would give him a sense as to how the ‘real world’ functions. She felt that he would be handicapped if he were to continue to attend an international school for the rest of his primary and secondary schooling because she feels that the gated community where they live is very insular and relatively safe. In their community, her son is not exposed to the hardships faced by most people in the city, which Sajana says includes pickpockets and bad roads. She elaborates on how she feels her son’s current school will serve him better than any international school option by stating: We are just insulated inside here [our living community]. Being in a school which still insulates you from the rest of the country would have been a very, very bad idea. [His current school] offers a good mix because the teachers are regular teachers. Children from all backgrounds actually come to that school. It was actually one of the good places where he can actually understand how things are.

Sajana moved her son to a school that offers a CBSE curriculum because she wanted him to have the chance to understand how the ‘real world’ functions. Because she lives in a relatively affluent, gated community she understands that her son may not be getting exposure to the issues that face residents of the city daily, which she feels may put him at a disadvantage. Therefore, Sajana’s motives for switching the school where her son is enrolled relates to her goals of providing him with the skills necessary to navigate a complex and sometimes dangerous world. Govil and Prapti Sodhani chose their son’s first school because it was close to home and had a good reputation. However, after studying there for three years, they realized that his school was not providing the opportunities they felt he needed. As a result, they moved him to a well-reputed CBSE school that they feel has more resources to provide him. When describing what they wanted from their son’s schooling overall, Govil said, ‘We wanted [a school] where equal balance can be given to studies, to sports, to personality development kind of thing, which is a key thing in [our son’s current school]. They make you all-rounded to face the world.’ Like Sajana, Govil and Prapti wanted a school that would prepare their son to tackle real-world challenges. As a result, they sought a school that would enable him to cultivate the skills necessary to become the type of person capable of doing so. Sharath and Apoorva chose their son’s second school for a slightly different reason. When they first relocated to Bangalore, they enrolled Sovan in an international school. They felt this would help his transition to life in Bangalore. They eventually enrolled him in another, more prestigious international school. While Sharath knew that sending his son to this new school would put him on the pathway to the United States, this is not what attracted him most to the school. What attracted him most was the chance to educate Sovan in an environment with other children from similar backgrounds. He describes the school by saying: It was very much a culture of hard work, sincerity. I mean the culture of people; these are not wealthy people who are there sending their kids in fancy automobiles as a time pass. I found that a lot of the parents were like me: professionals who had gone through colleges of the

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type that I went through. The company seemed correct. It is a socioeconomic class, which is not born rich, but it is a professional class. It is not wealthy, but it is the professionals. These people might also be wealthy, but their life values tend to be different. I felt that was a good thing.

In addition to liking the type of people who sent their children to this school, Sharath and Apoorva also liked the school’s overall atmosphere. Sharath describes the school by saying, ‘This felt like a good balance of openness and conservatism, where they keep you on the straight path of education.’ This was important to them because they had heard of other schools where high schoolers were found smoking and doing drugs on the back of the school bus.

6.4.3 School Stayers: Understanding Parents’ Non-switching Behavior Parents from 18 of the 37 families I spoke with did not engage in school-switching behavior. In this section, I examine why those families decided to be school stayers and to keep their children enrolled at one school. I suggest that their decision is due to one of two things: (1) parents being more focused on their child’s educational and professional futures when making their initial schooling choices; or (2) parents realizing that their initial school choice will facilitate their children’s long-term goals. Therefore, when schools can adapt to and satisfy what they presently value, parents feel comfortable keeping their child enrolled in one school. For example, when Akanksha moved her family to Bangalore, she looked around for an affordable school that would enable her daughter’s smooth transition to the city. She also wanted a school that would socially and academically prepare her for college in India. Knowing that, she enrolled her daughter in a local CBSE school. When describing how this school would benefit her daughter in terms of college admissions she said, ‘The pattern of [college entrance] exams is very similar to the CBSE’s. That’s why I thought we should just go with whatever would help her in the future.’ This meant that, as she aged, her daughter’s school would continue to meet her educational requirements. Because of this, Akanksha kept her daughter enrolled at only one school. The Kaleka family kept their oldest daughter enrolled in one CBSE school for similar reasons. Interestingly, this family did consider other schools for their daughter to complete her eleventh and twelfth grades, including an international school that offers the IB. The decision to keep her in the initial CBSE school came down to the availability of courses that she wanted to take that would help her in her future profession. When describing his daughter’s professional interests Ramesh says, ‘She wants to go into psychiatry or pure sciences.’ The international school they considered mandated that she take mathematics in addition to science courses. Their daughter remained adamant about not wanting to take a math class. As a result, they kept her at the same CBSE school. When reflecting on how he feels about this decision, Ramesh

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says, ‘I think with [what] she wants to do and the school – everything, they’re all in line.’ As the Kaleka’s became more serious about their daughter’s future, they realized that they could best support her interests by keeping her enrolled at her current CBSE school. For this reason, they did not move her even though they seriously considered doing so. Meanwhile, when Nina first relocated to Bangalore, she sought a school for her children that would be like the one they had in the United States. She considered many options and eventually settled on one international school. While she does feel that she and her husband pay quite a lot for their children’s education, and despite at one point considering moving her children to a different school, she is happy that she kept them enrolled at their initial school. When explaining her decision, she says that the school’s resources and the families that attend continue to inspire and encourage her daughters to grow personally and intellectually. For these reasons, she kept her children enrolled at this school.

6.5 Conclusion Indian and first-generation Indian American return migrant parents want to make the transition to life in India as smooth as possible for their children. Therefore, they make initial schooling choices keeping in mind their children’s transition needs, the proximity of the school from home and/or work and the school’s curriculum. As children begin to age and parents more seriously consider where they would like them to attend college, parents switch their children’s school. Understanding the factors that affect parents’ school-switching practices provides a more comprehensive understanding of how return migrants navigate local schooling options. This is an important process to examine because, while much of the literature has focused on how transnationally mobile groups send their children abroad to complete their primary and/or secondary schooling, relatively few studies focus on how transnationally mobile populations navigate local schooling options (Ball and Nikita 2014). Such an investigation provides another avenue for understanding how socially privileged groups mobilize resources to transmit privilege from one generation to the next. The findings presented in this chapter may be beneficial to those who run or work in India-based schools. The findings demonstrate that schools serve as important sites of children’s integration into life in India. With this knowledge, schools may want to consider the types of programs and activities they provide return migrants’ children. This may include a peer mentor program where they can seek the advice of someone from a higher grade who went through a similar transition. Schools may also benefit from informing their teachers and principals about schooling processes in their students’ countries of origin. Doing so may better prepare educators for their students’ diverse educational needs. With that said, schools also prepare students for the next part in their educational journey—college. When parents begin to more seriously consider their children’s

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futures, they seek out an institution that will prepare them for college in India and/or abroad, cater to their interests and give them the skills they believe will help them succeed. To fulfill parents’ needs, schools may want to consider diversifying their college preparation offerings. For example, schools that provide training for state or national board examinations may want to consider also providing support for those interested in taking the SAT and American College Test (ACT). This would enable parents to enroll their children in one school that may potentially help them go to college anywhere they want. For schools that have the resources necessary to do so, they may want to consider providing multiple curricula on their campuses. This may more easily enable a family who changes where they intend to send their children for college to stay enrolled in the same school rather than move to another school. The caveat is that, as the case of Riya Haldar highlights, some parents will move from one international school to another if they believe that another has a better reputation for sending youth abroad to good colleges and universities. Some parents will make this decision even if doing so will cost them more money. The findings provide important insights that outline further potential avenues of investigation for sociologists and those from other disciplines who are interested in education. First, these findings demonstrate how the forms of capital parents would like their children to cultivate shapes their schooling decisions. Further research could be done into the congruence between the types of capital provided by schools and the skills parents believe are most valuable to their children at different points in their educational careers. Second, the findings illustrate what parents want their children to get from their schooling environment and provide a suggestion for why they make certain decisions. Ethnographies of what takes place in the schools, as well as conversations with youth about the benefits they see themselves getting from their schools, may reinforce or contradict parents’ opinions about the benefits of different schooling options. Last, as discussed earlier, the number and type of schools available within a locality shape parents’ school-switch decisions. Therefore, it may be insightful to understand how return migrant parents navigate schools in areas that do not have international schools, for example. Such research would provide more insight into the factors that shape return migrants’ schooling decisions. Acknowledgements This chapter is supported by the Fulbright-Nehru Student Research Grant, as well as several grants and fellowships from Syracuse University, including the Bharti Memorial Grant, Roscoe-Martin Grant and the STEM Graduate Fellowship. I would especially like to thank Prema Kurien, Amy Lutz and Francis Peddie for their comments on earlier drafts of this chapter.

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Ball, S J and Nikita, D P (2014). The global middle class and school choice: A cosmopolitan sociology/Die globale mittelschicht und schulwahl: Eine kosmopolitische soziologie. Zeitschrift Fur Erziehungswissenschaft, 17(3), 81–93. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11618%96014%960523%964. Ball, S J, Dworkin, A G and Vryonides, M (2010). Globalization and education: Introduction. Current Sociology, 58(4), 523–29. https://doi.org/10.1177/0011392110367987. Berg, M L (2015). ‘La Lenin is my passport’: Schooling, mobility and belonging in socialist Cuba and its diaspora. Identities, 22(3), 303–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/1070289X2014.939189. Bourdieu, P (1974). The school as a conservative force: Scholastic and cultural inequalities. In J Eggleston (ed), Contemporary research in the sociology of education (pp 32–46). Cambridge: University Printing House. Bourdieu, P (1986). The forms of capital. In J G Richardson (ed), Handbook of theory and research for the sociology of education (pp 241–58). Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, Inc. Bronfenbrenner, U (1996). The ecology of human development: Experiments by nature and design. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Charmaz, K (2006). Constructing grounded theory: A practical guide through qualitative analysis. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Choudhury, P K (2020). Expanding education market and parental choice for secondary schools in India: Evidence from IHDS data. In J B G Tilak (ed), Universal secondary education in India (pp. 113–35). Singapore: Springer. Cornbleth, C (1984). Beyond hidden curriculum? J Curriculum Studies, 16(1), 29–36. Cucchiara, M (2013). “Are we doing damage?” Choosing an urban public school in an era of parental anxiety. Anthropology & Education Quarterly, 44(1), 75–93. Dauter, L and Fuller, B (2016). Student movement in social context: The influence of time, peers, and place. American Educational Research Journal, 53(1), 33–70. https://doi.org/10.3102/000 2831215624981. Desai, S B, Dubey, A, Joshi, B J, Sen, M, Shariff, A and Vanneman, R (2010). Human development in India: Challenges for a society in transition. New York: Oxford University Press. Devine, F (2004). Class practices: How parents help their children get good jobs. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DeWiele, C E B and Edgerton, J D (2016). Parentocracy revisited: Still a relevant concept for understanding middle class educational advantage? Interchange, 47(2), 189–210. Forsey, M (2015). Learning to stay? Mobile modernity and the sociology of choice. Mobilities, 10(5), 764–83. https://doi.org/10.1080/17450101.2014.927202. Gillies, V (2005). Raising the ‘meritocracy’: Parenting and the individualization of social class. Sociology (Oxford), 39(5), 835–53. Giroux, H A and Penna, A N (1979). Social education in the classroom: The dynamics of the hidden curriculum. Theory & Research in Social Education, 7(1), 21–42. Gupta, A (2020). Heterogeneous middle-class and disparate educational advantage: Parental investment in their children’s schooling in Dehradun, India. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 4(1), 48–63. Jeffrey, C, Jeffrey, P and Jeffrey, R (2005). Reproducing difference? Schooling, jobs, and empowerment in Uttar Pradesh, India. World Development, 33(12), 2085–101. Kimelberg, S M (2014a). Middle-class parents, risk, and urban public schools. In A Lareau and K Goyette (eds), Choosing homes, choosing schools (pp 207–36). New York: Russell Sage Foundation. Kimelberg, S M (2014b). Beyond test scores: Middle-class mothers, cultural capital, and the evaluation of urban public schools. Sociological Perspectives, 57(2), 208–28. https://doi.org/10.1177/ 0731121414523398. LaDousa, C (2007). Of nation and state: Language, school, and the reproduction of disparity in a north Indian city. Anthropological Quarterly, 80(4), 925–59. LaDousa, C (2014). Hindi is our ground, English is our sky: Education, language, and social class in contemporary India. New York: Berghahn Books.

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Chapter 7

Reconsidering Inclusive Migrant Education: The Case of Burmese Migrant Youth in Thailand On Ni Chan

Abstract This chapter questions the default policy agenda that views host countries’ regular school systems as exclusive venues to achieve inclusive education for migrants. Under the goal of Education for All promoted by UN agencies since the 1990s, receiving countries are expected to play a more significant role in providing equitable education to migrant students. In Thailand, while the Thai government has demonstrated its commitment to promote inclusive education, formal education offered in public schools is not always ideal for all migrants. Based on a case study conducted with Burmese migrant youth in Mae Sot, a border town in Thailand, the students interviewed identified reasons they were enrolled in community learning centers instead of Thai public schools. Rather than learning in a standard classroom setting of the host country, some Burmese migrant students have other schooling preferences. With their liminal status and limited Thai language proficiency, migrant students desire the type of education that can bring them more job opportunities and allow them to have more freedom of movement. Thus, by presenting the diverse needs of migrant adolescents, this study proposes that community learning centers’ alternative education is also a vital means for achieving inclusive migrant education.

7.1 Introduction Amid the rapidly rising number of international migrants, from 173 million in 2000 to 258 million in 2017, subjects about migration and promoting social inclusion in the host country have been central to policy debates (United Nations 2017). Within such a large group of international migrants, there are young migrants separated from families and those who move with their families. As of 2014, migrant youth between the age of 15 and 24 constitute a reasonably significant portion (12%) of the total international migrant population (Global Migration Group 2014). These young migrants are in a critical stage of transition from childhood to adulthood O. N. Chan (B) Graduate School of International Development, Nagoya University, Nagoya, Japan e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 F. Peddie and J. Liu (eds.), Education and Migration in an Asian Context, Economics, Law, and Institutions in Asia Pacific, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-33-6288-8_7

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and are searching for opportunities that can further their education or career. The education of migrants is, therefore, pivotal in preparing them for their future career, and the right to education is also recognized in international conventions regardless of people’s legal status. Nonetheless, there is still a lack of consensus on effective methods to ensure migrants’ access to quality education (Global Migration Group 2014). Burmese migrant youth in Thailand during the critical transitional stage are notable examples of a marginalized group of adolescents who have difficulties being properly integrated into mainstream schools. This chapter poses questions to the commonly held notion of inclusive migrant education, which presumes the need to integrate young migrants into the regular education system of the receiving country. In particular, for migrants with no plan of staying permanently, such as migrants from Myanmar in Thailand, the strategy of integration does not seem to suit their circumstances. Based on a preliminary case study conducted by the author, the objective is to understand the reasons for students of migrant learning centers (MLCs) to choose or end up pursuing alternative education instead of enrolling in Thai public schools. As such, the author has interviewed a total of 15 students and eight faculty members from three MLCs in Mae Sot, a town that hosts the largest number of Burmese community learning centers in Thailand and borders with Myanmar. Before presenting the findings of the case study mentioned above, relevant background information and literature discussions of the subject matter are introduced to help to contextualize the case. Hence, the next section begins with the situation of Myanmar migrant students in Mae Sot, Thailand. This is then followed by a discussion on how existing studies address migrant education in major migrant-receiving countries in contrast with the case of Myanmar migrants in Thailand. After that, more focus is devoted to explaining case selections and findings. The implications for potential future research and the current study’s limitations are included in the conclusion.

7.2 The Circumstance of Myanmar Migrant Students in Mae Sot 7.2.1 School Enrollment of Burmese Migrant Children in Thailand Among all the migrant-receiving countries in the world, Thailand is known to be a southeast Asian migration hub, of which Mae Sot is home to the largest number of community learning centers for migrant students from Myanmar. With the international migrant population growing at a high average rate of more than 6% annually, Thailand has about three million migrant workers out of its total 3.4 million foreign population (International Organization for Migration [IOM] Thailand 2011). These workers mainly come from neighboring countries, namely Myanmar, Cambodia and

7 Reconsidering Inclusive Migrant Education: The Case … Table 7.1 School enrollment of migrant children in Thailand

Types of school enrollment

139 Number of migrant children

Thai government formal school 145,379 Thai government non-formal education learning centers

2,562

Migrant learning centers (MLCs)

16,350

Out of school

200,000

Total

364,291

Source Thailand Ministry of Education as cited in Harkins (2019)

Laos (Dowding 2014). Although the exact number of migrant workers cannot be easily verified due to many with irregular status, it is estimated that 64–75% of migrant workers are from Myanmar (Mahidol Migration Center 2014). Migrant youth who have not reached the age to enter the workforce are usually placed in Thai schools or migrant learning centers (MLCs) in the community. Statistics from the Thai government (Table 7.1) show that while the majority of migrant children are out of school, many are attending Thai public schools, with fewer than 5% of them in MLCs (Thailand Ministry of Education as cited in Harkins 2019). As the main gateway between Thailand and Myanmar and home to the majority (70 out of 110) of MLCs, Mae Sot in Tak Province houses 74% of the MLCs’ students.

7.2.1.1

The Gap Between Policies and Practice of Migrant Education in Thailand

In light of the call for ‘Education for All’ by UN agencies in 1990, Thailand has signed the pledge, and its Ministry of Education put a relevant policy in place to start receiving non-Thai students in public schools in 1992. Following the idea of inclusive education posited in the Salamanca Statement (1994) proposed by UNESCO, Thailand passed the National Education Act (1999) which states that ‘every person has an equal right and opportunity to have access to basic quality education’ until secondary level (Vungsiriphisal 2011). In 2005, the Cabinet Resolution on Education for Unregistered Persons was passed to target the needs of migrant students and ensures them 15 years of free education in Thailand (Harkins 2019). Nevertheless, though migrant students are entitled to receiving free education provided by Thai state schools, many migrant parents choose to put their children in MLCs because of unbearable indirect financial costs, legal concerns and language barriers. To begin with, given that migrant workers generally earn lower wages than local Thai people, some parents cannot afford the indirect costs, such as school activity fees and school uniforms, of putting their children in state schools. Another problem is that, as many migrants are not legally registered, some parents fear that sending their undocumented migrant children to schools may expose their illegal

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status to state authorities (Chantavanich et al. 2013). Moreover, students who do not have an adequate command of the Thai language cannot easily be assessed, as the Thai language is the primary language used for the placement test. Migrant students who come to Thailand at an older age will, therefore, always end up having to start from grade one and become an overage student because they cannot pass the placement test. As a result, MLCs continue to exist as an alternate form of education for migrant students even though they tend to lack a consistent curriculum and the qualification needed to prepare students for either transferring to Thai state schools or back to schools in Myanmar.

7.3 Existing Discussions on Migrant Education and the Case Studies of Thailand 7.3.1 International Migration and Migrant Youth Education Sjaastad (1962) proposes that migration can be viewed as an investment in the ‘human agent’, which resembles the idea of how education has been commonly perceived as an investment in human capital. With this shared concept, migration can be interpreted as a means for migrants (agents) to invest in a better future. Nonetheless, the impact of migration on children and youth education has not been adequately studied, as asserted by Harttgen and Klasen (2009), even though the young generation is the key to the future development of societies. Their study is pertinent to the case of international migrant children and youth in Europe and utilized the ‘Dimensions of Well-being’ model developed by UNICEF to consider education as one of the many contributing factors to a child’s well-being. One of their major claims is that promoting educational opportunities for migrant children is pivotal because this ensures the long-term economic and development of their own countries.

7.3.2 Social Inclusion and Inclusive Migrant Education Meanwhile, with the advocacy of the United Nations and UNESCO, the idea of inclusive education started to emerge and was later incorporated into the issue of migrant education. Access to education is a fundamental human right acknowledged in the UN’s 1948 Universal Declaration on Human Rights. The World Conference on Education for All (1990) further extended such to become the right for all regardless of individual differences. On the other hand, the concept of inclusive education was not mainstreamed until 1994 in the Salamanca Statement. The proposition of inclusive education initially was targeted at serving students with disabilities and achieving social inclusion through systemic education reforms. The idea of social

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inclusion was later expanded to apply to all marginalized groups, and can be understood as ‘The process of improving the terms on which individuals and groups take part in society – improving the ability, opportunity and dignity of those disadvantaged on the basis of their identity’ (The World Bank, n.d.). In this respect, the need to promote inclusive migrant education stems from the prior ‘narrow approach’ of inclusive education (Haug 2017). As it is hard for most Burmese migrants in Thailand to obtain adequate documentation, they are often deprived of equal access to public resources provided to people with recognized identification documents. Migrants are, therefore, in a disadvantaged position on the basis of their identity. Furthermore, existing literature tends to focus on ways to effectively implement inclusive migrant education in practice, as education is a pivotal means to promote social inclusion.

7.3.3 Integration and Assimilation Approach Most case studies dwell on incorporating migrant students into the conventional national education system based on the integration and assimilation approach applied in traditional immigration countries such as the United States, Canada and Australia. Portes and Zhou (1993), for instance, propose the idea of segmented assimilation, where refugees arriving in the United States since 1970 are less likely to be integrated into the upper class segment of the White community. In contrast to the ‘segmented “underclass” assimilation’, Boyd (2002) finds that the offspring of minority immigrants, namely ‘people of color’ or ‘visible minorities’, exceeded the education attainment of other non-visible minority groups in Canada. Other than portraying societies as stratified and then investigating which segments of the society integration takes place, some scholars concentrate more on identifying problems that hinder immigrant students from assimilating into host societies. McBrien (2005), for instance, recognizes language acquisition as an essential need for immigrant and refugee students to succeed in the United States. In a more recent study, Tani (2017) identifies the lack of international transferability of human capital resulting in over-education and skill wastage of highly educated immigrants in Australia. In sum, as immigrants are those who plan to settle in the receiving countries, these studies predominantly rest on the presumption that assisting immigrant students to adapt to host countries is crucial. Apart from scholars who attempt to address the educational needs of immigrant newcomers, other research on the United States also examines the challenges of highly mobile students within the country. In the studies of Solis (2004) and Salinas and Reyes (2004), both inspect the needs of secondary school students who are children of intrastate or interstate migrants. Some identified hindrances to education include late entry or early withdrawal in school, difficulty in transferring school records, maintaining records of credit accrual and accessibility of education. These observations coincide with the theory of incompatibilities, a conceptual framework

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developed by Jose Cárdenas and Blandina Cárdenas (1977) in which mobility is identified as one of the five broad areas of incompatibilities that prevent disadvantaged children from enjoying the same success in schools of the United States.

7.3.4 Education for Burmese Migrant Youth in Thailand Different from the case studies mentioned above, however, Myanmar migrants in Thailand are not internal migrants and can neither be classified as immigrants or shortterm migrants. A survey conducted by the International Organization for Migration (International Organization for Migration [IOM] Thailand 2013, 22) shows that the majority (79.9%) of Myanmar migrants intend to return to Myanmar. However, nearly half of them do not have a return timeframe in mind. As they lack the will and legal means, they are neither immigrants who intend to settle in Thailand permanently nor short-term migrants who plan to return to their home country in the near future. Nonetheless, existing studies still tend to interpret the education needs and challenges of Myanmar’s migrant youth based on the idea of integration through increasing their accessibility to public education. Knowing various education obstacles faced by migrant youth, scholars tend to trace the underlying causes of underperformance in the delivery of inclusive migrant education to the Thai government’s policy-related issues. The low enrollment rate of migrant students in Thai state school tends to serve as an indicator of ineffective inclusive education policy. Existing studies then account for elements that prevent migrant students from attending Thai state schools. Some researchers tie the problem of migrants’ low enrollment rate in public schools to the liminal legal status of migrant workers who fear that sending their children to schools can subject them to the risk of deportation or detention (Nawarat 2019; Petchot 2011). Moreover, other issues are about school policies of insensitive placement tests based on Thai language proficiency and the lack of recognition of the education students previously received in Myanmar (Nawarat and Medley 2018). These policies resulted in a large number of overage students as migrant students are placed in lower school grade levels that are inappropriate for their age. Additionally, other literature identifies the low enrollment problem as a gap between national policy goals and the partial compliance of local schools. While nonThai students are also entitled to the right of education under the national policy, some local schools are unwilling to accept students without proper documentation (Arphattananon 2012; Dowding 2014; Petchot 2011). Education challenges are, therefore, mainly recognized as elements that hinder migrant youth from attending Thai public schools. Such obstacles may not apply to migrant students and families who do not intend to place their children in Thai schools. In order words, addressing hurdles to promote inclusive education solely through the lens of the integration approach tends to exclude the needs of migrant students who are enrolled in community learning centers outside of the regular school system.

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7.4 Case Selection 7.4.1 Selected Schools of Participation While problems concerning migrant students of MLCs are likely to be different from those attending Thai public schools, existing literature does not provide adequate attention to the subject. Therefore, a field study was conducted in 2019 to investigate further reasons for some young migrants attending MLCs. Given that migrants aged 15–24 are in the critical stage of transiting from childhood to adulthood, students who fall within that age group are mostly high school students and are the main targets of this study. In-depth key informant interviews were carried out with a total of eight faculty members from the selected schools to capture details about individual schools’ characteristics. For privacy reasons, only pseudonym is used to identify each of the three selected schools. Two high schools with different curricula, Diversity Education and the SafetyNet, and one vocational training school, Future Career Solutions, were chosen to understand the diverse needs of students.

7.4.2 Characteristics of the Selected Schools To unravel reasons that led some migrant students to attend MLCs rather than Thai public schools, discerning how education provided by MLCs differs from that of conventional schools in Thailand is necessary. Incongruent with Coombs and Ahmed’s (1974) definition of non-formal education, these MLCs offer ‘organized, systematic, educational activity carried on outside the framework of the formal system to provide selected types of learning to particular subgroups in the population’. On the other hand, the chosen schools are different in their educational curricula, accreditation, and types of education (full-time and part-time) they offer (Table 7.2). In reference to the information provided by faculty members during the Table 7.2 Types of education offered by the selected MLCs based on information obtained from faculty members Curriculum

Accreditation

Part-time/Full time

Diversity Education

– Thai-non-formal education – Pre-GED – Burmese

Thai non-formal Full time education is accredited by the Thai government

The SafetyNet

– Burmese non-formal education – Burmese language lesson

Burmese non-formal education is accredited by the Burmese government

– Burmese non-formal education: full time – Burmese language lesson: part-time

Future Career Solutions

– Vocational training

N/A

Full time

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interviews, the characteristics of each of the three selected schools are described in Table 7.2.

7.4.2.1

Diversity Education

With the distinctive design of three different pathways, namely Thai, Burmese and International pathways, Diversity Education offers a transnational curriculum that caters to students’ needs. The school provides affordable education to the Myanmar migrant community with a limited number of boarding house services for migrant students. To be able to cover its operating costs, however, the tuition is between 3,000 and 4,000 Thai Baht depending on students’ school grades. Families with more than two children enrolled in the school only pay the tuition for their first two children. The current total number of enrolled students is estimated to be around 900, and it is a popular choice among students who wish to pursue post-secondary education in Thailand or overseas. Although the school itself has no accreditation, the Thai pathway has been accredited by the Thai government as a non-formal education program. Furthermore, Diversity Education also partners with a non-profit organization based in Chiang Mai, to help students pass the General Education Development (GED) exam. The passing of the GED serves as a recognized credential of high school-level academic skills in the United States and Canada. Hence, students who pass the GED exam can apply for Thai universities or other overseas’ universities as international students.

7.4.2.2

The SafetyNet

The SafetyNet was first established as a community-based organization (CBO) in 2000 and became an officially registered Thai foundation in 2017. One prominent feature of the school is that nearly all residents can utilize its boarding house services as most of the students there are orphans. The estimated number of residents is about 165 and more than 60% are orphans who were brought to the SafetyNet during infancy. Many of these orphans are sent to Thai public schools because children born in Thailand with relevant birth certificates have a higher chance of becoming Thai citizens if, and only if, they attend Thai public schools. The founder of the school thinks that helping these orphans to become Thai citizens can significantly boost their future opportunities as they have no home to return to in Myanmar. As most of its residents have regular identification documents and can, therefore, receive education from Thai public schools, the SafetyNet offers onsite education that follows the Burmese curriculum to supplement the needs of those who cannot attend public schools. The Ministry of Education of Myanmar accredits its Burmese curriculum as non-formal education. Students who are enrolled in Thai schools full time can also study the Burmese language by participating in its non-formal part-time program.

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7.4.2.3

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Future Career Solutions

Future Career Solutions is a foundation that provides vocational training to older migrant students. Unlike other non-profit organizations that rely solely on donors’ funding, the foundation has self-sustaining income from a local business managed by students and staff members. They enroll about 25 students annually and teach basic Thai language, English and life skill training. Moreover, Future Career Solutions is well-known in the community for pairing students up with local employment opportunities offered by its partner companies.

7.4.3 Student Participants Other than interviews with faculty members, three semi-structured group interviews were also conducted. A total of 15 students aged 15–24, five from each selected school, participated in the interviews. The selection attempted to include as diverse a pool as possible by taking into account their legal status, ethnicities, language proficiency and length of stay in Thailand. As many students are irregular migrants with liminal status, only an assigned pseudonym is used to identify each interviewee.

7.4.4 Ethics Statement All student participants were informed of the purpose of the research and their rights. Permission of the participants’ schools was first obtained prior to the interviews. On the day of interview, the researcher verbally recited the information on the assent form in English followed by Burmese interpretation provided by a Burmese interpreter at the beginning of the interview. Students were also informed that there would not be any negative impact on their academic evaluations if they chose not to participate or not to answer any questions during the interview. Upon receiving the signed Burmese version of the assent form, a copy of the same form with contact information of the researcher was also provided to each student participant in case they have any concerns that wished to be addressed in the future.

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7.5 Key Findings 7.5.1 Student Profile In sum, 11 students only have a student ID issued by their schools to protect them from being deported, with three permanent resident card-holders and one with Thai citizenship. Most students who have a regular Thai ID are from the SafetyNet, except for one permanent ID card-holder who is from Diversity Education. Regarding ethnicities, the majority of interviewees are ethnic Karen, while the SafetyNet students all identified themselves as Bamar people. Moreover, when asked to evaluate their language proficiency from levels one to five, with five being the highest level of proficiency, all of them rated themselves as proficient in Burmese. On the contrary, only four students possess an intermediate (level three or above) level of Thai language skill, which is not always in correspondence to individuals’ length of stay in Thailand. Details of the interviewees’ profile are outlined in Table 7.3.

7.5.2 Reasons for Attending MLCs 7.5.2.1

Advancing Learning

Young migrants are enrolled in MLCs for a variety of reasons. While some made deliberate choices to attend MLCs, others were adopted and raised on the school premises. Despite such differences, nearly all (13 out of 15) students mentioned various forms of advancing learning as what they would like to achieve through the education they receive in MLCs. Mary from Diversity Education, for instance, who has been staying in Thailand by herself while her parents are in Myanmar, stated that she would like to ‘go as high as she can’ in her own education. Nathan, who was adopted by the schoolmaster during infancy and raised on the school premise of the SafetyNet, also aspired to the same notion that he would like to pursue higher education to the best of his ability. Moreover, even in Future Career Solutions, where students had more concern about job opportunities, Tom and Katy are still seeking ways to apply for Australian Catholic University and other distance learning programs. Katy, interviewed on 24 May 2019, stated: ‘I want to do distance learning, the type of education you can do over the internet, you know? But I also need a job here.’

7.5.2.2

Special Curriculum

Others (two from Diversity Education and one from the SafetyNet) also indicated the unique curriculum design attracted them to choose MLCs. Ken, interviewed on 22 May 2019, revealed

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Table 7.3 Biographical data of interviewees Gender

Age

Legal status Ethnicities

Language proficiencya

Length of stay in Thailand

Diversity Education Ken

M

18

Student ID

Paoh

Burmese 5 English 5

13 years

Sam

M

16

Student ID

Karen and Chin

Burmese 5 English 2 Thai 3

7 years

Mary

F

16

Student ID

Karen, Bamar and Hmong

Burmese 3

16 years

Naomi

F

20

Student ID

Karen

Burmese 5 English 2 Thai 2

5 years

Sheryl

F

17

Permanent residency

Muslimb

Burmese 5 English 3 Thai 4

17 years

Nathan

M

18

Permanent residency

Burmese

Burmese 3 Thai 5

15 years

Henry

M

16

Student ID

Burmese

Burmese 5

1 month

Zoe

F

16

Student ID

Burmese

Burmese 5

1 year

Mia

F

17

Thai citizenship

Burmese

Burmese 5 Thai 3

17 years

Kevin

M

20

Permanent residency

Burmese

Burmese 5 English 3 Thai 2

20 years

The SafetyNet

Future Career Solutions Tom

M

20

Student ID

Karenni

Burmese 5

1 year

Wendy

M

19

Student ID

Karen

Burmese 5

13 years

Nancy

F

24

Student ID

Karen

Burmese 5 Thai 2

10 years

Katy

F

18

Student ID

Karen

Burmese 5 Thai 1

1 year

Liam

M

22

Student ID

Karen

Burmese 5 Thai 2

22 years (in refugee camp)

a Scale

of 1–5, with 5 being the highest level of language proficiency; only the proficiency level of Burmese, English and Thai are included in this table for illustrative purposes b Muslim is recognized as an ethnic group (as opposed to Islam as a religion) among people from Myanmar

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I have chosen to take the pre-GRE class because I plan to pursue my college education in the United States where my close relative resides…When compared with other MLCs or Thai schools, Diversity Education has more scholarship information for migrant students, and that’s why I like it here.

Furthermore, as a proficient Burmese and English speaker with skills to become a translator, Ken even termed the pre-GED program as the ‘route to success’. Meanwhile, some students expressed their preferences for the Burmese education provided by their schools. Sam, who attended schools in Myanmar until grade 4, prefers the Burmese pathway at Diversity Education as it acknowledges prior Burmese education he had received in his home country. Zoe from the SafetyNet, interviewed on 24 May 2019, also showed appreciation for the free education based on the Burmese curriculum she could receive at the learning center: I live in Myawaddy [a border town on the Myanmar side and about 20-minute drive away from Mae Sot], and my parents sent me here because this school is more affordable when compared to the schools in Myanmar and close to where I live.

7.5.2.3

Job Prospects

As Future Career Solutions is a vocational school that mainly serves to help young migrants to improve their employment opportunities, four out of the five students interviewed attribute their choice of current school to work-related reasons. All students interviewed perceived Future Career Solutions as a midpoint to help them gain more job-related skills while retaining a valid ID in Mae Sot to explore other work or education opportunities during their transitional stage. Nancy’s experience exemplifies students who have paused in their education and place job prospects as their priority: I wanted to pass the [Burmese] matriculation exam, but I couldn’t because the curriculum is too hard for me. I want to sit for it one more time but my brother and father cannot support me [financially] anymore and it is expensive to keep trying. So, I want to work now. (Interview, 24 May 2019)

A similar story also applies to Wendy, who had attended until grade 9 in MLCs but decided to work now because she could not afford the costs of further education.

7.6 Conclusion, Implications and Limitations 7.6.1 Conclusion While migrant students have as much of a desire to receive education as students in the regular system, their needs are different, often due to their irregular status. If students attending MLCs were not interested in receiving education, then it would not be necessary to discuss how to integrate them into the school system better. However,

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the large proportion of students from different MLCs indicated their desire to advance their learning through MLC education. These migrant adolescents have needs that are distinct from students with regular identification documents. They need a more diverse curriculum that enables them to have more freedom of movement when seeking future opportunities and assists them in finding employment opportunities despite their liminal legal status and limited Thai language capacity. Consequently, this preliminary case study conducted in Mae Sot calls into question the overly-generalized integration approach for inclusive migrant education. The majority of migrant adolescents attending community learning centers have limited Thai proficiency and are uncertain about the length of their settlement in Thailand because of their liminal legal status. As a result, they may not wish to be incorporated into the conventional education system of Thailand. Thus, inclusive education that centers on the integration approach, as suggested by scholars of existing studies, may not help to promote social inclusion in the case of migrant students enrolled in MLCs.

7.6.2 Implications: Rethinking Inclusive Migrant Education Myanmar migrants in Mae Sot constitute a unique case in which neither exclusion nor the commonly adopted integration can be the best strategy to cope with their needs. As mentioned in the studies of Griffiths and Ito (2016) and Dowding (2014), due to the liminal documentation status of migrant workers from Myanmar, many do not plan to stay in Thailand for life. Hence, they are uncertain of whether their young dependents should receive an education based on the Thai or Burmese curriculum. Additionally, education is crucial to improving workers’ productivity and, therefore, the overall economy in modern times. Consequently, the primary purpose of education offered by the standardized schooling system is commonly viewed as an effective means to further individuals’ career prospects. In other words, modern-day education is a form of investment in human capital. Meanwhile, the government is expected to be responsible for providing primary education to its citizens, especially the less privileged ones, within its administered territory. This essential involvement of the government in Thailand, however, has inevitably shaped the structure of the school curriculum to be based on the needs of its nationals. Similar to most countries, the national language of Thailand is used as the medium of instruction at schools. Subsequently, the perceived usefulness and level of difficulty in acquiring a host country’s language can also become a crucial determinant in successfully integrating migrants into the mainstream education system. In major migrant-receiving countries of the West, learning English, the lingua franca employed in teaching, is both useful and not as challenging due to its prevalent use. On the other hand, attaining a high level of Thai language skills can be demanding. Migrants with a liminal status are unlikely to find a job that requires high Thai language skills, and they may not stay in Thailand for long. Hence, while the exclusive use of the Thai language in teaching is understandable, irregular non-permanent migrants in Thailand may not find the Thai

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language as useful to acquire and willing to put forth the effort to become highly proficient. Furthermore, the case of migrant students from Myanmar in Thailand also raises a question on the commonly accepted rights-based approach for education. The current expectation about the provision of migrant education mainly centers on the rightbased approach, where the government of the host country is expected to be the prime duty bearer to provide the same public education for all eligible individuals regardless of their nationalities. The public education provided is, therefore, structured based on the host country’s curriculum that prepares students to assimilate into the host country’s society. Nonetheless, whether the government of the host country should be the duty and costs bearer of such alternative education provided remain questionable.

7.6.3 Research Limitation Although this study aims at encompassing voices of migrant students from diverse backgrounds, the geographic location of Mae Sot, with a large number of ethnic Karens, could have resulted in an overrepresentation of Karen people’s opinions. As Mae Sot borders the Kayin state of Myanmar, where the majority of Karen reside, many migrants in Mae Sot are Karens. They fled from internal wars between the Karen army and the national government of Myanmar. Most of them, however, reside in refugee camps as displaced persons and receive education offered by NGOs inside the camp. While displaced persons are not supposed to leave the camp, some still manage to stay and work outside of the camp as the policy is not as strictly enforced in Mae Sot. Besides, Karen people are also known to be strongly community-oriented, where a majority of them live together in their own Karen village. In fact, seven out of the 15 selected interviewees reported they were ethnic Karens or with Karen ancestry. Nevertheless, without knowing the ethnic composition of the Burmese migrants’ population in Thailand, as migrants are categorized based on nationality and not ethnicity, there is no credible way to verify whether this is an overrepresentation of the Karens in the migrant population. On the other hand, this could also be a reflection of the actual circumstance in which Karens constitute the most significant number of the overall Myanmar migrant community in Thailand. Acknowledgements I would like to express my sincere gratitude to faculty members and students who participated in my interviews. Without their time and continuous support, this research would not have been possible.

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References Arphattananon, T (2012). Education that leads to nowhere: Thailand’s education policy for children of migrants. International Journal of Multicultural Education, 14(1), 1–15. Boyd, M (2002). Educational attainments of immigrant offspring: success or segmented assimilation? International Migration Review, 36(4), 1037–60. Cardenas, J and Cardenas, B (1977). The theory of incompatibilities: a conceptual framework for responding to the educational needs of Mexican American children. Office of Education (DHEW), Washington, DC. Intercultural Development Research Association, San Antonio, TX. Chantavanich, S, Vungsiriphisal, P and Rukspollamuang, C (2013). The challenge and gap of migrant children protection: a case study of Thailand’s education policy. In C M Supang Chantavanich (ed), On the move: critical migration themes in Asean (pp 219–37). Bangkok: International Organization for Migration, Asian Research Center for Migration, Chulalongkorn University. Coombs, P H and Ahmed, M (1974). Attacking rural poverty: how nonformal education can help. . Baltimore, MD: John Hopkins University Press. Dowding, L (2014). Pathways to a better future: a review of education for migrant children in Thailand. A situational analysis of two communities: Bangkok and Mae Sot. Thailand: World Education Thailand. Global Migration Group (2014). Migration and youth. Global Migration Group: www.globalmig rationgroup.org/migrationandyouth. Griffiths, M and Ito, M (2016). Migration in Myanmar: perspectives from current research. Social Policy and Poverty Research Group Yangon. Yangon: Social Policy and Poverty Research Group . Harkins, B (2019). Thailand Migration Report 2019. Bangkok: United Nations Thematic Working Group on Migration in Thailand. Harttgen, K and Klasen, S (2009). Well-being of migrant children and migrant youth in Europe, Discussion papers. Ibero America Institute for Economic Research (181). Haug, P (2017). Understanding inclusive education: ideals and reality. Scandinavian Journal of Disability Research, 19(3), 206–17. International Organization for Migration [IOM] Thailand (2011). Thailand migration report 2011, migration for development in Thailand: overview and tools for policymakers. Jerrold W. Huguet and Aphichat. International Organization for Migration [IOM] Thailand. (2013). Assessing potential changes in the migration patterns of Myanmar migrants in Thailand and their impacts on Thailand. Chulalongkorn University. Bangkok: Asian Research Center for Migration. Mahidol Migration Center (2014). Newsletter, Volume 5. Bangkok: Institute for Population and Social Research, Mahidol University. McBrien, J L (2005). Educational needs and barriers for refugee students in the United States: A review of the literature. Review of Educational Research, 75(3), 329–64. Nawarat, N. (2019). Discourse on migrant education policy: Patterns of words and outcomes in Thailand. Kasetsart Journal of Social Sciences, 40(1), 235-242. Nawarat, N and Medley, M (2018). The public regime for migrant child education in Thailand: alternative depictions of policy. Asian Politics & Policy, 10(3), 411–26. Petchot, K (2011). The right to education for migrant children in Thailand: liminal legality and the educational experience of migrant children in Samut Sakhon. International Institute of Social Studies. The Hague, the Netherlands. Portes, A and Zhou, M (1993). The new second generation: segmented assimilation and its variants. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science (530), 74–96. Salinas, C and Reyes, R (2004). Chapter 9 Graduation enhancement and postsecondary opportunities for migrant students: issues and approaches. In C Salinas and M E Franquiz (eds), Scholars in the field: the challenges of migrant education (p 119–132). Washington, DC: Institute of Education Sciences (ED). Sjaastad, L (1962). The costs and returns of human migration. Journal of Political Economy, 70.

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Solis, J. (2004). Chapter 8 Scholastic Demands on Intrastate and Interstate Migrant Secondary Students. In C Salinas and M E Franquiz (eds), Scholars in the Field: The Challenges of Migrant Education (p 113–117). Washington, DC: Institute of Education Sciences (ED). Tani, M (2017). Paper commissioned for the Global Education Monitoring Report 2019 Consultation on Migration. UNESCO. Thailand Ministry of Education as cited in Harkins (2019). Thailand Migration Report 2019. Bangkok: United Nations Thematic Working Group on Migration in Thailand. The World Bank. (n.d.). Understanding Poverty: Topics. Social Inclusion: www.worldbank.org/ en/topic/social-inclusion#:~:text=Social%20inclusion%20is%20the%20process,the%20basis% 20of%20their%20identity. United Nations (2017). International migrant report. Department of Economic and Social Affairs. Vungsiriphisal, P (2011). The challenge of education policy for migrant children in Thailand from security standpoints. Kyoto Working Papers on Area Studies. 2011 Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University.

Chapter 8

Impact of Armed Conflict on Education in Timor-Leste Yuji Utsumi

Abstract The number of armed conflicts, subsequently producing large-scale refugee and displacement crises, has been continuously increasing across the world. Many children who have experienced conflict and fled from a country are often interrupted in their education during and even after the conflict period. This study attempts to identify the long-term impact of conflicts on children’s educational outcome and mitigating factors that reduce the negative effect of the conflict. The research uses the case of Timor-Leste where several foreign governments enforced their policies on education for a long time, and people experienced conflicts during the Indonesian occupation as well as at the time of the independence referendum in 1999. Using available educational data, the study analyzes irregular trends in the educational conditions during the conflict, and estimates how the previous conflict’s experience affects the current official-age student’s test score. The study confirmed the longterm negative effect of students’ conflict experience, including refugee and forced migration, in the secondary education level, and found several school-related factors that mitigate the negative effect of conflict’s experience. The author interprets and discusses this phenomenon in terms of the Timorese contemporary context and the educational situation distorted by the history of foreign rules.

8.1 Introduction The number of conflicts occurring around the world is continuously increasing. In the 1990s, 20% of countries worldwide reportedly experienced some sort of conflict. In Sub-Saharan Africa, one-third of countries experienced conflict during this period (Blattman and Miguel 2010). Although the form of conflict varies depending on cultural and historical backgrounds, conflict-affected countries face relatively severe poverty, and their average social indicators tend to be worse than those of countries not affected by conflict. In particular, the impacts in the educational sector Y. Utsumi (B) Graduate School of International Development, Nagoya University, Nagoya, Japan e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 F. Peddie and J. Liu (eds.), Education and Migration in an Asian Context, Economics, Law, and Institutions in Asia Pacific, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-33-6288-8_8

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are often severe and prolonged. For example, a decrease in the number of primary and secondary education enrollments and their completion are often seen in conflictaffected countries while the number of students per teacher and the number of schools under a two-shift system are increased in those countries. In addition, youth and adult literacy rates remain low for a longer period than in countries not affected by conflict. These factors, along with others, are likely to continue for a significant period in post-conflict states (UNESCO 2011a, b). Since 2000, when a conflict perspective began to be incorporated into the agenda of educational development, there has been an increase in research on the relationship between conflict and education. However, since many of these studies were conducted by people working with development assistance, such as UN agencies, the focus was largely on issues and areas of practical importance, with little discussion on issues from a wider universal perspective using quantitative data (Barakat and Urdal 2009). In reality, micro data that measures conflict rarely exist in developing countries; even when such data exists, the quality is often unreliable. This makes it more difficult to objectively analyze the impact of conflict on education, which is the reason why few studies have quantitatively analyzed the impact of conflict on education in the past (Verwimp et al. 2009). Recent studies have gradually started analyzing the long-term impact of past conflicts on the current educational situation in a country by using social survey data including educational items conducted after a conflict period. These studies have elucidated the impact of conflict on education. However, the accumulation of studies has not been sufficient. Only 13 studies were compared in the recent PEIC Foundation report, suggesting that the discussion on the impact of conflict on education has not yet reached maturation, despite its necessity (Jones and Naylor 2014). In addition, although many of studies on the impact of conflict on educational outcome tend to focus on the direct individual experience of the conflict in the war zone or nearby locations, it should be noted that refuge and forced migration due to armed conflict are also some of the crucial experiences derived from the conflict which largely affect the educational outcome. School-age refugee children are often exposed to a disadvantaged situation in educational access and quality, sometimes for a long time after the conflict. Since it is important to understand the impact of conflict in line with the reality and needs for educational reform or reconstruction in post-conflict situations, studies and analysis in this field may need to place not only the traditional conflict experience of the field, but also the status of refugees and migrants into the experience of conflict. Considering these circumstances, this chapter studies the impact of conflict on education by attempting first to find any irregular trends in educational conditions revealed in comparable general educational data. Specifically, I focus on the case of conflict in Timor-Leste, comparing and analyzing changes between educational sectors and time periods to capture the long-term impacts of conflict on the educational sector. I examine the processes by which governance policies under Portuguese and Indonesian occupation shaped education in Timor-Leste and how the conflict caused by the occupation and subsequent independence led to irregular developments in the educational situation. Secondly, this chapter estimates the impact of conflict on

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education and finds school factors that can suppress such effects. Though the main component of the impact of conflict in this analysis is still the experience of locating the conflict zone, the analysis considers the refuge and forced migration outside the country during the conflict. The period of the migration during which a large Timorese population moved to West Timor is also included into the building process of the conflict variable. Detailed microdata is used for this analysis, combining student data (with the permission of the Ministry of Education in Timor-Leste) and conflict data from the period that Timor-Leste gained independence. This chapter partially includes the author’s two published papers written in Japanese, which were further translated, adapted and expanded in terms of the perspectives of the relationship between refugees and forced migration and education. Section 8.3 is based on the paper, ‘The impact of conflict on the education sector in Timor-Leste: an analysis of irregular trends observed in educational data’, in Comparative Education (Utsumi 2018), and Sect. 8.4 is based on the paper, ‘The effect of school factors on education outcome for students exposed to conflict – a case study of conflict and national student examination in Timor-Leste’, in the Journal of International Development Studies (Utsumi 2017).

8.2 The Conflict in Timor-Leste from an International Perspective It is difficult to formulate a universal definition of conflict due to differences in the causes, characteristics and forms of conflicts. However, a commonality among conflicts is that they generally tend to occur in poor countries. Blattman and Miguel (2010) reported that countries in the bottom twentieth percentile of GDP per capita had several times as many conflicts as those in the top twentieth percentile (Blattman and Miguel 2010). Although the number of conflicts has declined since 2000, conflicts continue to occur in low-income countries. Of the 35 countries in which conflicts occurred between 1999 and 2008, 16 are low-income countries and 14 are low- to middle-income countries (see Table 8.1). In Timor-Leste, conflict occurred in the decade following the Indonesian invasion in 1975 and in 1999 following the independence referendum. According to the World Bank, the GDP per capita in Timor-Leste was US$434.4, making it a state with a GDP per capita under the twentieth percentile line (US$475.9) in 2000, with a high risk of conflict compared to the global norm1 (World Bank Data). UNESCO also demonstrates differences in socio-economic indicators between conflict-affected countries and those not affected, while pointing out that the average social indicators of conflict-affected countries all fare poorly compared to those of countries not affected by conflict. The infant mortality rate and the malnutrition rate 1 The World Bank’s GDP data shows that countries with fragile and conflict affected situations have

a mean per-capita GDP of US$ 631.2, indicating that conflicts are prevalent in relatively low-income countries.

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Table 8.1 Countries that experienced conflict between 1999 and 2008 Low-income countries

Low- to middle-income countries

Middle- to high-income countries

1

Afghanistan

Angola

Algeria

2

Burundi

Cote d’Ivoire

Colombia

3

Central African Republic

Georgia

Russian Fed

4

Chad

India

Serbia

5

D.R. Congo

Indonesia

Turkey

6

Eritrea

Iraq

7

Ethiopia

Nigeria

8

Guinea

Pakistan

9

Liberia

O. Palestinian T

10

Myanmar

Phillipines

11

Nepal

Sri Lanka

12

Rwanda

Sudan

13

Sierra Leone

Thailand

14

Somalia

Timor-Leste

15

Uganda

16

Yemen

Note GDP for Timor-Leste calculated based on the 2006 conflict Source Strand and Dahl (2010)

for children under five years old are higher in conflict-affected countries, while the total youth and adult literacy rates are lower than in non-affected countries (UNESCO 2011a). These indicators in Timor-Leste fall into the category of a conflict-affected country. The rate of malnutrition among infants and young children in Timor-Leste in 2009 was more than 58.1%, which is higher than the average rate of about 40% in conflict-affected countries. In addition, the literacy rate (10 years old and over) in Tetum, the official language of Timor-Leste, remained at 58% in 2010, well below the average rate of 79% for all conflict-affected countries (UNESCO 2011a; Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste and UNICEF 2014). The conflicts in Timor-Leste are also considered to have a higher mortality rate outside the actual war zone than conflicts in other countries, which is worth noting when examining the far-reaching influence of conflicts. Social disorder and government dysfunction associated with conflicts can also significantly reduce administrative capacity outside actual combat areas, where droughts, floods and food crises are likely to spread malnutrition and illness. According to UNESCO, which shows countries (conflicts) with especially high mortality rates outside actual combat zones, 82% of the total deaths in the Timor-Leste conflict between 1974 and 1999 occurred in places other than actual combat zones, indicating the extent of the impact of conflict on the country as a whole (UNESCO 2011a). The impact of conflict, such as widespread malnutrition, epidemics and the destruction of social infrastructure

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needed to maintain communities, is difficult to grasp from numerical data and, thus, it is often underestimated. However, when considering the impact of conflict on the socio-economic conditions of a country, it is essential to consider indicators such as mortality rate in areas other than combat zones.

8.3 Impact of Foreign Governance Policy and Timor-Leste Independence on Education in Timor-Leste Timor-Leste is a new country that achieved independence in 2002, but it has a long history of conflict. Opposition to dominance and forced labor often occurred during the 500-year Portuguese colonial period. In addition to the wars with the kingdom of Wahale in 1642 and the kingdom of Same in the 1860s, the rebellion in 1911 resulted in 25,000 deaths on the Timorese side (CAVR 2013). Timor-Leste was continuously ruled by Portugal, with the exception of three and a half years of occupation by the Japanese Empire during World War II. Later, in 1975, Timor-Leste was occupied by Indonesia, which was followed by a decade-long conflict that resulted in numerous deaths due to starvation and illness, and also in large-scale displacement lead by the Indonesian military and long-lasting refuge into the forests among the general population. Although the conflicts abated during the period of normalization and integration from 1985 onwards,2 public order deteriorated again when Timor-Leste’s independence was decided by a referendum in 1999, and large-scale torture and murder was perpetrated by anti-independence factions (militias supporting autonomy within Indonesia rather than independence) (Takahashi et al. 2000).3 In addition, the conflict in 1999 again caused approximately half of the Timorese population to flee their homes and take refuge in West Timor. Concerned about this situation, the UN Security Council decided to dispatch the International Force for East Timor (INTERFET) but, at the same time, the Indonesian military and the militias supporting autonomy resorted to a scorched-earth operation, destroying many buildings and major infrastructure, as well as threatening, assaulting and killing large numbers of displaced people (CAVR 2013). Foreign governance and the resulting conflicts have also affected Timor-Leste’s education, and its distorted development trajectory remains a challenge today. The Portuguese undertook a passive educational policy for most Timorese men in accordance with its colonial policy of indirect governance using the kings of small kingdoms scattered throughout the country. As a result, only about 3,000 out of a population of 460,000 were able to attend school in 1937 (Butcher et al. 2015; Millo 2 In

the meantime, however, the Santa Cruz massacre, which triggered a later independence movement, occurred in 1991. Although the number of deaths and missing persons has not yet been determined due to the lack of formal investigation, the final report of the Commission for Reception, Truth, and Reconciliation East Timor records 271 deaths and 250 missing persons. 3 A famous incident is the massacre of more than 200 independence supporters in Suai and public executions at the Mariana police station.

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and Barnett 2004). On the other hand, since Indonesia used education as part of an assimilation policy, it actively promoted education by constructing primary and lower secondary schools and introduced its educational system immediately after the occupation. Although access to education was temporarily reduced due to conflict early in the occupation, it recovered up to the level of just before occupation by 1980, and the number of schools and students exploded during the normalization and integration period. The independence referendum in 1999 the conflict that followed, however, again led to the deterioration of the educational situation in Timor-Leste. Approximately 75% of schools were completely destroyed, which resulted in the suspension of education in the country for that year and the virtual collapse of the Timorese education system (World Bank 2004). In this section, the irregular trend in educational conditions and its relationship with conflict are discussed for each historical period. Timor-Leste has four notable periods in its history: the Portuguese colonial period (1500s–1974), the Indonesian occupation period (1975–1999), Independence and the following post-conflict period (1999–2002), and also the reconstruction period (2002–present). Several social surveys and educational data available in Timor-Leste were analyzed, particularly for the Indonesian occupation period as well as Independence and the following post-conflict period, in order to identify the irregular trends in education, which were matched with conflicts and relevant circumstances.

8.3.1 The Impact of Governance Policy on the Spread of Education During Portuguese Rule Educational policy for Timor-Leste under Portuguese rule was often referred to as a ‘benign neglect policy’ because the colonial authorities adopted passive educational policies that provided almost no education except to an elite minority. This could be attributed to the Portuguese policy of indirect governance in Timor-Leste, which utilized the traditional governance system of the liurai, the heads of countless kingdoms in Timor-Leste; they exercised control on all levels through liurai, while largely allowing their autonomy. The Portuguese were reluctant to educate the general public in Timor-Leste because they had little contact with the local population other than the liurai (Hohe 2002). At the same time, Portugal implemented a policy of controlling the liurai through the missionary work of the Catholic Church, and enthusiastically educated the children and successors of liurai at mission schools run by the Catholic Church. Portuguese was used in mission schools, and students were imbued with Portuguese culture and Christian values to successively create liurai loyal to Portugal (Nicolai 2004). Education in this period thus became the ‘main tool for building a submissive local elite’ (Millo and Barnett 2004, 725) in relation to Portugal. The first Dominican seminary was built in Lifau, Oecusse in 1738, and the first university was established in Dili in 1863, followed by the construction of Jesuit universities and schools in various places (Millo and Barnett 2004).

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However, because education existed for the training of an elite minority, few Timorese were actually able to go to school. Even in 1909, there were only 1,937 students at 17 schools nationwide, and while the number of students increased to 2,979 by 1937, the population at the time was approximately 464,000. Under these circumstances, it is clear that educational programs were not prevalent in Timor-Leste under Portuguese rule (Butcher et al. 2015; Millo and Barnett 2004). The majority of the people were unable to go to school and were also unable to read and write, and believed in indigenous animism. After World War II, when Timor-Leste was returned to Portugal, investment in education was expanded in response to the growing international criticism of colonial rule. Primary schools were built throughout the country and, in 1952, Timor-Leste’s first public upper secondary school was established. The entrance exams for lower and upper secondary schools were very hard and few were able to enroll, but the small minority of Timorese who reached upper secondary school were then allowed to study at universities in Portugal (Millo and Barnett 2004). In the 1970s, Portuguese investments in educational policies increased further, with 60,000 children, 10% of the total population, entering primary schools by 1972 (Butcher et al. 2015). In 1974, the year before the end of Portuguese rule, net enrollment rates of the primary school-age population has reached 53% (Millo and Barnett 2004). Despite the large scope of Portuguese educational policies in the 1970s compared to the past, only 16 of approximately 200 teachers were Portuguese at that time, while the remaining Timorese teachers only had one year of teacher training. As of 1975, the number of illiterate people was as high as 90% of the total population (World Bank 2001).

8.3.2 The Impact of Governance Policy and Conflict on Educational Results Under Indonesian Rule When Indonesia occupied Timor-Leste in place of Portugal in 1975, the country fell into a de facto state of civil war. From the immediate aftermath of the Indonesian invasion until the end of the fighting in 1984, the official records of the Comissão de Acolhimento, Verdade e Reconciliação de Timor Leste (CAVR)4 indicate that approximately 3,200 people5 were killed in the conflict. However, it has been reported that the combined death toll of civilians due to hunger and illness resulting from the 4 CAVR

is an independent organization established by the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) under UNTAET Covenant No. 10/2001 in 2001, and its budget is jointly provided by United Nations donors. Primarily, Japan has been promoting reconciliation through public hearings and meetings as well as records of human rights violations, including the political situation from 1974 to 1999 and developments in the various political groups. More than 3,000 final reports were published in English in 2013, and the purpose and role of the committee is detailed on the first 90 pages. 5 The figure in the official record is 3,451 from 1974 to 1981, while I estimated the number of persons from 1974 to 1979 from the graph in the CAVR final report (CAVR 2013).

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Y. Utsumi 140,000

100,000

900 800

Conflict period of early Indonesian occupation (1975-1984)

700 600

80,000

500 400

60,000

Normalization and integration period (1985-1998)

40,000 20,000

300 200 100

0

NUMBER OF SCHOOLS

NUMBER OF STUDENTS

120,000

0

SCHOOL FISCAL YEAR Number of Students in Primary School

Number of Primary Schools

Fig. 8.1 Changes in the number of students and schools in primary education (1976–1993) (Source Author’s calculation from Provincial Government of Timor Timur [1993]. Adapted from Utsumi [2018])

Indonesian army cutting off interior supplies totals more than 100,000 people (CAVR 2013). After 1984, fearing international criticism, Indonesia drastically reduced its military operations in Timor-Leste and introduced various development programs to normalize the country. The period after 1984 is generally called the period of normalization and integration by Indonesia, and the number of deaths due to conflict also sharply declined in this period. According to the statistics immediately after the Indonesian occupation in 1975, there were only 10,500 students in 47 primary schools throughout the country and 315 students in two lower secondary schools, while upper secondary schools did not exist in the Indonesian official statistics (Nicolai 2004). However, in contrast to the Portuguese educational policy, Indonesia adopted an assimilation policy that widely instilled the Indonesian language and Indonesian identity in Timor-Leste through education (CAVR 2013). The Indonesians actively began developing the educational system immediately after the occupation in 1975, expanding the provision of education to the Timorese general population. After the Indonesian occupation, the existing Portuguese curriculum and education system, as well as the use of Portuguese as the language of instruction, were all abolished and forcibly changed to the Indonesian education system.6 From the 1970s to the early 1980s, the Indonesian government aimed to spread primary and lower secondary education by constructing schools on a large scale. This led to an improvement in the educational situation, which had been ravaged by conflict since 1975, and five years later, the number of students increased to 68,709 in 293 primary schools and 2,474 students in 19 lower secondary schools (Fig. 8.1). In particular,

6 Indonesia’s educational system includes preschool education (5–6 years of age), primary education

(7–12 years of age), secondary education (general courses and specialized courses: 3 years), higher education (general higher education and technical college: 3 years), universities (vocational school and junior college: 3 years; regular college: 4 years), and master’s and doctoral programmes.

8 Impact of Armed Conflict on Education in Timor-Leste

161

35,000

25,000

180

Conflict period of early Indonesian occupation (1975-1984)

160 140 120

20,000

100 15,000

80 60

10,000

40

5,000

Normalization and integration period (1985-1998)

0

20

NUMBER OF SCHOOLS

NUMBER OF STUDENTS

30,000

200

0

SCHOOL FISCAL YEAR Number of Students in Lower Secondary School

Number of Lower Secondary Schools

Fig. 8.2 Changes in the number of students and schools in secondary education (1976–1993) (Source Author’s calculation from Provincial Government of Timor Timur [1993]. Adapted from Utsumi [2018])

the number of newly enrolled students into lower secondary school increased significantly from 196 in 1979 to 2,121 the following year (Provincial Government of Timor Timur 1993) (Fig. 8.2). After 1984, when the normalization and integration period began, expansion of education accelerated further. In 1986, the number of primary schools totaled 540 and the number of students enrolled reached approximately 130,000 (Pederson and Arneberg 1999). According to statistics published by the Provincial Government of Timor, Indonesia, 87 new primary schools were built in 1984–1985, and 43 new primary schools were opened in the year after. Although the number of lower secondary schools increased regularly from the early occupation period through the normalization and integration period, the number of students almost doubled from 1985 to 1986 due to the opening of large lower secondary schools (Provincial Government of Timor Timur 1993). In order to understand the long-term impact of these conflicts and the subsequent changes in the educational situation during the normalization period on student completion rates, I calculated the final educational levels for each birth cohort based on data from the Demographic and Health Survey (DHS), and compared the changes in completion rates of primary and lower secondary education with the changes in conflict and educational policy in the relevant time period of each birth cohort. As a result, I could observe patterns that differ between the completion rates of primary and lower secondary education. As shown in Fig. 8.3, the difference between the completion rates of primary and lower secondary education gradually began to widen around the time of the 1969 birth cohort, and after the difference peaked during the conflict period in the early Indonesia occupation (1975–1985 birth cohorts), the difference decreased again from the 1985 birth cohort, following the beginning of normalization and integration. In addition, the increase in completion rates in both primary and lower secondary education started slowing down around the time of the 1975 birth

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Y. Utsumi 1

Official Primary Education Entrance Age: 6 years old (Grade 1)

0.9

Official Lower Secondary Education Entrance Age: 12 years old (Grade 9)

0.8

Increased Portuguese educational investment (1960s to early 1970s)

0.7

1969 birth cohort 1985 birth cohort

Completion Rate

0.6

6 yrs old in 1975 6 yrs old in 1991

Normalization and integration period (1985-1998)

Conflict period of early Indonesian occupation (1975-1984)

Conflict durig TimorLeste independence (1999)

0.5

0.4

Portuguese Colonial Age (1500s to 1960s)

0.3

0.2

0.1

1997

2001

1999

1993

1995

1991

1987

1989

1985

1983

1979

1981

1977

1975

1973

1969

1971

1967

1965

1961

1963

1957

1959

1953

1955

1951

1949

1945

1947

1943

1939

1941

1935

1937

1933

1931

1929

0

Birth Cohort Primary Completion Rate

Lower Secondary Completion Rate

Fig. 8.3 Changes in the completion rate of primary and lower secondary school by birth cohort (1929–1993) (Source Author’s calculation from Demographic and Health Survey [DHS] 2009/2010. Adapted from Utsumi [2018])

cohort with the Indonesian occupation, while the increase rate rose again from the 1985 birth cohort with normalization and integration. Here, the 1969 birth cohort was a group that reached the appropriate age for primary education admission in 1975, just as Indonesia began to occupy TimorLeste. In the 10 years that followed, conflict within Timor-Leste intensified, and the difference in completion rates of primary and lower secondary education also increased for the birth cohorts after 1969. At the same time, considering the difference in completion rate for the birth cohorts is still observed in 1985, when the conflict period of the early Indonesian occupation ended, we may conclude that even if a conflict occurs and ends before the appropriate age for primary education, it can negatively affect the completion rate of lower secondary school later on. As the completion rates for each cohort shown in the graph is as of 2010, a cohort of persons with completed primary education who were born or were of primary education age during the period of conflict had a relatively low likelihood of completing lower secondary education in the subsequent decades of their lives, suggesting that conflict in Timor-Leste had a long-term negative impact on whether or not students completed lower secondary education. The impact of the conflict is also evident from changes in the number of primary school graduates. Figure 8.4 shows that the number of primary school graduates increased after 1979 during the initial conflict period, but with the beginning of the normalization and integration period, the number of primary school graduates started to decline after peaking in 1986. The period of decline in the number of graduates corresponds with the normalization and integration period after the end of the initial conflict period. However, the youngest age group graduating that year (the age of a

8 Impact of Armed Conflict on Education in Timor-Leste

18,000

Conflict period of early Indonesian occupation (1975-1984)

Normalization and integration period (1985-1998)

16,000

60

12,000

50

10,000

40

8,000 4,000

80 70

14,000

6,000

90

30 1974 birth cohort (12 years)

20 10

2,000

0

0

Total primary education graduation rate

Graduates/Children in graduation age

20,000

163

School Fiscal Year Gross Primary Completion Rate Number of Students Completed Primary Education Population of Official Age in Final Grade of Primary School

Fig. 8.4 Trends in the population of children in the appropriate age for the final year of primary education, number of graduates, and total graduation rate (1976–1993) (Source Author’s calculation from Provincial Government of Timor Timur [1993] and World Bank [2004]. Adapted from Utsumi [2018])

student who has advanced through all the school years without repeating) was the 1974 birth cohort, born just before the start of Indonesian occupation. Thus, although there was a consistent increase in the number of graduates from 1978 to 1986, which should include a large number of those born before the Indonesian occupation, the number of graduates since 1986, which should include a large number of generations born during the conflict period, showed a decreasing trend instead. Considering these circumstances, the difference of whether the student’s year of birth was before or after the Indonesian occupation (the time when conflict started) may have changed the trend in the number of graduates in every given school year when that cohort graduated. There were probably many students repeating grades and, thus, a number of students in the cohort born before the Indonesian occupation is likely to be included among graduates after 1986. Nevertheless, the number of graduates since 1986 and the total graduation rate compared to the population of the relevant age were decreasing. The number of graduates in the conflict-period birth cohort becomes even smaller if we include the number of students who repeated school years in the pre-occupation birth cohort. Thus, the number of graduates and graduation rate in Timor-Leste suggest that students may have been negatively affected by conflict in terms of educational effects since their birth.

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Y. Utsumi

8.3.3 Short-Term Impact of Conflict on Education Quality During Timor-Leste’s Independence Timor-Leste decided on independence in a referendum in August 1999, triggering another large-scale conflict. Violence by anti-independence factions, including militias supporting autonomy, against pro-independence factions began months before the vote. However, as it became clear that the pro-independence factions had won the vote, the Indonesian armed forces, which had been dispatched due to the deteriorating security situation, also joined the violence, and the situation in Timor-Leste developed into a large-scale conflict. Responding quickly to this situation, the UN Security Council attempted to improve the situation by deploying the Australian-led INTERFET across Timor-Leste. INTERFET seized control of the entirety of TimorLeste about a month after its arrival, and the security situation gradually began to recover. On the other hand, the Indonesian military, which began to withdraw prior to the arrival of INTERFET, and the militias, which supported autonomy, enacted a scorched-earth operation, destroying buildings and infrastructure throughout the country and harming many local residents. More than 70% of buildings and major infrastructure in Timor-Leste were destroyed by the conflict, 1,271 people were killed and 12,634 people injured according to official figures. Meanwhile, 550,000 people, half of the population of Timor-Leste, were displaced from their homes. Reportedly, 250,000 people, about one-third of the population, were evacuated to West Timor as refugees or were forcibly moved by the militias supporting autonomy (CAVR 2013). This conflict caused significant damage in the education sector. As domestic tensions increased leading up to the independence referendum in 1999, many children were unable to attend school amid a deteriorating security situation, and Indonesian teachers began to leave Timor-Leste (Nicolai 2004). Consequently, the security situation in the schools deteriorated drastically. It became commonplace that students and local residents intimidated and used violence with weapons against teachers in schools (Odling 1999). The deterioration of the educational situation peaked in 1999. Almost all schools in Timor-Leste were damaged by the conflict and the following scorched-earth operation that accompanied independence; 95% of schools in TimorLeste suffered some type of conflict-related material damage and four out of five schools were completely destroyed (World Bank 1999). As a result of significant material damage, school operations were discontinued throughout the country in 1999/2000, and the provision of education in Timor-Leste was suspended. Refugees who fled to West Timor in the wake of the conflict initially predicted a return to Timor-Leste relatively soon. However, refugee camps were controlled by militias supporting autonomy and, as a result, many refugee children were also unable to attend school for a year (Nicolai 2004). These circumstances clearly demonstrate that a substantial negative impact on education, although short term, had already been caused prior to the conflict, while the most serious impact of the conflict was still in the making. Over the course of the two years following the end of the conflict in 1999, until May 2002 when Timor-Leste became officially independent, educational assistance

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Table 8.2 Changes in the number of primary education schools and students (FY 1997/1998–FY 2002/2003) School year

Number of primary schools

Number of primary school teachers

Number of primary school students

Number of students per teacher

1997/1998

766

6,392

155,516

24

1998/1999

788

6,672

167,000

25

1999/2000

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

2000/2001

707

2,991

185,180

62

2001/2002

713

3,901

184,047

47

2002/2003

714

3,926

183,800

47

Note FY 1997/1998 and FY 1998/1999 are described as reference data Source World Bank (2004). Adapted from Utsumi (2018)

was resumed under the administration of the UN Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) led by UN agencies. Although Timor-Leste succeeded in reopening about 90% of the country’s primary schools right after the end of conflict by 2000/2001,7 the withdrawal of Indonesian teachers resulted in a marked shortage of teachers. Although the number of teachers decreased to half or fewer in 2000/2001 when compared with before the conflict, the number of students increased dramatically with the end of the conflict. The dramatic increase in the number of students per teacher from 25 (1998/1999) to 62 (2000/2001) also indicates that the conflict had a dire impact on educational quality (Table 8.2).

8.3.4 Educational Policy and the Situation After Timor-Leste’s Independence Once Timor-Leste formally became independent in August 2002, reconstruction of the country’s educational system had immediately started with international assistance. In 2002, the National Development Plan was formulated, and the five-year period up to 2007 was defined as the development planning period. Education was regarded as a fundamental pillar of poverty reduction and national development. In addition, the National Development Plan aimed to improve the educational situation of the whole population, dividing it into seven main items, including improvement of access to and quality of education, improvement of educational management ability and improvement of non-formal education and adult literacy. Based on the National Development Plan, the National Education Policy 2005–2009 was formulated in 2005 to determine concrete strategic priorities and 7 Two

years after the end of the conflict, 707 schools were opened despite the destruction of many schools thanks to intensive international assistance for educational reconstruction and dedicated efforts by Timorese educators over the course of those two years.

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Y. Utsumi

programs, such as increasing educational access and quality, developing curricula and improving teacher quality. The age of enrollment in primary education was set at six years, and it confirmed that grades 1–9 of primary and lower secondary education was to be provided as compulsory and free education under Basic Education (Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste Ministry of Education 2005). In 2007, the new National Education Policy 2007–2012 was formulated, and today’s educational system was introduced with the vision of promoting ‘Education for All’ to Timorese people by 2020 (Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste Ministry of Education 2007). Furthermore, in the same year, a new educational curriculum for all grades of primary education was enforced, and the child-centered teaching method was introduced. However, there were significant differences between the goals of the educational curricula and the abilities of school teachers at that time, which likely led to the subsequent low net enrollment rate in Timor-Lest (Plan International and UNICEF 2009). Table 8.3 shows trends in the number of primary schools, teachers, and primary school students from the independence of Timor-Leste to 2015. From 2004/2005 to 2011, the number of primary schools, the number of teachers and the number of primary school students continued to increase steadily. Alongside the increase in the number of students, the number of teachers also increased. Since 2008/2009, the number of students per teacher has generally been around 30, as stipulated in Table 8.3 Number of primary schools and primary school students (2002–2015) School year

Number of primary schools

Number of primary school teachers

Number of primary school students

Number of students per teacher

2002/2003 2003/2004

714

3,926

183,800

47

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

2004/2005

848

5,211

147,207

28

2005/2006

841

5,314

164,687

31

2006/2007

925

5,416

191,998

35

2007/2008

986

5,417

206,651

38

2008/2009

1,027

7,358

218,720

30

2010

1,073

7,576

230,562

30

2011

1,118

8,497

242,221

29

2012

1,124

8,076

245,038

30

2013

1,131

7,983

246,531

31

2014

1,133

8,171

245,847

30

2015

N/A

N/A

243,559

N/A

Note The 2002 data was extracted from World Bank (2004) as reference data. 2003/2004 is blank because there is no referable data. From 2010, the start date of the school year was changed from 1 January to 31 December Source Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste Ministry of Education (2011) and Timor-Leste EMIS data

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100 Net Enrolment Rate (NER)

90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0

School Fiscal Year Primary Education (6–11 years) Lower Secondary Education (12–14 years)

Fig. 8.5 Net enrollment rate (NER) for primary, secondary and higher education (2002/2003–2015) (Note For 2002, I referred to the NER estimate based on MICS2002 data in World Bank [2004]. No data at all educational levels for 2003/2004. Higher education is not available from 2002/2003 to 2005/2006. From 2010, the start date of the school year was changed from 1 January to 31 December. Source Author’s calculation from Timor-Leste EMIS data)

the educational policy guidelines. However, as many teachers do not have teaching licenses, including volunteer teachers, teacher quality is regarded as an issue even today, and there is an urgent need to implement measures to improve the quality of teachers, such as defining clear qualifications and maintaining the intake of new qualified teachers. Figure 8.5 shows trends in the net enrollment rate at each educational level from Timorese independence in 2002/2003 to 2015. The net enrollment rate for primary education was 67% in 2004/2005 compared to 97% in 2011, indicating that access to primary education has improved considerably since independence. The net enrollment rate for lower and upper secondary education also showed an increasing trend until 2015 although it is considerably lower than that for primary education. However, the net enrollment rate for primary education after 2012 has shown a declining trend due to a decline in the net intake rate and the accompanying decline in the number of primary school children. The decline in the net enrollment rate for primary education is expected to gradually affect the net enrollment rate for lower and upper secondary education in the future. The reasons behind the decline of net intake rate may not directly come from the past conflict during the referendum, but rather come from development issues such as poverty or political turmoil. However, it is important to consider these issues within the context of Timor-Leste, which continuously experienced large-scale crises such as an armed uprising throughout the country by discharged military in 2006, and the following attacks on President José Ramos-Horta and Prime Minister Xanana Gusmão in 2008, both of which are deeply rooted in the conflict from the referendum in 1999.

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In Timor-Leste, language in education is another important issue closely related to past educational policies. Education for the elite minority during the period of Portuguese rule was conducted in Portuguese, and under the subsequent occupation by Indonesia, education was widely conducted in Bahasa Indonesia. After the independence of Timor-Leste, Portuguese and Tetum became the official languages of Timor-Leste. However, few people in the country can use Portuguese and the majority of Timorese use Tetum or 16 indigenous languages in daily conversation, while teachers were accustomed to use Bahasa Indonesia for teaching in the early years after independence. Under the circumstances, the Ministry of Education raised the status of Portuguese and adopted an educational language policy whereby Portuguese became the primary teaching language in schools, with Tetum as an auxiliary spoken language (Plan International and UNICEF 2009). This educational language policy, inconsistent with the current state of the languages used in Timor-Leste, led to a subsequent sluggish development in literacy rate. The Portuguese literacy rate in 2010 was about twice that of 2004, having gone up to 26% from 14%, but it was still far from a language that can function in society. On the other hand, the literacy rate for Tetum, which is used by the people, was still 58% as of 2010 compared to 46% in 2004, revealing the dysfunction of the educational language policy (Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste Ministry of Education 2014).

8.4 Impact of Students’ Experiences of Conflict on Educational Outcomes in Timor-Leste The previous section outlined the history of conflict in Timor-Leste and the evolution of educational policy, as well as the relationship between conflict-related historical events and education. Tracking the trends in educational conditions for decades of conflict history in Timor-Leste revealed some evidence of long-term impact of conflict affecting the student’s educational completions. How about the impact of conflict experience on educational ability of students? How much does the experience of conflict actually influence the educational outcomes of students? The answer to these questions cannot be found from the macro-level comparative analysis of the general educational data. To find more detailed impact of conflict experience on the educational outcomes in the long run, it is necessary to conduct a further academic quantitative analysis using a microdata of academic ability tests and students’ individual information. For the purpose of finding how conflicts actually affect the school effectiveness mechanisms and student educational outcomes, this section presents the results of a multilevel analysis that take into consideration student and school levels, using the 1999 conflict data in Timor-Leste and data from 2015 EMIS and national academic testing. The analysis addresses the following further three questions and carries out a quantitative analysis by applying traditional school effectiveness research: (1) What

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factors explain the student’s academic ability test results (educational outcomes) in Timor-Leste as a state previously in conflict; (2) How do experiences from the conflict in 1999 affect later-stage student’s educational outcomes; and (3) How are the conflict experiences linked to other explanatory factors that determine the educational effects.

8.4.1 Analytical Framework How conflict factors are situated in the existing school effectiveness framework depends on the type and length of conflict as well as the temporal relationship between educational effects and the conflict. In the case of educational effects during and immediately after a conflict, the magnitude of the direct destruction of the conflict and the physical harm suffered by people are variables that measure the conflict. On the other hand, when considering the impact of conflict on educational outcomes after a substantial period of time has elapsed since the end of the conflict, the presence or absence of conflict experiences themselves can be inserted into the analytical framework as variables, as there will also be generations without experience of the conflict in the relevant grades and educational levels. This section considers the impact of the 1999 conflict on educational outcomes as of 2015, therefore discussing the impact of past conflict experiences on current educational outcomes. With the context of the above relationship between conflict and educational outcomes, in this analysis the traditional framework of school effectiveness research is applied in the analytical framework. In addition to the direct effects of student, family, teacher and school characteristics seen in the traditional school effectiveness research, the analytical framework includes different levels of conflict experiences which affect students’ educational outcome, and the relationship between each conflict experience and school factors affecting the educational outcome. Choosing among these, I constructed an analytical model by focusing on the direct effects of each characteristic and individual-level conflict experience, as well as interactions between teacher/school characteristics and individual conflict experiences, as indicated in bold in Fig. 8.6. Each parameter corresponding to analytical models described later is also shown in the relevant place.

8.4.2 Data For the analysis, I used an individual data from the national academic ability test, taken by students of grade 9 as a secondary school graduation requirement, and EMIS data, which contain information on schools and teachers, as well as basic information and educational status for all students in the country, approved for use by the Ministry of Education in Timor-Leste. The Ministry of Education’s Curriculum Section and EMIS Section conduct the academic ability test and the EMIS data collection separately, and to date, there was hardly any mutual information sharing.

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Conflict impact from the supply Conflict impact from the demand side

Conflict impact from students’ individual experiences -Dummy variable for presence or absence of conflict experiences Output of Students National academic ability test results for secondaryschool students in grade 9

School-level conflict impact from students’ individual experiences -Percentage of students at the school with conflict

Teacher/school characteristics Student Characteristics -Sex -Age -Number of Repetitions

-Teacher quality (rate of regular teachers) -School size -Classroom size -School security -School facilities

1999 TimorLeste conflict Post-conflict disorder (1999–2002)

Student Family Characteristics -Parental education level (replacing SES)

Conflict impact from school experiences -Dummy variable for the presence or absence of school conflict experiences due to proximity to conflictaffected areas Conflict impact from the supply side

Individual Level

School Level

Fig. 8.6 Framework for conflict and school effects in Timor-Leste (Source Adapted from Utsumi [2017])

In the absence of a common code linking the data sets, I manually linked the data sets using several categories of common information, such as student names, parent names and school information. The initial combined data included 22,108 individuals in total, containing student academic ability test results, basic information on students and parents, teacher information averaged at school level and school information. However, out of 22,108 data, 11,185 student data that did not list the place of birth were excluded. As described later, one of the definitions of conflict experience in this analysis is ‘whether the student experienced conflict in 1999 and disorder in the post-conflict reconstruction period until independence in 2002’, based on the criterion ‘the student was born in a district where the conflict occurred up until 2002’. The term ‘up until 2002’ can be calculated from the age of the student. However, to know that the student was born in the district where the conflict occurred, it is necessary to identify where the student was born on the district level. Therefore, as a result of excluding the student data without the place of birth, the dataset became 10,923 student data.

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Furthermore, the student data from schools with fewer than five students were also deleted from the final data set. Multilevel model analysis involving cross-level interaction terms are considered more likely to cause multicollinearity, which renders the model unstable (Doi 2007). Recent simulations have shown that a minimum of 30, 25 or five cases are required in each group when the number of groups (the number of schools in this study) is 30, 60 or 150, respectively, in order to maintain high statistical power (0.90) (Bassiri 1988; Van der Leeden et al. 1994). Although the number of groups of combined data (number of schools) in this study was 253, to maintain the objectivity of the data, the collated data excluded the data which was under the groups (schools) containing fewer than five students. The combined data from the academic ability test and EMIS used in this study finally included the data of 8,369 students enrolled in grade 9 at 201 schools in all 13 districts of Timor-Leste.

8.4.3 Variables 8.4.3.1

Definition of Conflict Experience

In considering the significance of conflict experience in this analysis, it is necessary to define the duration of conflict, the unit of conflict area and the criteria for conflict in the context of Timor-Leste. First, the conflict period; in the analysis refers to not only the conflict that occurred and ended in 1999, but also the period until 2002 when formal independence was achieved via the transitional government. As mentioned in the previous sections, the violence, including murder and kidnapping by militias supporting autonomy, peaked around the time of the referendum on 30 August 1999, and continued until 20 September, when the UN Security Council dispatched the INTERFET. Although the killings by militias decreased dramatically after the arrival of INTERFET, subsequent peacekeeping operations by the UN Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) continued until 20 May 2002, during which there were intermittent exchanges of fire with armed militias. It is easy to imagine the difficulty of maintaining the management and quality of schools in the context of ongoing peacekeeping operations in the country. Thus, in terms of the long-term impact of conflict, it would be more logically appropriate to consider this situation within the ‘conflict period’. In the case of displaced persons forced to move to West Timor, the militias would perpetrate violence and intimidation in the refugee camps on a daily basis to prevent their return to Timor-Leste. UNHCR and IOM began to support their repatriation to Timor-Leste at an early stage but, at the end of 1999, approximately 100,000 refugees, at least one-tenth of the total population in Timor-Leste, remained in refugee camps, and it was not until 2002 that last 31,000 refugees were finally returned (La’o Hamutuk Bulletin 2003). The total period from 1999 to 2002 saw more than 224,000 Timorese forced to relocate, and numerous refugees who are in the refugee camps

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in West Timor lived in circumstances similar to those in conflict. Thus, one can see that the period from the post-conflict in 1999 to the achievement of independence in 2002 was equivalent to that of a conflict. In terms of unit of conflict area, the presence or absence of conflicts was considered on a district basis in this analysis. When considering an individual’s experience of conflict, it is best to define it on the individual level. However, conflicts are often experiences that individuals do not wish to remember, and there are limited examples of social surveys that contain questions about personal conflict experiences due to ethical issues. In particular, since there is a big difference in time between the experience of conflict in the past and the educational outcomes in the present, there are few examples of social surveys that collect personal information related to past conflicts. Therefore, in this section I consider the district, which is the smallest unit for aggregate number of conflicts in the official final report on the 1999 conflict in Timor-Leste by the CAVR, as the unit of conflict area, and determine the criteria for the existence of conflict based on this unit. The criteria for determining the presence or absence of conflict in each district is based on the national average of the number of deaths due to conflict. Therefore, when the number of deaths in the district exceeds the average number of deaths nationwide, the district is regarded as one in which conflict has occurred, and when the number of deaths falls below the average, it is regarded as a district in which no conflict has occurred.8 Similar method was also used by Justino et al. who analyzed the effects of conflict on the graduation rate of schools in Timor-Leste, and defined conflict districts as being at least one standard deviation from the average number of deaths per district (2014). The existence of conflict in each district in Timor-Leste is shown in Table 8.4. Furthermore, from a refuge and displacement point of view, the above criterion, deciding whether a district experienced the conflict or not, highly correlates with the degree to which the district produced the displaced persons due to the conflict as shown in Table 8.5. Based on the World Bank data collected in 2001 in Timor-Leste, though available data is limited, over 76% of displaced persons outside Timor-Leste during the period between 1999 and 2001 were from the four districts (Bobonaro, Cova Lima, Oecussi and Dili) where the conflict has severely occurred and are considered as the presence of conflict in this analysis. Furthermore, three of them (Bobonaro, Cova Lima and Oecussi) in the western region have experienced over 60% of the whole population within the districts displaced outside the country at the initial stage of the conflict. Even if Dili is included in this ratio, it shows more than 42%, which is still much higher than the ratio for the rest of the districts (10.9%). Considering that being from one of these districts increases the likelihood of having experienced displacement during the conflict, and the expanded conflict period for constructing the variable potentially includes the whole experience of the 8 The criteria for determining the presence or absence of conflict in each district may be the number

of deaths in each district regarded as a measure of conflict severity, thereby determining the extent of conflict in each district. However, because the analytical model described later would otherwise become complicated and the interpretation of the estimation results difficult, this chapter uses the simple yes or no criteria of conflict experience.

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Table 8.4 Number of deaths by district due to conflict in Timor-Leste in 1999 No

District

Deaths

Region

Conflict

1

Bobonaro

229

Western

Yes

2

Dili

192

Central

3

Cova Lima

190

Western

4

Liquiçá

183

Central

5

Oecussi

170

Western

National average deaths

97.77

6

Ermera

82

Western

7

Lautem

53

Eastern

8

Baucau

43

Eastern

9

Ainaro

34

Western

10

Manatuto

32

Eastern

11

Aileu

28

Central

12

Manufahi

27

Central

13

Viqueque

8

Eastern

Total

No

1,271

Source CAVR (2013) Table 8.5 Proportion of displaced population by district(s) in Timor-Leste as of 2001 No

District

Conflict

% of displacement in the district(s)

Ratio of displaced population (%)

1

Bobonaro

Yes

62.9

76.1

2

Cova Lima

3

Oecussi

4

Dili

28.5

5

Liquiçá

10.9

6

Ermera

7

Lautem

8

Baucau

9

Ainaro

10

Manatuto

11

Aileu

12

Manufahi

13

Viqueque

23.9

No

Total Source World Bank Living Standard Survey 2001

100

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vast majority of displaced people in West Timor, this analysis connotes the long-term impact of refuge or displacement experience during the conflict on the educational outcome.

8.4.3.2

Binary Variable That Measures the Presence or Absence of Conflict Experiences for Individuals in Grade 9

Individuals who have experienced conflicts often leave the area as refugees or internally displaced persons, often permanently relocating to new areas. In such cases, their children begin to attend schools in their new homes, but the school, their fellow classmates, as well as the area itself, have no direct experience of the conflict. The conflict experience exists only in each individual. When we consider the long-term impact of conflict, it is necessary to infer who among the students would have experienced conflict based on their personal information. Recent studies on educational effects and conflicts often use variables that represent the individual’s experience of conflict, such as the age when the conflict occurred, or the geographic location where the conflict occurred and where the individual resides. For example, Verwimp and Van Bavel (2014) used a dummy variable with 1 for children who were living in a conflict-affected district during a conflict. Justino et al. (2014) used a categorical variable of 0–6 representing years of schooling in primary education during a conflict. In this study, I generated the conflict-experience variable in a similar manner, and created a binary variable (Con f lict dt ) of 1 for students who had been already born in a district affected by conflict during the conflict period in Timor-Leste (1999–2002) as defined in the preceding section.

8.4.3.3

Other Variables

The descriptive statistics of the variables used in the analysis are shown in Table 8.6. The dependent variable in this study is the national academic ability test, which is a graduation requirement of lower secondary education for students in grade 9. The national academic ability test in 2015 covers five subjects: English, Portuguese, geography and history (60 points each), mathematics, and physics and chemistry (50 points each). Since the final test results are shown as the average of all five subjects, this study also used the average score of the five subjects as the dependent variable. Individual and family characteristics include the age and the sex of the student, the number of years repeated in the past eight years, and the educational level of the student’s parents. The parents’ educational level was based on the parent with the higher final education level. With regard to teacher quality on the school level, only the average permanent teacher ratio for each school is used as a variable of teacher quality in the analysis. This is because the permanent teacher ratio at school level has a high correlation with the average teaching period and the average teacher age (0.73 and 0.54, respectively),

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Table 8.6 Descriptive statistics of the explanatory variables

Source Author’s calculation. Adapted from Utsumi (2017)

and the correlation coefficient with the true average teacher’s education level has strong potential correlation at 0.51, excluding the outliers of the two extremes (three schools). Therefore, the higher the ratio of permanent teachers, the higher the average teaching period, average education level, and average teacher age; thus, permanent teacher ratio is considered meaningful as a comprehensive index for teacher quality.9 The analytical model also incorporates the presence or absence of fences surrounding the school as a proxy of school safety, the total number of students of the school as school size, and the average class size as classroom environment. In addition, using nine available categories of information for the other school facilities, principal component analysis was conducted, and the top three principal components whose eigenvalues exceeded 1 were also added in the model as variables for school facilities.10 Each principal component is interpreted as representing information on school buildings, classroom facilities and sanitary facilities.

9 In

addition, in order to avoid the multicollinearity between explanatory variables, the permanent teacher ratio, the average teaching period, the teacher’s education level and the average age of teachers should not be added into the analytical model at the same time. 10 For the first principal component, the principal component load on the presence or absence of libraries, cafeterias, drawing rooms, staff rooms and principal rooms exceeded 40%. For the second principal component, the load on the number of chairs per student and the number of desks per student exceeded 50%. For the third principal component, the number of girls’ toilets and the load of soap were high.

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8.4.4 Identification Strategy To identify the impact of conflict experience on the educational outcome, this study employs a multilevel modeling approach using two levels: student level and school level. The multilevel model can estimate the direct effects of individual conflict experiences on academic ability test results, while taking into account random effects at the school level, which enable us to see if there are any school characteristics changing the magnitude of the direct effects. To estimate the impact of individual conflict experience, relevant variables as well as cross-level interaction terms of each variable were sequentially added into the analytical model. The basic analytical model can be written as follows:   Yi j = β0 + β1 Con f lict dt + ηX i + ε1 j

(8.1)

β0 = γ00 + γ0k Z j + μ0 j

(8.2)

β1 = γ10 + γ1k Z j + μ1 j

(8.3)

where i denotes the individual level; j the school level; and k the number of variables relating to the vector of school level characteristics Z. Yi j denotes student i enrolled in school j; Con f lict dt is a dummy variable indicating 1 if the individual student had been already born in a district affected by conflict by the year 2002; X is the vector of student and family characteristics such as student’s age, sex, parents’ education level; β1 is coefficient of individual conflict experience Con f lict dt which we are focusing on and ε1 j is the error term at the individual level. γ00 denotes the average test score among all individual students (average of the intercept) while μ0 j is each school’s error from the intercept. γ10 is the average slope of β1 while μ1 j is each school’s error from the average slope. Z is the vector of school characteristics added in the intercept and the slope of individual conflict experience. γ and η are coefficients of Z and X respectively. A null model that does not add any explanatory variables determines whether there is a difference in the ability test results for each school. In the null model, the score obtained by adding the individual level error ε1 j and the school level error μ0 j to the total average score of the ability test γ00 is expressed as the ability test result of each grade 9 student Yi j . When there is a large error on the school level μ0 j , it means there is a significant difference in the average ability test score among schools, which can be interpreted as such: the larger the ratio of the error μ0 j to the total error μ0 j + ε1 j (intra-class correlation: ICC), the greater the influence of the school on the ability test. The impact of conflict experiences Con f lict dt on academic ability test results can be confirmed when only individual conflict experiences were added to the null model. The robustness of the impact of conflict experiences can be then checked

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by sequentially adding variables related to individual-level student and family characteristics, and confirming the stability in the impact of conflict experience on the academic ability test. Following this, I made an estimation using a random intercept and slope model by adding a random effect not only to the intercept but also to the slope of the coefficient β1 of the conflict experience Con f lict dt . This model can estimate the existence of any school characteristics that mitigate the (negative) impact of conflict experience on the academic ability test result. By adding the random effects to β1 , the coefficient β1 can be split into the slope average γ10 and the slope error by school μ1 j , to demonstrate the degree of variance in school-dependent slope based on the presence or absence of individual conflict experiences. Large variance of slope β1 means that the magnitude of the influence of the conflict experience Con f lict dt on individual ability test results varies from school to school, making it possible to further explain the effects of an individual’s conflict experiences Con f lict dt by introducing other factors at the school level. Then, I inserted one by one the variables for school characteristics into the random part of slope β1 that is dependent on the presence or absence of individual conflict experiences, observing how much each variable absorbed the variance. In addition, I applied the same variables to the intercept β0 to explore which school-level factors can explain intercept variance (difference in average ability test scores at each school).11

8.4.5 Estimation Results and Discussion Table 8.7 shows the estimation results of each model. The ICC of the null model revealed that only 70% of variance in the students’ academic ability test results could be explained by student factors, while the remaining 30% was attributed to the school factors. In general, most of school effectiveness research studies find the ICC to be about 40% when it is high (Kawaguchi 2009). This means that the differences in average ability test scores at school level are relatively high in Timor-Leste, and we assume that some school-level factors influence the differences in the average test scores. The high ICC suggests that schools have ‘better or worse’ quality in education in terms of academic test results. From the estimation results, the variables for individual characteristics (age, sex, educational level of parents, and number of years repeated in the past) were significant in all models, and they were found to have an impact on individual ability test results. The estimation results of students’ sex suggest that female students tend to have higher academic attainment than male students, which is consistent with the 11 Although

it is possible to set random effects for slopes of X i which do not include conflict experiences Conflict dt , in the analytical model, the task of this chapter is to explore other factors that influence the impact of conflict experiences on ability test results, so I have left out the random effects (cross-level interactions) of non-conflict variables for individuals who fall outside the scope of this study, and have simplified the model as much as possible.

Note *P < 0.1, **P < 0.05, ***P < 0.01. Numbers are coefficient and significance. Variance in the case of random effects Source Author’s calculation. Adapted from Utsumi (2017)

Table 8.7 Estimation results of the analytical model 178 Y. Utsumi

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Timor-Leste’s educational indicators in recent years.12 The estimation of the impact of parental education level, a proxy of family socio-economic level, indicates that a student’s academic ability test results tend to increase with socio-economic level, which is also consistent with conventional findings. The constant statistically significant results with negative coefficience in the individual conflict experience (Con f lict dt ) show that the academic ability of children who have experienced conflict in Timor-Leste is similarly affected negatively over the long term. The result indicates that the long-term impact of conflict experience not only reaches the completion of the lower secondary education, which was shown in the previous sections, but also expands to even the individual educational outcome of those who reached the last grade of lower secondary education. However, the study also found that there is a certain variation in the slope of conflict experience on the school level (the variance of individual conflict experiences on the school level was significant at 0.053 [Model 4]). This implies the existence of potential schoollevel factors to reduce the impact of individual conflict experiences on educational outcomes. As a result of adding each school-level variable in the model from Model 5, it is found that the permanent teacher ratio and the number of school students had an effect to reduce the impact of individual conflict experiences on the academic ability test. The cross-level interaction term for the individual conflict experiences and the permanent teacher ratio is positively significant and the variance of the slope for conflict experiences is greatly reduced. This suggests the situation that the higher the permanent teacher ratio in schools, the less the negative impact of students’ conflict experiences on academic ability test results. Referring to Model 7, where the interaction term is significant at the 99% level, we may estimate that a 0.73 point increase in average academic ability test results for conflict-affected students will occur if the permanent teacher ratio at the school rises from 0 to 100%.13 On the other hand, since the school-level permanent teacher ratio on the intercept is not significant and has no influence on the whole school’s average ability test scores, the permanent teacher ratio has no efficacy for students without conflict experiences (=0). Therefore, as shown in Fig. 8.7, the relationship between the permanent teacher ratio and the academic ability test results stay as a horizontal line from the intercept points because it had no influence on students without conflict experiences. However, the test scores increased for students with conflict experiences as the permanent teacher ratio 12 In the 2013 Timor-Leste Yearbook of Education, the net enrollment rate and the percentage who go on to the grade 10 (first year of senior high school) were higher for girls, and the grade repetition rate and drop-out rate in secondary school were both lower for girls (Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste Ministry of Education 2015). 13 However, since the rate of regular teachers at the school level inserted into the intercept of Model 5 is negatively significant, the average academic ability test score drops as the rate of regular teachers’ increases. Therefore, to be precise, we may interpret the meaning of the cross-level interaction term to be that ‘when the school regular teacher rate rises from 0 to 100%, students conflict experiences will have smaller score decrease by 0.73 points.’ However, since the school-level normal teacher rate is not significant in the subsequent models, and, as will be described later, I confirm that this has the effect of it not being significant in the optimal model selection either, the coefficient of the school-level normal teacher rate inserted into the intercept will not be specifically discussed here.

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Fig. 8.7 Relationship between the permanent teacher ratio (left), the number of students at schools (right) and academic ability test results by individual conflict experience (Note The estimation results of Model 7 are applied in the graph. Source Author’s calculation. Reproduced with permission from Utsumi [2017])

increased (the negative effect of individual conflict experiences decreased), and when the ratio of permanent teachers reached around 71.3%, the difference in average test score between students with conflict experience and those without disappeared (the negative effect due to individual conflict experiences disappeared). Moreover, an even higher ratio of permanent teachers resulted in students with conflict experiences having a higher average score. In Timor-Leste, the importance of support to address the trauma of children who have experienced conflict was advocated right after independence. Various institutions have also initiated training for school teachers working with such children, aiming at the children’s psycho-social recovery and implementation of peace education programs (Nicolai 2004). However, in addition to a significant unevenness in teacher’s quality to understand the training contents, many volunteer teachers, who do not have teaching licenses, had fewer opportunities to receive such training in the first place (Allen et al. 2009). Considering the unequal treatment to the teachers dealing with the children who have conflict experiences, it is possible that the permanent teacher ratio (extent of teacher quality) has a particularly positive impact on school effects for children with conflict experiences. As for the number of school students (school size), the cross-level interaction term for the individual conflict experiences was negatively significant, and the school-level number of students on the intercept was also negatively significant. This indicates that the school-level number of students generally has a negative effect on academic ability test results, while the negative effect is greater for students with conflict experiences than those without (the negative effect of individual conflict experiences increases). From the estimation, every increase in the total number of students will

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Fig. 8.8 Relationship between parental education level and academic ability test results by school fence (Note The estimation results of Model 7 are applied in the graph. Source Author’s calculation. Reproduced with permission from Utsumi [2017])

result in a further 0.0002 point drop (in the case of Model 7) in average test results for students with conflict experiences. It has been often argued that community and teacher support activities for each student will increase in schools with fewer students because of cooperation with the community and deepening of relationships between teachers and students as well as among students (Abalde 2014). In Timor-Leste, in particular, the communities’ efforts to rebuild schools in the immediate aftermath of the conflict have been highly appreciated. Under the circumstances that mutual aid still plays a central role in socio-economic activities in Timor-Leste, smaller schools that have stronger links between teachers and students may be providing an environment in which children with conflict experiences can concentrate on their schoolwork without anxiety. Moreover, we have seen that a fence around the school (school security) influences average academic ability test scores at the school level. When the effect of school fence is applied to the relationship between parental education level and academic ability test, the average test score increases by 0.55 points (in the case of Model 6) for all parental education levels in schools with fences when compared to schools without, as shown in Fig. 8.8. Since many schools were destroyed during the conflict in 1999, school security is a prime concern, and school fencing is one of the requirements for building a school according to the Ministry of Education in Timor-Leste. Although the security at schools in Timor-Leste has improved compared to the immediate aftermath of the conflict, crime14 and political turmoil15 among young people continue due to the high unemployment rate. In particular, in the case of the younger generations, violence among martial arts groups has continued since the end of the conflict, leading to numerous incidents of murder and arson. In the context of post-conflict Timor-Leste, therefore, we may infer that ensuring school security has important implications for educational effects. 14 The unemployment rate among young people (15–24 years) in Timor-Leste is 24% as of 2010 (Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste and UNICEF 2014). 15 In 2008, there were attacks on President José Ramos-Horta and Prime Minister Xanana Gusmão. In addition, arson and other incidents occurred during the national parliament election in 2012.

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8.5 Conclusion This chapter looked back at the history of the occupation of Timor-Leste by foreign countries and the conflicts that accompanied it, outlining the changes in educational policies that underpinned the dominating country’s governance systems in each era. It also examined how the impact of conflict on education manifested in four periods: the 10-year conflict with Indonesia between 1975 and 1984, the normalization and integration period between 1985 and 1999, the conflict that accompanied independence between 1999 and 2002, and the reconstruction and development period after independence in 2002. As a result, it is found that the major conflicts that occurred during the Indonesian occupation period, as well as before and after independence, have had a short-term and long-term impact on education in Timor-Leste. Children who were born during the 10-year period of conflict since the start of Indonesian occupation in 1975 were found to have lower completion rates in secondary education than in primary education in the long run. In addition, the total graduation rate began to decline when children born just before the Indonesian occupation were supposed to complete primary school. It is notable that in the case of Timor-Leste, even for children who were under primary school age during the conflict (not only children who were of primary-school age as previous studies have reported), the conflict may have had a negative impact on their subsequent enrollment and completion of primary and lower secondary education if they were already born at the time of conflict. Following from this, the chapter also statistically measured the long-term impact of individual experience of the conflict on their educational ability in the later stage, using the micro-data of academic ability tests and individual information of students, families and schools, as well as geographical data for conflict that occurred in TimorLeste in 1999. The quantitative and detailed analysis found the certain existence of the long-term negative impact of the conflict on individual educational outcome, and further succeeded in indicating the effective school factors that mitigate this negative impact. The establishment of safe schools and improvements in teacher quality may contribute to the reduction of children’s potential psychological burden, and a reduction of the long-term negative impact of conflict on educational effects. These findings hold great significance not only in terms of contributions to future educational policy in Timor-Leste, but also in terms of presenting a model for postconflict educational reconstruction policy in general. On the other hand, because the process of a conflict’s impact on education is so complex, there are limitations when trying to explore explanations of this relationship solely through quantitative data and analysis. To explain the results of this study in more detail, it is necessary to analyze them using mixed research methods, for example through the process of qualitatively grasping factors, including children’s inner thoughts and each student’s interactions in the classrooms. Additionally, we also need to consider the creation of better variables to express more accurately individual experiences of conflict. Although this study employs the number of deaths per area unit as one of the criteria for judging whether or not

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an individual has experienced conflict, the actual experience on the individual level might be different. The conflict experience decided based on the geographical areas where the individual lives might not be enough to ensure the explanatory value. However, in reality, it is difficult to collect the results of academic ability tests and specific individual conflict experiences in the same sample due to ethical issues and the different purpose of social surveys. Although there have, thus far, been no methods or initiatives to drastically resolve this issue, we expect further progress of ongoing research on the identification of conflict experiences and methods for measuring conflict experiences in micro-level social surveys (Brück et al. 2010, 2013). It is hoped that the accumulation of similar high-precision analyses to address the impact of conflict on education and solutions to mitigate the negative impact will further develop research in this field, and that the findings of these analyses can be reflected in actual educational reconstruction assistance policies in conflict-affected countries. Acknowledgements I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all those who kindly gave me generous support for my research, especially Mr. Antonio Pires, Mr. Paulino Gomes, Mr. Simao do Rosario, and Mr. Antonio Vanio de Jesus from the Ministry of Education, Timor-Leste, and Dr. Kazuo Kuroda, Dr. Yuko Tarumi, Dr. Shunji Matsuoka, Dr. Atsushi Kato, and my wife, Maya Utsumi. This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI (Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists) Grant Number JP19K14122.

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References Abalde, M A (2014). School size policies: a literature review. OECD Education Working Papers, vol 106. Paris. Allen, L, LaParl-Green, C, Miyawaki, M, Monroe, N, Siripanlch, S and Thompson, B (2009). The Peace Education Programmeme (PEP) evaluation (School of International and Public Affairs, Trans.). New York: Columbia University. Barakat, B and Urdal, H (2009). Breaking the waves? Does education mediate the relationship between youth bulges and political violence? (Policy Research Working Papers): The World Bank. Bassiri, D (1988). Large and small sample properties of maximum likelihood estimates for the hierarchical linear model. Michigan: Michigan State University. Department of Counseling, Educational Psychology and Special Education. Blattman, C and Miguel, E (2010). Civil war. Journal of Economic Literature, 48(1), 3–57. Brück, T, Justino, P, Verwimp, P and Avdeenko, A (2010). Identifying conflict and violence in micro-level surveys. IZA Discussion Papers (5067). Brück, T, Justino, P, Verwimp, P, Tedesco, A and Avdeenko, A (2013). Measuring conflict exposure in micro-level surveys. HiCN Working Papers. Butcher, J, Bastian, P, Beck, P, d’Arbon, T, Taouk, Y (2015). Timor-Leste: transforming education through partnership in a small post-conflict state. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers. CAVR (2013). Chega!: the final report of the Timor-Leste commission for reception, truth and reconciliation. In The Timor-Leste Commission for Reception Truth and Reconciliation (ed). Jakarta: KPG in cooperation with STP-CAVR. Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste and UNICEF (2014). Situation analysis of children in TimorLeste. Dili: General Directorate of Statistics [Ministry of Finance] and UNICEF. Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste Ministry of Education (2005). National education policy 2005–2009. Dili: Timor-Leste Ministry of Education. Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste Ministry of Education (2007). National education policy 2007–2012. Dili: Timor-Leste Ministry of Education. Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste Ministry of Education (2011). National education strategic plan (NESP) 2011–2030. Dili: Timor-Leste Ministry of Education. Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste Ministry of Education (2014). Timor-Leste Education for All 2015 National Review. Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste Ministry of Education (2015). Education statistical yearbook 2013. Dili: Timor-Leste Ministry of Education. Doi, J (2007). Linear mixed model for social sciences: an introduction. Research bulletin of Kyoto Koka Women’s University (45), 211–32. Hohe, T (2002). The clash of paradigms: international administration and local political legitimacy in East Timor. Contemporary Southeast Asia, 24(3), 569–89, https://doi.org/10.1355/CS24-3G. Jones, A and Naylor, R (2014). The quantitative impact of armed conflict on education: counting the human and financial costs. Berkshire: CfBT Education Trust. Justino, P, Leone, M and Salardi, P (2014). Short- and long-term impact of violence on education: the case of Timor Leste. The World Bank Economic Review, 28(2), 320–53, https://doi.org/10. 1093/wber/lht007. Kawaguchi, T (2009). Analysis of school effects in japan using a multilevel model: can effective schools overcome social disadvantages? The Journal of Educational Sociology, 84, 165–84, https://doi.org/10.11151/eds.84.165. La’o Hamutuk Bulletin (2003). The la’o hamutuk bulletin, vol 4). Dili (via Darwin, Australia). Millo, Y and Barnett, J (2004). Educational development in East Timor. International Journal of Educational Development, 24(6), 721–37, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijedudev.2004.04.005. Nicolai, S (2004). Learning independence: education in emergency and transition in Timor-Leste since 1999 – Timor-Leste. Paris: UNESCO-IIEP.

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Odling, S (1999). Education in East Timor at the end of the Indonesian occupation. Occasional Paper, vol 4. Darwin: East Timor International Support Center. Pederson, J and Arneberg, M (1999). Social and economic conditions in East Timor. New York: International Conflict Resolution Program, School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University, Fafo, Institute for Applied Social Science. Plan International and UNICEF (2009). Child-rearing practices of parents and caregivers in TimorLeste. New York: UNICEF. Provincial Government of Timor TimurProvincial Government of Timor Timur (1993). Timor Timur Dalam Angka. Dili. Strand, H and Dahl, M (2010). Defining conflict-affected countries. Background paper for the Education for all global monitoring report 2011, The hidden crisis: armed conflict and education. Takahashi, N, Masuoka, K and Monju, M (2000). East Timor 2 – The situation after referendum and whereabouts of justice. Tokyo: Akashi Shoten. UNESCO (2011a). Global Monitoring Report 2011, the hidden crisis: armed conflict and education. Paris: UNESCO UNESCO (2011b). The quantitative impact of conflict on education, Technical Paper No 7. Quebec: UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Utsumi, Y (2017). The effect of school factors on education outcome for students exposed to conflict – a case study of conflict and national student examination in Timor-Leste. Journal of International Development Studies, 26(1), 67–83, https://doi.org/10.32204/jids.26.1_67. Utsumi, Y (2018). The impact of conflict on the education sector in Timor-Leste: an analysis of irregular trends observed in educational data. Bulletin of the Japan Comparative Education Society, 56, 3–22. Van der Leeden, R, Busing, F M T A and Leiden, R t. (1994). First iteration versus final IGLS/RIGLS estimators in two-level models: a Monte Carlo study with ML3. Leiden: Department of Psychology, University of Leiden. Verwimp, P, Justino, P and Brück, T (2009). The analysis of conflict: a micro-level perspective: introduction. Journal of Peace Research, 46(3), 307–14. Verwimp, P and Van Bavel, J (2014). Schooling, violent conflict, and gender in Burundi. The World Bank Economic Review, 28(2), 384–411, https://doi.org/10.1093/wber/lht010. World Bank (1999). East Timor – Bbuilding a nation: a framework for reconstruction and development – joint assessment mission: health and education background paper. Washington, DC: World Bank Group. World Bank (2001). Project appraisal document on a proposed grant in the amount of US$13.9 million to East Timor for a fundamental school quality project (Human Development Sector Unit East Asia and Pacific Region, Trans.). Washington DC: The World Bank Group. World Bank (2004). Timor-Leste – Education since independence from reconstruction to sustainable improvement. In T W Bank (ed). Washington DC: Human Development Sector Unit East Asia and Pacific Region. World Bank, GDP per capita (current US$) World Bank Data. https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/ NYGDPPCAPCD/. Accessed 13 January 2018.

Chapter 9

Conclusion: Linking Education and Migration in the Asian Context Francis Peddie

Abstract The findings in the previous seven chapters show us that the human capital gains potentially available through education and migration are contingent on time and place. What unites wildly divergent cases is the desire of parents and children to improve their lives and future prospects, often using migration as a tool to improve human capital gains. At the same time, the effects of the COVID-19 epidemic put at risk these gains, although the degrees to which human mobility and educational investment are reduced by the circumstances of 2020 are yet to be seen.

As the chapters in this book have shown, the connections between education, migration and human development across a sample of various Asian countries are complex and varied. When we focus on specific case studies, such as left-behind children in rural China or highly skilled return migrants in India, we are dealing with situations that ostensibly have little in common. At the same time, the aspirations of parents and children in both cases have doubtless commonalities: the children have dreams and ambitions that education can help them realize, and the parents want their children to realize those dreams. Migration, forced or voluntary, has the potential to disrupt or limit such dreams, as shown in the two examinations of Japan and most tellingly in the case of Timor-Leste. On the other hand, migration is often portrayed as a contributor to better educational achievement when it combines with increased income and improved access to high-quality schooling, whether in the country of origin or destination. In the context of Asia, a vast space that houses areas of great wealth and poverty and highly developed and less developed education systems, it is no surprise that we would find such a wide array of experiences when we analyze how migration and education affect and feed off each other. Nonetheless, at a very deep level, all the people who feature in the preceding chapters share the same goal of maximizing the human development potential and well-being of themselves and their children. F. Peddie (B) Graduate School of International Development, Nagoya University, Nagoya, Japan e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 F. Peddie and J. Liu (eds.), Education and Migration in an Asian Context, Economics, Law, and Institutions in Asia Pacific, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-33-6288-8_9

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The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that serve as the benchmarks for achievement accepted widely in global society are largely aspirational in nature; as with most global governance efforts, they are non-binding and carry with them neither punishments nor rewards for failure or success. However, regardless of this lack of ‘teeth’, the SDGs do serve to define what the nations of this world hope to achieve to make life better for the people of this planet. The high degree of importance attached to education, and the goals surrounding protecting and respecting migrants and the work they do, indicate that, as a species, we humans understand the importance of preparing children and young people to thrive as adults, whether they remain where they were born or seek their fortune elsewhere. Our international organizations, with the United Nations as the standard bearer, tend to highlight and seek to promote the positive potential associated with both education and migration to achieve better human development. If the role of organizations such as the United Nations is to point us toward the goals we should strive to achieve, one of the basic roles of the social scientist is to explore where we are falling short of these goals. As such, the seven studies that compose this volume focus more on problems and obstacles when we explore the conditions of diverse types of migrants and their relationship with education and training. The degree of the obstacles faced depends on time, space and context that make generalization impossible. At the most extreme ends in this volume are highly skilled Indian return migrants looking for schooling that will be comfortable and suitable for their children, compared to conflict-displaced East Timorese whose very ability to attend school was impossible for extended periods of time. In contrast, the stories of migrants or their children also illustrate that the people at the core of these studies are active agents seeking solutions to the obstacles they face, whether they are Burmese families in Thailand choosing alternative forms of education and training from the mainstream state option or Filipinos in Japan sending their children back to the country of origin to learn, in many senses of the word. The studies show that there is much still left to do to achieve the goals outlined in the SDGs, but also that the people experiencing the problems associated with migration and education work to overcome such issues. That being said, time and circumstances can affect such efforts for better or worse. Between the time the preparation for this book began and the time of writing this conclusion (September 2020) the worldwide situation has altered in ways we would never have predicted. How the COVID-19 pandemic affects migration and education in the medium and long-term can only be a matter of speculation, although a world economic crisis seems all but assured, with the timeframe for recovery highly unpredictable (Gopinath 2020). Likewise, it is difficult to guess how the pandemic will impact domestic education systems and their ability to provide the preparation necessary for the development of children and young people, whether native-born or foreign. Not all the countries in Asia will be affected to the same degree given widely divergent levels of economic power, the spread of the disease and the institutional resiliency of the country in question. However, a general economic downturn and the reality of budget constraints that will follow will almost certainly mean

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cutbacks in educational spending (UNESCO 2020). Moreover, such cutbacks may disproportionately affect migrant children and youth who are already vulnerable: The pandemic has affected the schools of 1.5 billion students worldwide and is likely to exacerbate the vulnerabilities of the millions of migrant and displaced learners around the world. In many cases, these marginalized children have already missed critical time in the classroom and are at risk of falling even further behind…Migrant and displaced children face numerous obstacles accessing classrooms, ranging from enrolment issues to lack of available instruction to language barriers. (You et al. 2020, 36)

The situation in 2020 complicates the prospects for maximizing the human development potential of migrants no matter what category they fall into, but will doubtlessly have greater impact among the more marginalized, such as the Burmese migrants in On Ni Chan’s research. Will the worldwide health crisis and economic downturn permit alternative educational options such as Migrant Learning Centres or more collective community-based approaches to survive and continue to provide the resilient educational and training services needed by migrant children and youth? Will budget constraints even in wealthy countries like Japan mean that special language education programs for migrant children—already in short supply, as Jakeline Lagones and Derrace G McCallum have shown—face reduction, or even elimination? Reports show that migrant workers throughout Asia face layoffs and involuntary return to their countries of origin, as they are the most vulnerable segment of the labor force and easiest to fire due to lack of rights and access to services (Murakami 2020; Shrestha and Mandal 2020). It is safe to assume that wage loss and dislocation among parents will also affect children and their educational prospects. In the long term, the impact of COVID-19 may have deleterious consequences for migrant adults and their children. We can only hope that the impacts are mitigated by humane and reasonable treatment and policies that continue to value the contributions of migrants and help them and their children to unlock their human development potential. No doubt, moving toward a post-COVID-19 world, more inclusive, resilient and collaborative education and training services could lead migrants and their families to a more sustainable human development in the Asian context.

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