The Consequences of Mother International Migration To The Left Behind Girls Under 16 For Their Education, Health & Psycho-Social Development in Chitwan District

Abstract

The primary objective of this study was to examine the consequences of Mother International Migration

(MIM) to the Left Behind Girls under the age of 16 on their Education, Health and Psychosocial

Development in Nepal. A mixed methods approach was used where the survey study and qualitative

interview were used as data collection methods. A five-point Likert scale survey questionnaire and the

Semi-structured Interview were used as research instruments to collect data. The consent form was sent

to immediate parents and the left behind girls for their acceptance to take part in this study. In the first

stage, twenty different schools were selected randomly and later purposive sampling method was used

to select the interviewees. Two hundred and fifty questionnaires were dispatched but two hundred and

thirty-seven survey questionnaires were returned by the returnees which was more than 94.8 % response

rate. Approximately, 45% of the sampled girls were under the age of 12 and 55% of them were between

the age of 12 to 16 in this study. The results show that there was positive relationship between the MIM

and feeling of loneliness, poor health suggestion, poor health condition, negative neighbour’s attitudes,

problem of relationship, and unsupportive house environment (p < 0.05). Again, there is significant

negative association between MIM and social attachment, use of social media and outdoor activities,

better health condition, positive psychosocial feeling, family support and availability of desired food

(p < 0.05). About 80% interviewees realized that their overall development of education, health and

psychosociology have been affected after their MIM. Approximately, 60% interviewees argued that the

development of the education health and psychosocial development were negatively affected by their

MIM. The qualitative results supported the quantitative results to foreground the phenomenon and to get

additional information on something that wasn’t expected on the impact of MIM to the LBGS

Recent increases in MIM to European, Arabic and other countries have invited an upwelling of interest

in how the absence of mothers affect the left-behind girls in Nepal. This study has supported the previous

findings on (MIM) that the LBGs had been negatively affected by the MIM for their education, health &

psychological development. The implication of this study is to aware the policy makers and governmental

administrators about the positive and negative consequences MIM on LBGs for their education, health

and psychosocial development. The main contribution of this study is to add new knowledge on the

consequences of MIM to the LBGs in the archive of foreign employment in the Nepalese context.