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International Journal of Innovations & Research Analysis (IJIRA) [ Vol. 6 | No. 2(II) | April - June, 2026 ]

Access to Education among Children of Migrant Labourers in Kerala

Dr. Renu Susan Samuel

Migrant children often face interrupted schooling, transport barriers, language difficulties, and uneven awareness of welfare schemes. This study examines access to education, school continuity, social barriers, and awareness of support programmes among migrant labourers’ children in Ernakulam district. Shifting the analytical lens to a broader sample size of 154 respondents aged 10–18 years at Mar Athanasius High School, Kakkanad and Government Higher Secondary School (GHSS), Iringole at Ernakulam district in Kerala reveals persistent and scaled trends in educational vulnerability. Using a chi-square framework to test the interactions between socio-economic barriers and school continuity, the study demonstrates that structural obstacles such as physical distance, lack of transport, and systemic language barriers severely hamper deep inclusion. Furthermore, awareness of state-sponsored welfare programs remains heavily stratified, with widespread exposure to foundational initiatives but near-total ignorance of specialised schemes. The expanded data underscores that school inclusion depends heavily on targeted transport, multilingual pedagogy, and proactive scheme outreach.

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