Parental Absence and Children's School Enrolment

Abstract

Abstract This analysis draws upon the 2000–2003 data-set of a longitudinal study in Kanchanaburi province, Thailand in order to examine the extent to which parental absence has effects on children's school enrolment. The findings highlight the negative impacts of parental absence on the school enrolment of children left behind (i.e. who did not follow the migrating parents). The importance of 'who is absent' and 'the length of absence' are addressed. The long-term absence of the mother appears to reduce the educational chances of children left behind, whereas the long-term absence of fathers does not. The results suggest that the mother's roles are not easily replaced by other family members. The study also shows the contrasting roles of remittances as a contribution to the education of the children left behind and as a motivation for migration for children who have already left school. Keywords: Thailandleft-behindparental absenceschool enrolment Notes 1. For instance, in 2000 only 4.6 per cent of ever-married people in the KBDSS reported that they were divorced or separated. It is, therefore, reasonable to assume that the vast majority of parental absence in this analysis was due to migration. 2. For example, items priced, on average, less than 5000 Bahts receive a value of 1, whereas items priced 5000–10,000 Bahts receive a value of 2. 3. The effects of the key independent variables in a model (not shown) that does not include the other control variables are virtually the same as in the presented model. 4. It is possible that the extended household and received remittances could have strong correlations with father's and mother's statuses. Including them in the model could conceal the effects of father's and mother's statuses. Separate models excluding extended household and receiving remittances at different times suggest that the extended household is consequential on mother's status, whereas receiving remittances is not. Therefore, only the extended household is excluded in Model 2.