In my village, I don’t have many people that I would consider my peers. There are elderly couples, couples in their late 40s to early 50s, teenagers and young children. Young adults are very rare in my rural area, and when talking to other Peace Corps volunteers, this is not an anomaly.
People in my generation are leaving the villages more and more to find work, or sometimes education, in the larger cities. But, unlike in the U.S., where the age of a first time mother is rising, Thais still get married and start a family comparatively young. New numbers from a study that was supported by UNICEF are showing that a large proportion of these kids are left in the villages with their grandparents, with some concerning results.
Percentage of Children with Migrant Parents
In 2012, the National Statistical Office, supported by UNICEF, conducted a Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS), which measured, among other things, the number of children not living with their parents.
For Thailand as a whole, the results showed that 21 percent of children under the age of 18 were not living with their parents, and for Isaan, the northeastern region where I live, the rate jumps to 30 percent. All told, that is around 3 million children. This is mostly due to internal migration of the children’s parents.
Comparing these rates to neighboring countries – Laos PDR and Vietnam register 5 and 4.4 percent respectively – and the belief among Thais that this is a normal thing begins to be under cut. Nigeria and Costa Rica also had MICS studies done and reported 6.5 and 3.4 percent respectively as well, which indicates that the level of internal migration in Thailand is unusually high.
But what does this mean for the children?
Most of them are left with their grandparents. Today, education is mandated through the equivalent of 9th grade, but for generations past, in rural areas it was uncommon to progress past the mandated 3rd grade.
When I worked in early childhood education in the States, we stressed that the primary caregivers for the students were also their primary educator. However, in Thailand, for these students, their primary caregiver is not equipped to support them and their educational growth.
This, coupled with a culture that places teachers on a highly respected pedestal to the point that teachers are relied upon for the majority of development and learning ability, results in some concerning indicators among these children.
Research into the Effects on Children and the Family
In 2013, Mahidol University’s Institute for Population and Social Research (IPSR) began a longitudinal study of 1,000 children aged 0-3 who have been left behind by their parents in two rural provinces, and the research will be carried out over four years. Some results have already come in and show that 25 percent of these children have developmental delays, especially in language acquisition, compared with 16 percent of children who live with their parents.
Additionally, a researcher noted that these children are often shorter and weigh less than their peers, and suggested that the grandparents were either not able to provide as much nutritious food or pay much attention to their grandchildren’s diets. Add to this that 36 percent of these children’s primary caregivers are at risk of mental health problems and the ongoing care of the kids becomes a concern.
What may be even more concerning, though, is the seeming lack of a sense of responsibility for these children by their parents. In the survey, 40 percent of fathers had not sent money in the previous six months and 30 percent had never contacted the kids or the caregivers.
This forces the elderly caregivers, who in many cases have failing health themselves, to return to finding work outside of the home to be able to provide for their grandchildren. Formula is a costly expense, not to mention educational toys and games, books and school expenses.
All of this is shaping up to be a dark forecast for the next generation of Thai children. The final study results are expected to be completed in early 2016 and will also address the emotional and social costs of internal migration that is being paid by these children.