Transnational migration, gender and educational development of children in Tajikistan

Abstract

In Tajikistan, a Central Asian country with high rates of emigration, there is little systematic empirical research on the education of children in transnational households. In this study, I use national representative data from 2011 to examine the number of years lag in education of boys (N=1110) and girls (N=1140) aged 7 to 17 who live in different transnational care arrangements compared with those living in non-migrant households. I demonstrate that being in a transnational household reduces the risk of an educational lag, although there are gender differences when measuring this relationship. In particular, girls are less likely to have an educational lag if the mother or both parents migrate, if the duration of parental absence is shorter rather than longer, and if migrants send remittances home. The legal status of parents abroad and maternal migration are advantageous for boys’ education. These findings highlight the importance of looking at complex transnational forms of living and at gender when assessing the educational outcomes of children in migrant sending contexts.