Distress Migration & Education inclusion among marginalised communities in India

Dr Caroline Dyer

School of Education, Faculty of Social Sciences

Knowledge Exchange Fellowship

This partnership joins up academic and practitioner knowledge of challenges and innovative practices around social inclusion and the education of children who are being ‘left behind’. It is concerned with highly deprived and socially disadvantaged children in families that undertake distress migration in India. These children have a fragile engagement with the schooling system and are over-represented among those who drop out or fail to transition to higher grades. They live in regions that are under escalating threats of drought. Good quality, accessible and inclusive education is crucial to promote resilience and social justice for seasonally migrating communities.

The partnership draws on World Vision India’s work on distress migration in India with Dyer’s expertise on education inclusion for mobile communities. It brings academic and practitioner expertise together to co-develop rigorous, critical documentation of findings, develop World Vision India’s research capabilities, and institutionalise effective approaches to systematising practitioner knowledge. The exchange will contribute to closing gaps in the global evidence base of effective, sustainable approaches for the children of concern, building a stronger resource for both World Vision India and national stakeholders working towards SDG 4 (lifelong learning) and 10 (reducing inequalities). It will also identify impact and research agendas for future collaboration.