Speaker: Leena Bhattacharya, PhD Economics, Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research

Host: Nisha Vernekar, Lead and Senior Resident Fellow, Inclusive Education, Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy

This podcast series is produced by the Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, under the Kotak-Karma Vidhi Inclusive Education programme. The Kotak-Karma Vidhi Inclusive Education programme is a CSR initiative by Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd.

This interview series is based and born from Vidhi’s report, “Clearing the Air: A Synthesised Mapping of Out of School Children during COVID-19 in India (April 2020-May 2022)”. This report is produced under funding received from Voltas Limited, as part of their CSR Initiative.

Video design and editing by: Asad Ali (Instagram)

Illustration by: Hitesh Sonar

References/ Reading List

Status of migrant children’s education in India during COVID-19 

1. https://scroll.in/article/1041923/how-education-remains-out-of-reach-for-indias-invisible-migrant-children 
2. https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/migrant-workers-families-struggle/article65765604.ece 
3. Chandrasekhar, S., and Leena Bhattacharya. “Education of Children from Migrant Rural Households in India: Moving Towards a Coherent Policy Framework.” Background Paper Prepared for the 2019 Global Education Monitoring Report (2018). Available here – https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000266057 
4. Bhattacharya, Leena. “Short-term migration and children’s school attendance: Evidence from rural India.” The Indian Journal of Labour Economics 62 (2019): 659-691. Available here – https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s41027-019-00198-1 
5. Bhattacharya, Leena, and Shobhit Kulshreshtha. “The uneven access to technology among children: Evidence from India.” Background Paper (2022). Available here – https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4199494 

Seasonal Hostels & COVID-19

1. https://aif.org/understanding-the-community-life-at-a-seasonal-hostel/
2. https://www.gapcritique.in/the-impact-of-closure-of-seasonal-hostels-on-the-children-of-migrant-labourers-in-odisha/ 
3. https://www.indiatoday.in/education-today/news/story/closure-of-seasonal-hostels-migrant-children-work-as-daily-wage-laborers-1832875-2021-07-26 

Research Team: 

Aditya Narayan Rai, Avinash Reddy Pichhili, Kadambari Agarwal, Pooja Pandey, Nisha Vernekar (Inclusive Education Team, Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy)

Karan Singhal (University of Luxembourg & Luxembourg Institute of Socioeconomic Research)