Influence of remittance on education and health in receiving households ; A case of Devghat rural municipality, Tanahun

Abstract

The trends of foreign migration for better lifestyle and its influence on health and education growing rapidly in the context of Nepal. Among 34 household of Devghat Rural Municipality ward no 5 shows that most of the people seeking foreign employment (54.3%) are from the age group of 26-35 years and the migration is dominated by male (91.2%). The country with the highest number of foreign employees was Malaysia (29.4%) followed by the United Arab Emirates (11.7%) and Saudi Arabia (11.8%). The availability of healthcare and education was greatly influenced by the flow of the remittances. The proportion of the children going private schools increases from 53.3% to 56.7%, after family started to receive foreign income. However, the number of children attending government school decreased significantly from 40% to 36.7%. Similarly, the approach of private hospital over government hospital for better health care facility grew from 21.2% to 33.3%, suggesting the foreign income improved seeking practice of better health care services. The significant changes in the reliance on private hospitals for improved medical care facility and access to the better-quality education contributed by the remittance-based development. The male employee earned more than 60,000 Nepalese rupees on average, while the female employee made less. However, the female migrants tend to find better or even higher paying positions in skilled area of the job market. Despite the benefits of foreign employment, there is a gender gap in migration, the cultural and career obstacles which prevents the women from participating. The migration policy needs to enhance safer foreign migration and need to provide women to the job areas equally. For the long term sustainable economic stability, the banking company should also promote the productive uses of remittance over basic consumption of needs and luxury. There is a notable difference between productive and nonproductive spending, according to the examination of remittance utilization. A resounding 68.63% of remittances are spent on consumptive activities, despite 31.37% going toward constructive sectors including savings, buying land, and education. In contrast to being carefully invested for long-term economic growth, remittances are increasingly being used to address immediate household necessities.