Kerala’s brain drain: How student migration impacts society

Knock knock…

In many of Kerala’s palatial houses in Kottayam and Pathanamthitta, you are unlikely to get an answer, and it is no joking matter. Kerala student migrations to the West have become a hot and uncomfortable topic for discussion, much like the weather in the State, which saw a record hot January.

LISTEN: Student migrations have huge implications for society, from financial and brain drain and old age care to negative population growth and the deskilling of Indian students going abroad.

In late January, at an event in which Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan was present, Syro Malabar Archbishop Bishop Mar Joseph Perumthottam of the Changanacherry Archdiocese voiced concerns about youngsters leaving the church for better prospects abroad. He called for “those in power” to take action to stem this migration.

The issue came up in Finance Minister K.N. Balagopal’s 2023 Budget speech, too, in which he highlighted the State’s efforts to create more job opportunities to make the youth stay back. In addition, deliberating on cases of bad roads and other urban issues in February 2023, the Kerala High Court said that bad infrastructure was prompting students to look for better opportunities abroad.

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Kerala Migration Survey

The Kerala Migration Survey (KMS), sponsored by the State and jointly conducted by the Gulati Institute of Finance and Taxation and The International Institute of Migration and Development, is slated to submit its report to the government by April. This report promises to shed light on various aspects of migration within Kerala.

“KMS 2023 is going to open up a Pandora’s box that could affect policy prescriptions and changes over the next decade,” said Irudaya Rajan, who has been coheading the KMS for almost 25 years. The KMS, initiated in 1998, has collected data on migrants, returnees, and remittances. Rajan pointed out that the upcoming KMS had, for the first time, conducted special studies on student migration, migrant health, and family members left behind.

Student migrations have huge implications for society, he explained, from financial and brain drain and old age care to negative population growth and the deskilling of Indian students going abroad. Significantly, the sample survey that usually covers 20,000 households across the State apparently had to cover an extra 5,000 this time around because of, among other issues, the number of locked houses; there are an estimated 1.3 million vacant houses in the State. “This shows how shocking the trend is in Kerala,” said Rajan.

Highlights

The Kerala Migration Survey, which will submit its report by April, is expected to open up a Pandora’s box that could affect policy prescriptions and changes over the next decade.
It indicates a doubling of student migration, both internal and international, with serious consequences on the youth population and society and economy.
The trend of student migration is causing issues such as locked-up houses and the elderly living alone. The study also indicates that Indian students going abroad are being deskilled.

Initial trends

The 2018 KMS pegged international Kerala student migration numbers at between 1.5 and 2 lakh. “In the just-completed 2023 survey, the initial trends indicate there is a doubling of student migration, both internal [within the country] and international. This has serious consequences on the youth population, and impact on society and economy,” said Rajan.

An education fair in Kochi in 2012. The 2018 KMS pegged international Kerala student migration numbers at between 1.5 and 2 lakh. | Photo Credit: MUSTAFAH KK

“Economically, the population of Kerala has almost stabilised; that is, the population will reach a maximum of 38 to 40 million, and then it will start declining. This means you will have negative population growth rate in the next 15 years. There are districts in Kerala, such as Pathanamthitta and Kottayam, where there is a large decline in the number of children, and the youth, in their 20s, are leaving as students. So, there are issues of locked-up houses and women living alone. According to the latest round of KMS, for one grandchild, there are three grandparents. And this grandchild also won’t be around because he will soon leave for higher studies. We are going to get into a serious societal issue,” said Rajan.

Deskilling, he said, was one of the issues with the current wave of student migrations. “Studies clearly indicate that Indian students going abroad to study are being deskilled. And perhaps, they continue to work as a low-skill working force. Our skilled migrants from Kerala are going to work to fill unskilled positions. We seriously need to look at how to stop our skilled force being deskilled. Our Prime Minister says that India should emerge as a skill capital, but they are being deskilled in their destinations,” he said.

The ones left behind

Akhil Hariharan was aiming to leave for Germany for further studies and to settle there after completing his BTech in 2021. Then, he decided to join two friends in setting up a robotics start-up. “I realised that India is a growing economy, with plenty of opportunity. I think developed countries have peaked; the next boom is going to happen in India. Our firm was inaugurated by [Kerala] Industries Minister P. Rajeev. We now employ 35 people, do product development, and have an edtech extension. Youngsters just need to realise the potential present here,” said Akhil.

He feels “go abroad” consultancies give an exaggerated picture of opportunities to students, and his friends in college have not landed the jobs they were hoping for, sometimes even working in lower-paid jobs at hotels. “Many people felt that I was taking a risk by not going abroad, but if I had gone abroad, I too, might have been doing these jobs. We did have struggles in the initial period, but I feel proud that I am able to contribute in this way to my country,” he said.

The declining youth population is most focussed among the Syrian Christian community of central Kerala. “The Syrian Christian Church was the leader in controlling fertility in the 1960s, with their numbers starting to decline in Pathanamthitta and Kottayam; like the Parsis, it is perhaps a dying community,” said Irudaya Rajan, offering a historical perspective. “Now, the community has to discuss how to manage their declining population, which is happening partly due to low fertility and partly due to internal and international migration.”

Changanassery-based Leelamma Kunjumon’s four children are settled abroad, in the UAE, the US, and Ireland, with their families. The 74-year-old widow says that a few years back the congregation used to spill out of the church into the grounds during Sunday mass. “Now, when my children visit, they are surprised by how empty the Church is. Also, most of the parish comprises senior citizens. There are pastoral letters read out at Sunday sermon, in which the Church says we should hold back our children, but it is not as if the Church will provide jobs. My husband and I never stopped them from pursuing a better life abroad. We are happy that they are settled there. For now, I am not thinking of moving abroad,” she said.

For the Church, the primary concerns are the social implications of Kerala becoming an old-age hub, which affects the family, the community rhythm, and the balance in social life, said Joji Chirayil, the PRO of the Syro Malabar Church’s Changanacherry Archdiocese. “How it affects the community is only secondary. Religious institutes are taking it up as an issue affecting our society.”

‘Kerala model’ of elderly care

In mid-January, a four-day migration conclave was organised by the AKG Centre for Research and Studies, Thiruvananthapuram, in collaboration with the V.S. Chandrasekharan Pillai Centre for Research and Studies, Pathanamthitta, to discuss, among other issues, migration, and its effects. “Earlier the talk was about the Kerala model of development, now the discussions are about the Kerala model of elderly care. We have to look at imaginative ways to give quality of life to aged parents who are staying behind,” Rajan said. With 20 lakh migrants as of 2018, Kerala’s remittance economy is resilient, he said. “The World Bank has published that remittances to India are close to $120 billion, so we estimate that remittances to the State too, will increase by at least 10-15 per cent, from the current Rs.1,10,000 crore.” However, he said there was a lot of money going out of Kerala, and what is going outward could be more than the amount coming in.

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Apparently, to study abroad each student spends between Rs.20 lakh and Rs.30 lakh, for which people are selling their houses or taking loans. “And then to settle abroad, ancestral houses are being sold in Kerala to buy houses in the West. The housing market in the UK could be determined by the housing market in Kerala,” he said, laughing. While in response to Bishop Perumthottam’s statement, Pinarayi had said that it was part of a global trend that students were going abroad, in mid-February, the Chief Minister announced plans to bring back students through a special scheme to be implemented through the Higher Education Council.

Rajan said the student emigration trend in Kerala was aspirational, but return migration must be encouraged. “I don’t think it is a bad thing that students go abroad to get a good education. But we have to do what China is doing; they are bringing back students who go abroad for studies,” he said. “Going abroad has an aspirational value and no policy can stop that. What the Centre, the State, and the Higher Education Council need to do is to consider how to bring them back and that will be more successful. Otherwise, we invest money to educate them, and it benefits the West.”

Anna Mathews is a Kochi-based journalist.