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Fighting Childhood Poverty to Keep Kids in School

How Childhood Poverty Keeps Children Out of School?

When you were a child, did you wake up to an empty stomach and never-ending chores instead of school? If the answer is no, congratulations on being among the fortunate people who enjoyed a normal childhood and had the opportunity for education.

But not everyone is as fortunate. Roughly 52 million children in India deal with childhood poverty, which forces them to work or stay at home rather than pursue school.

However, we can change the reality and support children dealing with childhood poverty in going to school and finishing their education. To do that, we must understand childhood poverty's impact on education and other aspects of life.

How Childhood Poverty Disrupts Access to Education?

Can you read this: “It’s a beautiful day full of hope and opportunities.” Easy, right? You are effortlessly reading and understanding this blog. Because, come on, this is the basic reading that everyone is familiar with, right? Unfortunately, no!

According to the World Bank, over 56% of children in India struggle to read even age-appropriate texts. This situation is known as learning poverty, and it reveals India's harsh reality: poverty-stricken children lack the resources to develop fundamental learning abilities, let alone an education. Childhood poverty is the key, if not the single, contributing factor. Let's look at how it keeps children from receiving even the most basic learning.

Unaffordable Schooling

Poor families can’t afford the schooling for their kids. Now, you may wonder about the government schools, which offer free education, and they can enroll their kids in these schools.

But families struggling to meet the bare minimum can’t afford the related, unavoidable expenses like uniforms, shoes, textbooks, other learning essentials, transport, etc. These costs add up, keeping kids suffering childhood poverty out of school.

Early Dropouts Due to Household Pressure

Let’s assume that somehow, struggling parents enrol their kids in school and pay for the essentials. However, when economic hardships hit their lowest, education becomes secondary or optional to survival.

As a result, they withdraw their kids from school to save money. And many kids suffering childhood poverty have to undertake domestic, income-generating work to contribute or stay at home to take care of their siblings.

Hunger and Poor Health Affecting Attendance

But kids in childhood poverty don’t get enough to eat, let alone nutritious meals. They suffer from hunger and chronic malnutrition, which affects their energy levels and focus. Besides, their poor living conditions pose hygiene challenges.

All these can badly affect their physical and mental health, further impacting their school attendance and academic performance. This forces the kids facing childhood poverty to drop out of school and protect their health.

Distance and Safety Concerns

In rural areas, generally, schools are quite far from home, which makes daily commuting costly. This forces the kids to walk to school, often raising safety concerns, especially for girls. Thus, they are refrained from attending school and kept at home.

Social Barriers and Discrimination

Kids facing extreme childhood poverty, coupled with belonging to a marginalized group, face bias, neglect, and exclusion in school. This discourages them, affects their learning, and forces them to drop out.

All these challenges, alone or together, make school a distant dream for kids facing childhood poverty. No wonder millions are affected by learning poverty and have a dim future.

Long-Term Impact of Childhood Poverty on Growth and Opportunity

Childhood poverty means poor nutrition and health problems. All these shapes the kids' lives adversely. Poor nutrition and lack of health can cause kids to have brain problems, stunted growth, diseases, and more. This affects their education and confidence.

Without proper education and skills, they end up with low-paying, domestic, and unstable jobs. Their economic status remains the same, making it harder to break the cycle of poverty for generations to come.

Not just this, childhood poverty coupled with no education brings insecurity, shame, and constant stress, which leads to mental health problems like anxiety, depression, and low self-worth.

Social connections, risk-taking abilities, and access to opportunities also take a hit. This makes it nearly impossible for kids to move up in life later, build a career, become successful, and lead a decent life free of economic hardships.