ROLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN STUDENT MIGRATION: EVIDENCE FROM SIKKIM

Education, an essential component of student migration is crucial to the process of socio-economic growth and raising educational attainment at the individual and national levels. Migration and education are closely related where education is a catalyst for socio-economic development. The rise in internal migration for education stood at 3.4 million student migrants per intercensal period and a total of 10.3 million over the 1991-2011 Census of India. Approximately, 5.5 million students were identified as internal migrants in the 2011 census alone. The survey report, of All India Survey of Higher Education, 2021-22, recorded a total of 12.02 lakh student migrant enrolment in North East States in 2021-22 as compared to 9.36 lakh in 2014-15. The 2011 Census report shows that Sikkim recorded 12.9 % of students migrating for educational purposes. From 8.2% in 1991 to 12.3 per cent in 2001 and 12.9 per cent in 2011, Sikkim shows a steady rise in student mobility. This paper is based on both primary and secondary research that highlights the flow of international, inter-state, inter-district and intra-district migrants for educational purposes in Sikkim. The present study is based on the data from the censuses, 1991, 2001 and 2021, which is an essential prerequisite in the study of education and migration. The annual reports on AISHE and the data from the administrative office of the institutions of the study area (Nar Bahadur Bhandari Government College, Sikkim Government College, Mangshila and Khangchendzonga State University) have been considered the most important source in this study. In this study, we investigated the correlation between government policies on higher education migration, opening of the number of universities, colleges, enrolment and student migration- both international and internal migration. The paper reflects that the number of student migrants increases when developmental levels in the educational field increase. The student migration flow in Sikkim have shown substantial growth. The inter-district and intra-district flow of students have started to increase in number in Sikkim.