A recent research from the digital money transfer service World Remit revealed that hundreds of thousands of Pakistani ch
ildren in schools have
access to books and educational supplies due to international remittances.
Pakistan is one of the top 10 remittance recipients worldwide and received $21 billi
on in remittances in 2018.
These findings were calculated using data from the United Nations Educational Scientific Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), the World Bank and Pakistan’s latest national
household survey. Approximately 220 million ch
ildren in low
and middle-income countries are not in school around the world. Of these, 19 million live in Pakistan, one of the highest numbers of out-of-school of ch
ildren in the world.
According to results, 450,000 ch
ildren in Pakistan are in school as a result of receiving international remittances, school age ch
ildren in Pakistan are 40 percent less likely to attend school if their
household receives remittances, remittance-receiving
households spend more on education equivalent to a child’s set of school-books for the year, ch
ildren in remittance-receiving
households spend less time working on non-school activities, freeing up more time for school studies
World Remit also calculates that globally, if traditional, cash-based money transfers were replaced by lower-cost digital alternatives, an additional $825 million would be unlocked for families to spend on ch
ildren’s education. Savings from “going digital” could pay for the equivalent of 20 million school uniforms, 30 million school books and 16 million sets of school supplies for ch
ildren in low
and middle-income countries.
World Remit Pakistan Country Director Hamza Islam in a statement said, “As millions of ch
ildren in Pakistan go back to school this term, our research is a timely reminder that the contributions of the Diaspora are vital to the education of 450,000 ch
ildren across the country. Switching to digital remittances would help maximise that even further. With global remittances predicted to rise in 2019, this means even more ch
ildren are set to benefit.” World Remit is one of the leading digital money transfer companies for the Pakistani Diaspora. Customer surveys reveal that education is one of the top priorities for Pakistanis living abroad, with many saying they support the schooling of ch
ildren back home.
World Remit customers complete 1.3 million transfers every month from over 50 countries to over 145 destinations.
The research was compiled by World Remit Research Director Dr Gregory Thwaites, using a combination of UNESCO education statistics, World Bank remittance statistics, Pakistan’s Household Integrated Income & Consumption Survey and World Remit indicators.
According to UNESCO, there were over 50 million ch
ildren of school age in Pakistan in 2017.
The World Bank estimates that the total value of international remittances was $689 billion 2018. The average cost of digital remittances across the industry is 27 percent cheaper than offline remittances, according to World Bank data. If all remittances were digital, this would save $14 billion, which would raise expenditure on education by $825 million based on 5.7 percent of
household resources typically going to educati
on in the four countries surveyed for this study.
Published in Daily Times, January 10th 2019.
