Sanjose A Thomas

Migration to foreign countries is an extremely common phenomenon in modern Kerala society. The Middle East and the European and North American countries are like their own homelands for Keralites today. The Malayalis, who migrated to other countries, have played an important role in the development of the state. The economic changes that happened in the Middle East after crude oil was discovered there had distinctly reflected in Kerala, too.
The Malayali migrants can be divided into two categories. One, Malayalis who migrate to Gulf countries in search of jobs. This group would return to Kerala after a certain period of time
Two, Malayalis migrating permanently to North America, Europe and other developed countries for a better standards of living and education. These people prefer to migrate to European countries, the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
The number of students who migrated to foreign countries from Kerala in the last few years may amaze everyone. In 2017, the number of Indian students abroad was 55 lakh. It is expected to cross 75 lakh in 2025 and out of these Indian students almost 65% will be from Kerala.
Migrating for education is one of the easiest ways to obtain a Permanent Residency (PR) or citizenship in developed countries. According to Ministry of External Affairs, the number of Malayali students who went abroad in 2019 was 30,948. But as per unofficial data, the number of students who migrate to developed countries in a year from Kerala alone is more than 35,000. There are many factors that drive Kerala youth to migrate, regardless of the quality of the universities and courses they study abroad.
The list includes personal freedom, a better standard of living, social security and respect for work. Poor salary for educated people as per their educational qualification and the persistent issues in the educational sector is also forcing the youth to leave the country. Some educationists opine that replacing the traditional courses taught in Indian colleges with new generation courses will help check this problem to some extent. They pointed out that the frustration and anger towards the prevailing system in the country and state are also causing the youth to leave India. An average youth in a middle-class family in the state dream of migrating from Kerala. A recent study among 491 students in Kerala by Sulaiman KM and Bhagat R B (published as ‘Youth and Migration Aspiration in Kerala’, 2022) found that “two out of three youths aspire to migrate abroad in future for a job and related activities”. The study concluded that “in the case of Kerala, in the coming 10 to 20 years, migration will continue as a potential life choice for achieving life goals for youth in Kerala.”
Leaders in politics and religion in Kerala are waking up to this new migration pattern of students from the state. Some people suggested improving the academic standards of colleges/universities in the state which is not the case. In fact, Kerala has some of the best colleges in India as per rankings by agencies such as UGC-NIRF, India Today, etc. The educational ecosystem in terms of pedagogy, regularity of classes and examinations, learning outcomes, etc. in the state are far better than in most states in India. As the state has wages comparable to Gulf countries for manual labour, currently there is a steady ‘migration’ of domestic migrants from other states (west Bengal, Assam, Bihar, and Odisha) into Kerala. Their number is estimated to be 3 million plus today.
The number of vacant houses is also increasing in Kerala. According to the 2011 census report, there are 12 lakh vacant houses in Kerala. This is 11% of the vacant houses in India and 60 per cent of these belong to non-resident Keralites settled in European countries. And these are 11-year-old figures. We can very well assume how this number has increased over the last decade and how it is going have a deep demographic impact on the existing population in Kerala. Many homes are becoming ‘ghost homes’ and many towns in Kerala in the near future may become ‘ghost towns’ which is clearly evident from the story of Kumbanad a sleepy village in Pathanamthitta district which was once a frontrunner in gulf migration way back in 1970’s and 1980’s. Many of these houses are either sold at half of the original prices or they are preserved for the long awaited and anticipated visit of the third or fourth generation who may or may not turn up to see the place from where everything had begun.