Rural-urban migration and the Jamaican child

Abstract

This study used the Census of Jamaica conducted in 1982 and interviews with children in five primary-level schools in the city of Kingston to determine the sociological, psychological, and anthropological factors that influence the educational adaptation of children moving from rural zones to urban environments in Jamaica. It is concluded that children who migrate into Kingston usually do so between the ages of five and ten. Migration, in Jamaica, has been traditional since the 1930s. It also has some psychological trauma associated with it. The lifestyle that motivates migration is often replicated in the city with its density of migrants from the countryside. Educators have the power and responsibility to help migrant children adjust to the urban environment