Educational Experience of Female Domestic Workers attending Community Schools

Abstract

The main purpose of this study was to understand the educational experiences of female domestic workers attending community schools in Kathmandu Valley. Considering the need to investigate how a family's economic condition can influence the lives of children and compel them to work as a domestic worker, this study was conducted to understand the schooling experience of female domestic workers mainly comprising of - the perception towards education, challenges faced in meeting the daily learning outcomes in school and the coping mechanism adapted to deal with the challenges. In this context, a qualitative inquiry was used to generate data primarily through in-depth interviews. Data were then analyzed, and interpreted with Sen’s capability approach. The findings revealed that the existence of family poverty with limited income has been the major constraint to fulfill the daily learning objective for the children working as domestic workers. Despite of considering attaining school as the biggest freedom experienced, the capability of these children to derive the functioning of desirable learning outcome is hindered as they are constantly juggling between household chores and studies.