Migrant workers in the UK may be in low paid jobs butt they are sending £8bn a year to support their families in their home countries. This is often used to help their relations stay in school.
The United Nations’ education agency (Unesco) warns that the hard-working money is being taken in transfer charges by finance companies. People transferring money should only have to pay 3% but the global average is 7%.
Money that is sent back to their home countries can be a lifeline for their families at home as it goes to poor countries where people are less fortunate than us. The UK is in the top 10 countries for workers to send back money to home countries. In India, rural families are receiving the money spent 17% more on education than others who did not get sent any money. In the Philippines this extra income from overseas was a way of reducing child labour and allows children to stay in education.
In Ecuador, South America, money from families overseas is now very important as it is helping to keep girls enrolled in school instead of having to work or stay at home.
In Unesco’s final report they have decided that too much is being taken in fees by finance firms.
Manos Antoninis, director of the Global Education Monitoring report, said “Companies should not be allowed to continue skimming off so much of the money that migrants are sending back home”.
Getting fees down to 3% would save migrant families $25bn per year, this means an extra $1bn will be sent on education every year.
As well as low-paid jobs, migrants are also well-qualified, professional workers that go to wealthy countries to send money home with others for other family members that want an education.
Unesco’s Mr Antoninis says: “These migrants have left everything, often following a dream. They then send their hard-earned money back home to support those they left behind, only to find they are charged extortionate fees for the service.”
