ADVERSE IMPLICATIONS OF TEENAGE MARRIAGE ON EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION IN THE ESTATE SECTOR OF SRI LANKA

Abstract

The work of caring involves intimacy, personal commitments, emotional attachments and moral obligations than all other forms of work. As a result, the work of caring takes on peculiar forms when it negotiates with certain sociocultural deliberations, which go beyond economic measures. The current study, which resonates with Nancy Folbre’s concept of the “Care Penalty,” contends that teenage marriage results in a care penalty that deprives girls of their fundamental rights while also creating an early learning deficiency among children in their early lives. Not all parents can support their children because of sociocultural and economic barriers; as a result, not all children are getting the opportunity to learn the same way up to the required standards compared to their peers, despite the widespread belief that parental support and facilitation are essential for learning during the early childhood years. Drawing data from a constructivist grounded theory study coupled with an embedded-single case design adopted in the selected estate communities of Sri Lanka, the study strived to understand how teenage marriage increases learning deficits in young children and how parents are hindered from assisting their children in their early childhood. The participants of this study included twelve mothers with children aged three to eight, six midwives, five teachers in early childhood development centres, three Plantation Management officers and two Hindu priests. All participants were recruited purposively. Data collected through in depth interviews, focus group discussions, and direct observations were analysed thematically. Early childhood education is in jeopardy in the estate communities examined as a result of decreased parental support due to issues stemming from the conflict between the care burden and meeting the needs of the adolescent habitus. Teenage marriage prevented child mothers from having age-appropriate experiences and exposed them to age inappropriate ones. This led to a loss of capabilities, which resulted in economic disempowerment. Lack of expertise in early childhood care and education prevents parents from providing proper care and education for their children. Furthermore, young children of these families tend to babysit, which negatively impacts caregiving and care-receiving toddlers. When children’s surroundings do not encourage them to participate consistently in learning activities, they are more likely to fall short of meeting needed learning standards. Overall, the study suggests that teenage marriage, as an integrated cultural phenomenon of the estate communities studied for this study, discourages early childhood education because of the care penalty peculiarly developed within estate culture.