Context
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) of India recently organized an open house discussion on the critical topic of “Tribal Education in India: Problems, Policies and Perspective”. They organized this event for tribal organizations, scholars, and policy-makers to discuss the problems that affect these communities in getting quality education and explore ways to enhance learning achievement of the students in these communities.
Challenges in Tribal Education
- Language Barriers: Language is one of the most difficult obstacles in the process of learning in the tribes and other such communities. There are also many tribal groups and their own language and dialect is different from the language which is taught in schools and other educational systems. It is attributed to the fact that most tribal students find it hard to relate and conform to the educational system due to linguistic differences, hence leading to high drop out rates.
- Geographical Isolation: Tribal people often reside in hilly, forest and other difficult terrains where communication and transportation facilities are not easily available to set up the schools and colleges. A major disadvantage for tribal students is that they do not have access to schools which can dissuade their further education especially at higher classes.
- Socio-Economic Factors: Tribal families are constrained from socio-economic vantage points including poor socio-economic status, areas of lower income and poor access to needs of life. These may hamper education since the families are likely to focus on basic needs as opposed to education.
- Cultural Differences: Tribal communities mean primitive societies which have their own set of values and norms which they follow and these are sometimes incompatible with the formal education standards. This cultural difference may finally result in the tribal students’ marginalization and non involvement into the educational process.
Current Policies and Initiatives
- The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act: The right of every child to free, and compulsory education act, 2009 entitle all children within the age of 6 to 14 years and especially the children from tribal areas. The Act also has a provision that 25 per cent seats in each class be provided to children belonging to the socially and economically disadvantaged sections and weaker sections of the society.
- Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA): SSA is a highly touted programme of the Government of India for achieving education for all. The program lays emphasis on the provision of education especially in hard to reach and marginalized regions through construction of schools and infrastructure.
- Eklavya Model Residential Schools (EMRS): EMRS are good residential schools that have been established by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs to impart education to the Tribal Students from Class VI to XII. These schools provide all-round education through which vocational training is also provided to the tribal children so that they can face the future challenges effectively.
- Tribal Sub-Plan (TSP): TSP is the approach that the Government of India undertook to spur socio- economic growth of the tribal population. In this plan, a percentage of the total plan expenditure provision is made for the target group out of which the tribals including education gets its share.
Perspectives and Recommendations
- Bilingual Education: The solution for accessing the medium of instruction is the use of the bilingual method where the local tribal languages are used in conjunction with the recognized medium of instruction. It can also be useful in a way of preserving, maintaining and developing the native languages and an overall traditional heritage of the tribes.
- Culturally Relevant Curriculum: This makes it useful to come up with a curriculum that is culturally appropriate and sensitive in addressing the concerns of the tribal communities so it can enhance their learning activities. This can mean enshrinement of traditional knowledge skills and practices into the format of the educational system.
- Community Involvement: Working in cooperation with the tribes or at least consulting them is a good way of guaranteeing that the parameters of the state’s educational policies and programs address the needs and desires of those deprieved of educational opportunities. This can also assist in developing trust and hence ownership amongst the people within the community.
- Teacher Training and Support: It is recommended that there should be training and support to such teachers especially those from the tribal areas in order to enable them appreciate the difficulties that tribal students face. These are the issues which can be related to the so called ‘sensitisation’ training: language and cultural sensitivity in particular, as well as knowledge of effective teaching strategies suitable for children that may or may not have learning disabilities.
Source: PIB