1st Septermber 2024 Editorials
Topic: Tribal Education in India: Problems, Policies, and Perspective
Relevance: GS Paper: 2 – Governance
Source: PIB
Context
An open house discussion on the topic of “Tribal Education in India: Problems, Policies, and Perspective” was held in New Delhi by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), India.
India’s Tribal Education Status
- Tribes make up 8.6% of the nation’s total population, according to the 2011 census.
- The tribe’s percentage of literate members rose from 8.53% in 1961 to 58.96% in 2011.
Indian tribal education’s difficulties
- Language Disparities: At home, tribal children typically speak their mother tongues, which are frequently not used as the medium of instruction in schools.
- Early Dropouts: One major worry is the high dropout rates among students from tribal communities.
- Poverty: Due to the unstable financial situation in many tribal families, children are often forced to work to supplement the family income, which leaves little time for educational pursuits.
- Teacher Absenteeism: This issue is prevalent in isolated tribal communities and has a negative impact on the standard of education.
- Inadequate School Facilities: A deficiency of basic amenities like classrooms, restrooms, and drinking water is a problem that many tribal schools face.
- Teacher-Student Ratios: Tribal schools frequently lack enough teachers, which results in crammed classrooms and a lack of focus on each student’s needs.
Governmental Initiatives
Eklavya Model Residential School (EMRS): This central sector program was established in 1997–1998 with the goal of offering Scheduled Tribes (ST) students (in grades 6–12) who live in remote areas access to a high-quality education through residential schools.
Way Forward
- Plan for the establishment of Ashram schools: In some areas affected by extremism, all boys’ and girls’ Ashram schools are to be built under the centrally sponsored Plan for the establishment of Ashram schools in tribal sub-plan areas.
- The National Overseas Scholarship Scheme offers financial support to twenty students who have been chosen to pursue postdoctoral and doctoral studies overseas.
- For ST students enrolled in post-matric courses at accredited universities, financial aid is available through the Post-Matric Scholarship Scheme.
- Tribal-centric research is urgently needed in universities in order to better understand and address the unique educational challenges that these communities face;
- Improving enrolment rates requires expanding community involvement and outreach, while making sure that necessities like clean water, sanitary facilities, and adequate hostel accommodations, particularly in remote areas, is essential;
- To improve communication and understanding, capacity-building programs for teachers are required to acclimate them to tribal cultures and languages; at the primary school level, incorporating local languages is crucial to improving comprehension and the overall learning experience for tribal students.
Enhancing tribal representation in universities such as IITs and IIMs is also necessary.
Also Read Topics & Concepts:
Mains Model Questions
Q. What do you understand by scheduled tribes? Analyze the dilemma surrounding the evolution of Indian tribes.
Introduction:
The term “scheduled tribes” was first used in the Government of India Act, 1935, to give legal recognition to a list of tribes designated by the state for special treatment. This practice is still in place today, as shown by the affirmative action clauses found in the Indian Constitution.
Body:
The scheduled tribes are generally characterized by the following traits:
- Older communities that did not practice written religions.
- They lacked a traditional political structure.
- They were neither Hindus nor peasants, and they did not follow the caste system or have clear class distinctions.
A tribe may be categorized as:
- Permanent features includegeography (Middle East, North-East India), language (Austric, Tibeto-Burman, etc.), morphology (Mongloid, Aryan, etc.), and ecological habitat.
- Obtaining traits such as lifestyle and degree of integration into Hindu society.
Dilemma pertaining to their growth in India
- Tribe-Caste Distinction: While absorption into the mainstream is creating new class, caste-based divisions, the tribal community is less stratified. The sense of collective ownership over resources is also eroding.
- Old Culture Against New Ideals: Tribals’ ancient cultural system is disappearing through modernization and Sanskritization, just as languages and dialects do. Their identity is being questioned, which is causing them to resist and oppose. One example of this is the Nagas’ demand for their own state.
- Development versus Rights The country’s economic development frequently results in their exploitation, particularly in forested and mineral belt regions.
- These difficulties have an impact on their means of subsistence and ethnicity, which causes them to be uprooted and faces difficulties in their rehabilitation—for instance, Narmada Bachao Andolan.
- Development of Humans versus Conventional Systems: By offering contemporary education, health facilities occasionally challenge the status quo, which sparks opposition. This, in turn, results from an incompatibility between their traditional systems and newer methods; for instance, a low vaccination rate among tribal people because of superstition.
Way Ahead
- Including them in democratic processes and decision-making processes such as the Tribal and Scheduled Areas Special Powers Act (PESA Act).
- Including them in the process of development; the Forest Rights Act, for instance, manages resources derived from forests.
- Human Development in line with their conventional educational frameworks, such as Eklavya Model Schools.
Protecting their rights and stopping practices such as Land Rehabilitation Act, Mines and Minerals Act etc.