EFFECTIVNESS OF VARIOUS
 INTERVENTIONS FOR IMPROVING
 TRIBAL EDUCATION- A RESEARCH
 STUDY
 

National Council of Educational Research and Training

New Delhi

ABSTRACT

The present study aims at reviewing the status of various interventions planned for improving education of Scheduled Tribe children in District Primary Education Programme (DPEP) States, viz., Assam, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa and Tamil Nadu. In this study an attempt has been made to study various aspects of these interventions, viz., nature and administration, organization, target beneficiaries, cost monitoring procedures and effectiveness. The results of the study may be useful for planning education in these States.

The study has been financed by the World Bank.

Introduction

In the Indian Education System. education has limited connotation. It is largely concerned with the existing formal structure of education and the institutionalized methodology of imparting knowledge to individuals. Within this very system exist many sub-groups of individuals with specific needs and tribals are one of them. In fact tribals form a large group of individuals in the Indian society. For several historical, economic and social reasons the scheduled groups have remained economically backward and socially retarded even to this day. This is true with respect to their educational levels also. India has the second largest tribal

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population in the world. According to 1991 census the total population of scheduled tribes in India is 67.7 million. In all, there are about 613 tribes living across the country.

A large proportion of tribal population, i.e., 62.7 million is living in rural areas while only 5 million live in urban areas. This ST population is 8 per cent of the total population of India and about 10 per cent of all rural people. Twentytwo of the twenty-six States of the country have about 90 per cent of the ST population. To plan education for this population is not an easy task. Therefore many studies have been conducted to look into various aspects of existing schooling facilities and welfare facilities available to them with a view to make microplans which take care of their requirements and needs.

A tribe may be seen as a sub-group of the society. The members of a tribe live in a common territory and have a common dialect which is the prime means of communication. Each tribe has a uniform social organization and possesses cultural homogeneity. The tribal population is characterized by a heterogeneous cultural pattern with variegated economic conditions and activities depending largely on ecology. There are also wide variations in psychological, cultural, social, economic and political background of various tribal groups. In a country like India there is a large number of tribes which because of historical and sociological reasons have strayed away from the mainstream. About 8.08 per cent of this vast country is the tribal (scheduled) population which approximates about 6.77 crore.

Unfortunately the literacy rate of this tribal population is very low. The national literacy rate, of scheduled tribes, according to 1991 census, is 29.60 per cent, which is much lower than the national literacy rate, i.e., 52.19 per cent. In tribal population the female literacy rate is 18.19 per cent while the male literacy rate is 40.65 per cent. While literacy is only a means to education and not an end in itself, education tends to lead to economic benefits which are the result of the increased ability of the individual to utilize the information acquired through the process of learning. Therefore any educational planning for such a vast group of individuals should aim at educating all its members in the school going age group. Education is in fact, an input not only for economic development of tribes but also for inner strength of the tribal communities. It also helps them in meeting the new challenges of life.

Education of tribals is an important task before the Government of India. Article 46 of the Constitution talks about promotion of educational and economic interests of SCs, STs and other weaker sections. To quote "The State shall promote with special care the educational and economic interests of the weaker sections of the people and in particular of the SCs and STs and shall protect them from social injustice and all forms of exploitations."

Planning for education of children coming from tribal communities is not a

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simple task. Though the entire educational programme for tribal children is looked after by the education department yet a comprehensive picture is hardly available, There are many activities related with education of tribal children which are managed by other departments. For example almost in all the States, primary institutions catering to the needs of children from tribal communities are looked after by the education department while Ashram schools are the responsibilities of Tribal Welfare Departments and pre-primary education of voluntary agencies or Social Welfare Departments. Besides planning for ancillary services like scholarships, stipends, hostel, free book aid, midday meal, etc., are done at the State level. Therefore a clear picture of all the inputs in the form of interventions for education of tribal children may not be available for a given geographical area. Yet to plan for education of tribal children it is necessary to study the linkages between different schemes. It is sad to note that the scheme, once approved, is left to operate independently and no study is conducted to assess the effectiveness of such scheme. This sometimes results in duplication and wastage in terms of efforts and inputs.

While planning for education in tribal areas, attention has been paid to provide extra facilities in the form of various inputs for education of tribal children with a view to reducing existing disparities in educational access thus influencing retention and achievement of tribal children. The high drop out rate in general and that of tribal children in particular has to be tackled through attractive schemes beneficial for them. There are indirect evidences available of their positive impact on education of ST children. In case of States where Ashram schools are, functional the drop out rate has been reported as nil or very low. A separate study of the achievement of the children staying in Ashram schools could be taken up specially in the context of time spent in the school and compare it with the achievement of tribal children studying in other schools.

There is one interesting trend to note which relates to opening of educational institutions in various areas. Since there is pressure on higher enrolment in 6-14 age group and also on higher institutions like higher secondary schools, the number of such institutions is much higher as compared to the number of middle schools. Therefore the relatively advance areas with higher number of primary schools have reduced outlays for this sector while backward areas have more outlays for primary education.

Hostel facilities provided for tribal children away from their families is usually perceived as an additional stipend and not as something supporting education of children.

Another important provision in the form of merit-scholarships, stipends and other attendance scholarships, also suffers from the lacuna of planning. In case of most of the States, attendance scholarships are available to all boys and girls coming from tribal communities. This provision has been there for quite

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sometime. Some communities have taken full advantage of these facilities and come up to a considerable extent while others remain at the same. level. Most of the States have generalized these benefits which have resulted in higher commitment on the part of the State. The second alternative could be evolving ways to develop methodology to give a major share of these benefits to the backwards of this tribal population. Even if these benefits at various levels of education are analyzed, as expected, the trend is more in favour of primary level education.

Some States have also developed instructional materials in tribal dialects for children coming from these tribal communities. The Constitution itself provides that every child be given facility of instructions through their mother tongue. But most of the States are still in the process of doing so. The problem of development of instructional materials in tribal dialects becomes more grave in cases where there are more than one major tribe. Instructional materials which reflect their culture and tradition is the need of the time.

Another special educational input for tribal education is residential schools widely known as Ashram schools in India. Since such institutions are very special efforts in the direction of tribal education, it is generally believed that there are significant, attempts in the direction of higher enrolment of tribal children belonging to school going age group. A number of studies have also been conducted to study the profile of such schools. Have these institutions, which are supposed to be nodal institutions, really had positive impact on enrolment, retention and achievement of such children is to be studied in order to ascertain their specific contribution towards tribal education.

The status of education of tribal children in DPEP status is alarming. As has already been stated the tribals in India form a very large group, still they have been cut off from the mainstream for a long time. As it is, India's literacy rate is very low. Further the literacy rate of scheduled tribes in India is much lower than the literacy rate of the general population. Tribals in India have their own language but most of them do not have any script. Since-there cannot be a common language for them, it is necessary to teach them through their own language atleast at the initial stage. Later on the medium of instruction could be the State language.

Various tribal groups in India have different cultures. Therefore even while talking about education for tribals, no one can think of "an educational system" which is common to all the tribes. Various tribes within one State differ so much from each other in terms of ethnographic features that it is impossible to develop a learning system" for them. Therefore there is a need to have tribe specific learning arrangements which make full use of tribal culture and tribal traditions.

Some of the major constraints of planning for tribal education are scattered population, small size habitation, lack of facilities of transport and communication content, curriculum and textbooks not relevant to their culture and environment, medium of instruction, non- availability of teachers knowing tribal languages and

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being aware of their economic deprivation. However, there are some favourable factors in tribal situation Which could be utilised, e.g., an egalitarian social structure, strong community organization in certain areas, availability of traditional local institutions like youth dormitories and an intimate knowledge of their environment.

After the attainment of Independence many changes have been noticed in various aspects of tribal culture, economic, social, political, religious and ethical life. If these changes are not channelized in a more scientific and systematic way, it is likely that the members of the coming generation will find it difficult to adjust in the new environment.

The scenario vis-a-vis enrolment and drop out is very crucial. Various States have planned different interventions to increase the enrolment of tribal children in the States. The enrolment ratio regarding tribal students in the age group 6-11 is given in Table 1.1.

The drop out rate of tribal children is also quite high in these States. Various studies have showed that the main reasons for high drop out rate of such children are work at home, helping parents, non availability of textbooks, ill health, poverty and inability to afford education and lack of interest in education.

Review of Related Literature

This is relatively a new area of research from the view point of educationists. In the first and second survey of Research in Education brought out by M.B. Buch there is no separate mention of the education of disadvantaged groups of children or tribal children though some studies, general in nature, conducted at the primary level have been mentioned under the chapter Sociology of Education. In the Third Survey of Research in Education (1978-1983) also there is no independent section dealing with education of tribal children though some such studies have been mentioned under the chapter dealing with Sociology of Education. A couple of studies conducted in. the area of education of tribal children at the primary/ elementary level are as follows:

The study by Tripathi C.B. (1981) shows that the rate of increase in the enrolment in respect of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes was higher than the general rate during 1960-61 and 1965-66 but during the next five-year period it was far below the general rate Residential facilities for tribal children were high in Bilaspur, Balaghat and Rajnandgaon while they were not so in case of Jabalpur, Satna and Rewa. The position of Bhils among Scheduled Tribes was worse than Oraons and Scheduled Castes like Gonds.

The two studies conducted on Ashram Schools by Desai, B. and Patel, A. (1981) and Pratap, D.R., Raju, C.C. and Rao, M.V.M. (1971) do not project a good profile of Ashram Schools. Pratap, D.R. and Raju, C.C. (1973) found the

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working and physical conditions of Ashram Schools unsatisfactory. Some of the teachers working in these schools did not stay there and visited schools occasionally. The study pointed out that the schools' were treated as source of income rather than avenues of service. Desai, B. and Patel, A. (1981) found that in most of the Ashram Schools the number of children enrolled was much higher than the prescribed number (120 students each) and except in two schools, the 1: 1 ratio among boys and girls was not maintained. Only 18 out of 22 Ashram Schools had 100 per cent teacher strength and in some cases the educational qualifications of teachers was class VII. The overall wastage rate reported in these Ashram Schools was 44.42 per cent. Masavi, M. (1976) in his study found the wastage rate to be 65 per cent at the primary level, however, only 9.1 per cent of the total enrolled children of class I could complete class IV. The stagnation rate at class I was very high which came down considerably for classes II, III and IV. The overall wastage in Ashram Schools was 46.7 per cent. The main causes for wastage and stagnation were found to be socioeconomic conditions, ignorance among tribal parents, ill equipped teachers, teaching in alien languages, physical illness inappropriate curricula.

The study by Joshi, S.D. (1980) besides other things, found that the majority of teachers did not have a specialized training for working in backward areas.

Srivastava, R. C. (1981) in his study found that unproductive and traditional type of educational system for the tribals was the cause of indifferent attitude of tribal parents towards their children's education. Besides, lack of necessary facilities and equipments for teaching was the cause of lack of motivation for education among the tribals.

In an evaluative study conducted on hostels and Ashrams for Tribal Girl students, Jha, P. (1985) found that like most of other beneficiary schemes meant for tribals, mostly the rich amongst the tribal community availed of the facilities of hostels and Ashrams. The number of students admitted to the hostels was much higher than the number expected and the superintendents of these hostels were neither trained nor qualified. The hostel rooms were overcrowded and did not have basic facilities. The scholarship given to girls were sometimes misappropriated by their parents making their girls living very difficult. The amount of this scholarship was also found to be inadequate. In a contemporary study conducted by Sharma, R.C. (1984) it was found that introduction of -different incentives like free uniforms, textbooks and boarding and lodging facilities resulted in higher enrolment of SC and ST students including girls. This increase in case of SC and ST children ranged from 49.2 per cent to 92.7 per cent.

There is one more important aspect of these facilities which has been mentioned in the report of the study "Scheduled Castes and Tribes-A SocioEconomic Survey" by Parvathamma, C; (1984). She says that nearly one half of the sample are not aware of the Constitutional provisions meant for the

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development of the downtrodden. At the same time even those with such knowledge have not availed them as expected. The reasons for not availing these benefits are very many. To quote "According to the people in the study, officials in the administration are apathetic and are not sincere in implementing the provisions. The SCs and STs are critical of their so-called leaders who according to them are selfish. They are of the opinion that the educated urban based SC and ST elites have used the new opportunity for themselves in narrow circle and thus made the entire provisions a family issue ... only certain families coming from particular subcastes are taking away the lion's share leaving the rest of the deserving SCs and STs where they are."

A study conducted by Ekka, E. M. (1990) on Development of Tribal Education in Orissa after Independence showed that percentage of bigger habitations in the tribal inhabited areas is very negligible. This leads us to conclude in any State with high tribal population, that educational interventions should be planned at the level of various habitations big or small. Another study conducted by Biswal, G. C. (1991) in Orissa found that as compared to boys, fewer girls in the area got enrolled in the schools. As far as quality of teachers working in these schools is concerned, most of the teachers were found to be non-tribal and less qualified. Very surprisingly the study found that the drop out rate at the higher level is higher than that at the lower level.

Two studies, one by Bhargava, S.M. (1989) and another by Kamble, P.R. (1992) were carried out to conduct survey of educational facilities for weaker sections in Orissa and Maharashtra respectively. The study by Bhargava (1989) found that educational facilities for Scheduled Tribe habitations are poorer in comparison to other habitations in the district and the facilities of textbooks, free uniforms, stipends and midday meals were available to children coming from tribal communities. Kamble (1992) found that in the opinion of Headmasters 74 per cent students take the advantage of facilities available for tribal children, viz., free textbooks, uniforms, writing materials and nutritious meal and 84 per cent of such students are regular in their attendance. One very significant finding of the study was that the Headmasters opined that the government facilities are useful to arrest wastage in education but they are not useful to increase the "percentage of pass" students. The drop out rate (for Devgad taluka) was much lower than the national drop out rate.