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*State's tribal hamlets in the grip of multiple deprivations * Maleeha Raghaviah http://www.hindu.com/2007/04/23/stories/2007042301400300.htm * StateTrends Celebrations are on to mark the golden jubilee of the State's formation, and much is being spoken about the achievements of the last 50 years. However, little seems to have changed for the tribal population in the State, who continue to lead a life of poverty. The chance of Kerala's tribal people surviving in the modern world is becoming bleaker owing to acute educational deprivation. * KOZHIKODE: For tribal people, life is a burdensome journey through a maze of poverty, ill health and many a deprivation, the most acute of them being that of education. With their habitats and way of life under constant threat and being left with little by way of livelihood options, the tribal people are fighting for survival. In this grim scenario, education is increasingly becoming a luxury for many of them. Whatever has been provided as educational facilities leave much to be desired. The educational deprivation is manifesting in many painful ways. Thus, a boy in standard 4 from the Mullu Kuruma tribal family in Naikatti of Wayanad cannot read and write even now. His father, a labourer who has completed standard 9, tries to help him. The illiterate mother was summoned to the parent-teacher association meeting and told of her son's inadequacy, but there is very little that she can do about it. Similarly, in an Urali Kurumar family of Pilakavu colony, one of the four children studying in standard 9 dropped out for want of money. Another in standard 5 could not continue his studies, as he had absented himself from school to accompany his mother to Kodagu in Karnataka, where she had gone for the delivery of her fourth child. According to the 2001 Census, there are 3.64 lakh Scheduled Tribe (ST) people in Kerala, which is 1.14 per cent of the population. The tribal people are backward considering the State averages on several counts. The relative backwardness is most evident in education. In a State where the literacy rate is 91 per cent, only 64 per cent of the ST community members can read and write. While, in the State as a whole, 85.55 per cent of the students who enrol in school complete class 10, for ST children, the rate is only 46.24. Dropout rate of students from ST communities is 4.3 as against 1.11 for those from other communities. Only 24 per cent of the tribal population complete high school, 2.46 per cent pass pre-degree examinations and only one per cent are graduates. When it comes to higher education, the situation is worse. For instance, of the 460 seats reserved in engineering colleges for tribal students, only 100 get filled every year. These and related issues have been the focus of serious academic enquiry by different agencies in the State. The Centre for Socio Economic and Environmental Studies (CSES), Kochi, and the Centre of Excellence, Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode, are among the institutes engaged in studying the imbalances in the educational status of the tribal society vis-à-vis the mainstream population and the reasons for the same. The Wayanad-based non-governmental organisation Jvala has been engaged in similar studies on the tribal population in the district. Vicious circle K.K. George, P.K. Michael Tharakan, and N. Ajith Kumar, economists and social scientists, who were members of a CSES team that had conducted a study in Palakkad, Wayanad and Idukki districts, which have significant tribal populations, had found that educational deprivation of tribal students should be studied against the backdrop of other deprivations, the most important of these being abject poverty. Neither the District Primary Education Programme nor the Sarva Siksha Abhiyan has been successful in making a dent on this core problem. When parents are forced to move from place to place in search of livelihood, the children find it difficult to continue their studies. There are other factors as well. Teachers view posting in tribal areas as a punishment, the students have serious difficulty in studying languages outside their dialects, schools of tribal people are invariably uneconomic and teachers are insensitive to the needs of tribal students. "Majority of teachers are indifferent and there is no supplementary educational initiatives for tribals," says Baby Paul, director of Jvala. Textbooks do not have tribal or local content and students are unable to relate themselves to the learning process. There are very few teachers with a tribal background where a majority of tribal students go. Dr. Ajith Kumar, Director, CSES, says: "The instruments of intervention that we have are inefficient. Moreover, the home environment is not conducive to the educational uplift of the child. Hence, there is the urgent need to address the issue of unfavourable home environment." The CSES, he said, has suggested setting up of "Padhithaveedu," a learning centre-cum-library to create a favourable learning environment in the tribal habitats. According to D.D. Nampoothiri, programme coordinator, Centre of Excellence, "What is needed is a multi-pronged approach involving the departments concerned and local authorities. Quality important Quality at the primary level is important since there is no system of pre-primary education for tribal students. The performance of the Paniya, Adiya and Kattunayakans has been poor with no one among them reaching Plus Two," he says. "Tribal communities in Kerala cannot be seen as a single entity as there are social and other differences among different groups," says Vinod Krishnan, research officer, Centre of Excellence. "For instance, the Kurichiars are a land-owning community, while the Kattunayakans live on the fringes of forests. Hence there is the need for strategies that are relevant to each community," he adds. Government initiatives While under the decentralised system of governance, primary schools are funded through panchayats, the role of local bodies is confined to developing infrastructure. It is not that the Government has been totally unresponsive. Under decentralised planning, students are provided books, bags, uniforms and umbrella. Mid-day meal is also being provided at school. Model residential schools and ashram schools have been set up for tribal students, and the entire cost of education is being borne by the Government. Yet another response of the authorities has been the setting up of facilities for alternative schooling. However, since a majority of tribal students study in Government schools, the focus of attention with regard to education of this section of society ought to be on Government schools and, in the final analysis, educational deprivation of tribal people must be seen against the backdrop of issues of livelihood and health ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Ours is a battle not for wealth or for power. It is a battle for freedom. It is a battle for the reclamation of human personality." - Dr BR Ambedkar ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ greenyouth mailinglist is the activist support mailinglist for kerala run by Global Alternate Information Applications (GAIA) To post to this group, send email to [email protected] -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
