Education of Tribal Children in Jharkhand 3115

Introduction

‘‘The millennium development goals cannot be met without getting tribal children, especially girls,
educated.’’

Education is one of the primary agents of transformation towards development. It is an activity, or a series of
activities, or a process which may either improve the immediate living conditions or increase the potential for
future living. It may play an important role in bringing tangible benefits by developing the skills of the people. It
may expand livelihood opportunities and increase earning potential and thus help in tackling the problem of
poverty at large. The major role that education has been able to play is with regard to knowledge inculcation and
skill-improvement of the persons. Amartya Sen's argument for faster development of India has been to repeatedly
stress the criticality of Primary Education, if it purports to serve and is to be assessed regularly by the people
themselves is by educating the people. In India, many state governments recognize the fact that education and
development have close linkages and Kerala is its best example. Jharkhand State, which is primarily considered as
a tribal state, is not exception in realizing this fact. However, universal primary education to tribals is one of the
major challenges which the Jharkhand State is facing. It is an important issue considering the fact that tribals were
denied equal opportunity in the past by the government and the policy-makers. It is crucial and important for the
development of the tribal communities, the state, and the nation. Tribal children in Jharkhand are trapped in an
intergenerational vicious cycle of poverty, illiteracy and deprivation due to their primitive (shy) nature and thus
isolated form the mainstream of life and other strata of the society. Despite realizing the fact that no meaningful
development of the under-privileged tribal people can take place without enhancing the literacy and promotion of
their educational standards, the promotion of universal primary education and growth of literacy among tribals has
drawn limited attention of the state and central government. Although, various schemes and programmes have
been started by the state government and the Ministry of Tribal Affairs to promote universal primary education
among tribals such as scheme for establishment of Ashram schools in tribal sub-plan areas, scheme for
establishment of boys hostels for the Scheduled Tribes, scheme for construction of girls hostels for the Scheduled
Tribes, and scheme for development of Primitive Tribal Groups (PTG), but in reality very few of them have
percolated down to the tribals and benefited them. Many of the programmes did not benefit the tribal community
because the programmes were not contextualized and localized considering regional, geographical and physical
differences and barriers. Another reason for not reaching the benefits of the programs to the tribals was/is lack of
political will, corruption, and lesser attention on development in tribal areas.
 Education of Tribal Children in Jharkhand 3115
2. Review of the literature

Anant kumar(2018) in his paper” education of tribal children” attempts to examine and understand the low literacy level
and education among tribal children in Jharkhand. The paper discusses the role of government, institutions, programmes
and linkages between education and development. Various programmes and schemes have been initiated but very few of
themhave reached the tribal children and benefited them. Many of the programmes did not benefit the tribal community
because the programmes were not contextualized and localized considering regional, geographical and physical differences
and barriers. Other reasons for not reaching the benefits of the programs to the tribals are lack of political will, corruption,
and lesser attention on development in tribal areas. The paper highlights the need for special focus on tribal education,
which is inclusive of context specific traditional and innovative interventions.

ImotemsuA(2018) in his book”Tribal Education in india” talks about that the Education is the most powerful tool for the
upliftment of poor tribals in India. To what extent tribals are educated and what government policies (Central & State) has
done so far is the main essence of this book which has been divided into nine chapters. On the one hand a few privileged
people are reaping all the benefits and on the other the vast bulk of tribals is wallowing in poverty and privation. The child
learnt at home and at 'dormitories' and this training related to various activities of tribal life. But with the advent of
Christian missionaries modern schools came up in tribal areas. Programs and schemes should be framed in such a way that
it should create a sense of trust in the tribes that they are not deprived of from their right and freedom to live in their land
with their culture and belief for ever

Deshmuk(2004) in his book “tribal education” highlights the socio-cultural profile of Kokana tribe ofMaharashtra and
emphasizes the need to create educational reforms in thecommunity. This book will certainly be useful to students of
education, socialanthropology, sociology, social work, NGOs and general readers as well.

Nayak Jayanta(2017) in his research conducted a study and in this field study from Narayana and Bandhugaon
blocks of Koraput district in Odisha, ascertains the current status of participation of children from different social
groups in education andexplores the specific factors caused by Naxalite conflicts, based on interviews with and
observations of children, parents, educational administrators and government functionaries

Gupta Sonia(2016) conducted a study to probe into the attitude of the tribal population of Ranchi towards
Education and to find out the obstacles which negate the process of learning, which is the prime enabler for socio-
economic, socio-cultural development and overall uplift. Result of the study indicates there is a strong correlation
between the living standard of tribes and the positive attitude towards education, i.e. number of literate persons is
more in case of families with sound economic background than those with relatively weaker background. The
development & social security programs being run by Government, NGOs and other Agencies have wide spread
 Education of Tribal Children in Jharkhand 3115
coverage and bring out the desired result to a great extent. Following the Deming PDCA Model applied to this
change process, after planning and implementing the changes, it is very important to check or review the actions
taken and improving upon them, the last two steps of the model

(Sudhakar, C. 1999), studied the enrolment and dropout trends in schools, family members’ interest in their
children’s education, weavers’ views regarding education, and their perception towards child earnings and work-
orientation. It was found that school dropouts were highest among STs followed by SCs and then OBCs. The
percentage of boys who dropped out was higher than girls among backward castes. 50% parents felt that there is
need for a Village Education Committee (VEC) to supervise the working of the school and its management

(Goyal, 1972) Goyal also reports in his studies through survey the educational facilities available for the under-
privileged communities.

(Chitnis 1990)told that instead of providing equal opportunities to all, the present system of education is creating
new inequalities. They states that the available data and studies carried show that only a small proportion of
scheduled castes students have been able to reap the major benefits of higher education and modern occupations.

Uplaonkar (1982) states that in case of the low class families the occupational aspirations of the scheduled caste
students are lower as compared to those of the nonscheduled caste students

STATEMENT OF RESEARCH PROBLEM

Indigenous communities of India are commonly referred to as tribal or adivasi communities and are
recognised as Scheduled Tribes under the Constitution of India. Although the Constitution does not define
Scheduled Tribes as such, it designates these communities as those which are scheduled in accordance with
Article 342 of the Constitution. According to Article 342 of the Constitution, the Scheduled Tribes are the
tribes or tribal communities or part of or groups within these tribes and tribal communities which have been
declared as such by the President through a public notification. The criteria followed for specification of a
community, as scheduled tribe are indications of primitive traits, distinctive culture, geographical isolation,
 Education of Tribal Children in Jharkhand 3115
shyness of contact with the community at large, and backwardness. At present, 533 tribes in India have been
notified under Article 342 of the Constitution with the largest number of 62 tribes belonging to the State of
Orissa.

As per the 1991 Census, the Scheduled Tribes (ST) account for 67.76 million representing 8.08 percent of the
country’s population. Of this, 1.32 million (1.95%) belong to Primitive Tribal Groups (PTG) who are more
marginalised than the ST population. The ST population is estimated to have reached 88.8 million in 2001
which is 8.6% of the country’s total population in 2001. The Scheduled Tribes are spread across the country
and reside mainly in forest and hilly regions. The proportion of Scheduled Tribes within general population
varies across States/Union Territories and indicates heavy concentration in certain parts such as Mizoram
(94.7%), Lakshwadeep (93.2%), Meghalaya (85.5%), Dadra and Nagar Haveli (78.9%). States of Kerala
(1.1%), Tamil Nadu (1%) and Uttar Pradesh (0.2%) have a low percentage of Scheduled Tribe population in
comparison to the general population. Since Independence, the percentage of ST population has steadily
increased following the growth in general population.
Tribal communities in India have been historically deprived of access to resources and opportunities,
including the opportunity to get educated.

For such historically deprived communities, providing access to education is simply not enough, the
government has to take a proactive role in creating overall conditions and opportunities that will facilitate
their transition and breaking of the intergenerational cycle of poverty and illiteracy. A sensitive cadre of
teachers and bureaucracy is definitely required to make the difference. At another level, educational
deprivation must be seen in the context of overall deprivation of the community and hence emphasis must be
placed on improving the situation of tribal communities in general. Restoring land and livelihoods,
empowering women, providing basic civic amenities such as fuel, water and sanitation are preconditions to
advancements of rights of tribal children. Unless the government undertakes urgent steps to address these
issues, its proclamations on child rights would remain examples of empty rhetoric and its actions would
effectively continue to exclude those already sidelined. Following the increasing gap between the rich and the
poor in the country, the gap between the tribal and non-tribal children is also widening rapidly, thereby further
isolating the isolated. Respecting their claims at the outset should set the ball rolling in the right direction.
 Education of Tribal Children in Jharkhand 3115
. Theoretical framework
The following theories will be helpful to develop the relationship between family planning and population growth in
rural villages.

Theory of social change

The word “change” denotes a difference in anything observed over some period of time. Social change,
therefore, would mean observable differences in any social phenomena over any period of time. Social change
occurs in all societies. No society remains completely static. This is true of all societies, primitive as well as
civilized. Society exists in a universe of dynamic influences. The population changes, technologies expand,
material equipment changes, ideologies and values take on new components and institutional structures and
functions undergo reshaping. The speed and extent of change may differ from society to society. Some change
rapidly, others change slowly.Education plays a very important role in moulding the character of an
individual. Social change refers to an alteration in the social order of a society. As a result of rapid
industrialization, growing urbanization and changes in the human intellect society needs to change in
order to cope with the gradual changes. Education can initiate social change by bringing about changes
in the outlook and attitude of people. Present education system is totally mechanized. It develops the
cramming power of the students but curbs the individual thinking capability of the students which mostly
occurs due to the dependability of the most of the students on private tuitions rather than self-learning. It
also interrupts the free thinking of the students. Education is the root cause of social and cultural changes that
takes place within the society. Education has been and is being played as an agent of socialization of the
younger generations so as to reach the expectations of the society. The present paper focuses on the role of
education and technology as an instrument of social change ad development with the introduction of
technology for the enhancement of teaching-learning process. Education is the fundamental method of social
progress and reform. It guides the children towards new values and assists the development of intelligence
and increase the society potential for its own transformation. Education is considered as the most
powerful and effective instrument of social change and social development in present time.

Social Stratification: From Tribe to Class:

Enough literature is present in social anthropology which indicates that tribals have attained the status of a
class from that of ethnicity. S.D. Badgaiyan informs that tribal stratification has become complex in
Chotanagpur. For instance, the Mundas of this area have formed themselves into classes.
 Education of Tribal Children in Jharkhand 3115
Similarly, Ghanshyam Shah (1977) writes that the differences in material possessions create sharply differing
patterns of consumption in food, dress, housing, etc., and also parallel differences in, for instance, the level of
education, religious orientation and preferences in political life.
Reporting about the tribal situation of south Gujarat, Jan Breman observes that there is today class
stratification among the Chaudhri tribe.
Though the class formation among the tribals in this part of the country has developed to the level of Marxian
class consciousness, there has definitely emerged an “agrarian under class, which today comprises 60 per cent
of the members of tribal castes which lag behind economically, socially and politically”. Breman continues:
As we have already stated, this process of cumulative inequality has not yet crystallized into a rigid class
stratification. This does not alter the fact that to an increasing degree the separate strata are beginning to
distinguish themselves from each other by their lifestyles and living conditions.

Political Socialization:
Rajni Kothari has analyzed the political forces which work among Indian tribes. He says that the universal
right for voting, party functioning, and social activism have all initiated a strong process of political
socialization among the tribals.They have become shrewd enough to make compromises and alliances at the
regional, state and central levels.

Diversified Economy:

The tribal subsistence economy now has become diversified. Their traditional occupation was related to forest and
forest produce. They have been experts in wood-cutting.

Along the coastal belt, they are adept in fishing. But they do not have any hereditary occupations on the pattern of
caste Hindu system. This has enabled them to take to any occupation they may find suitable at a given point in
time

. RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

1. To study whether education is properly reached in life of tribal children in present times.
2. To probe into the attitude of tribal people of Jharkhand about education of tribal children
3. To find out the obstacles which negates the process of learning.
 Education of Tribal Children in Jharkhand 3115
RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS
1. Yes,education has reached much better than before in life of tribal children.
2. The current status of education of tribal children has been in a rising state.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Study population and Sample- The study is restricted to the rural village of Jharkhand and the sample
frame will consist of households in the selected village within which there was at least one children of
targetted age. Since the problem is related will boys and girls between the age group of 5-25 years, some elders
will be also questions as the family ethics will be important to know the ideology towards education. The most
important target group for this will be young, adults and do they have change in ideology as compared to the
older generations respect to education. The sample size will be all of available the population of the village
children and that will be helpful to bring the objective for the research. will boys and girls between the age group
of 5-25 years, some elders will be also questions as the family ethics will be important to know the ideology
towards education. The most important target group for this will be young, adults and do they have change in
ideology as compared to the older generations respect to education. The sample size will be all of available the
population of the village children and that will be helpful to bring the objective for the research. will boys and girls
between the age group of 5-25 years, some elders will be also questions as the family ethics will be important to
know the ideology towards education. The most important target group for this will be young, adults and do they
have change in ideology as compared to the older generations respect to education.
The sample size will be all of available the population of the village children and that will be helpful to bring the
objective for the research.

Method of Data collection

The secondary research method to be used to get data is from journals, reports, government publications,
publication of professional and research organization, annual reports and so on. This would help to bring out the
effect of the government education awareness initiatives and work of NGO which is prevalent in the village

.HYPOTHESIS
 Education of Tribal Children in Jharkhand 3115
1. There is a strong correlation between the living standard of tribes and the positive attitude towards education,
i.e. number of literate persons is more in case of families with sound economic background than those with
relatively weaker background.

2. The development & social security programs being run by Government, NGOs and other Agencies have wide
spread coverage and yields the desired result to a great extent

Data interpretation and analysis

Table 1. Literacy rates in Jharkhand Gender %

Total 54.13

Male 67.94

Female 39.38

Source: Compiled from Provisional Population Totals: Census of India 2001

The poor literacy and education scenario characterises Jharkhand, the 28th state of the Indian Union,
which came into existence after the bifurcation of Bihar in November, 2000. From the census in 2001, the
literacy rate of the state was as low as 54.1 per cent against the national average of 65.4 per cent. The
literacy rate among women and tribal groups was even lower. The drop out rate particularly among girls
and tribal students was found to be very high. Given that the state has a low level of literacy (Table 1),
especially among the women and tribal peoples

Table 2. Literacy Rate among Tribes

 Education of Tribal Children in Jharkhand 3115
Literac All Orao Khar Mun Bhumij Ho Santh Kharw
y rate STs n ia da Lohra al ar
(stat
e)
Person 40. 52.5 51.0 47.9 41.5 39.2 38.9 33.4 29.6
s 7
Femal 27. 40.8 42.2 34.9 24.0 23.9 25.0 19.5 13.9
es 2
Source: Census of India, 2001.

Census 2001 also shows that among the total tribal literates, 33.6 percent are either without any
educational level or have attained education below primary level. The proportions of literates who have
attained education up to primary level and middle level are 28.6 percent and 17.7 percent respectively.
Persons educated up to matric/ secondary/higher secondary constitute only 16.5 percent.Female literacy is
considered as significant indicator of educational development within any social group. Research studies
have shown the importance of female literacy and education in uplifting the socio-economic parameters of
a given society. In the context of tribal women in Jharkhand, illiteracy is so highly prevalent that their
engagement with the mainstream society is seriously limited.

Table 3. Levels of Education among the Major Scheduled Tribes

Namesof Literate Below Educational levelsattained

Scheduled without Primary PrimaryMiddle Matric/ Technical Graduate
Tribes educational Secondary/ &Non- &above
level High - Secondarytechnical
/Intermediate diploma

All STs 3.0 30.6 28.6 17.7 16.5 0.1 3.5

Santhal 3.5 34.3 30.0 17.0 13.2 0.1 2.0
Oraon 2.4 26.9 25.3 18.5 20.8 0.2 5.9
Munda 2.8 27.9 29.6 18.9 17.1 0.1 3.7
Ho 2.4 26.4 28.4 19.9 19.7 0.1 3.1
Kharwar 5.5 38.2 32.3 11.3 10.8 0.1 1.8
Lohra 3.5 35.5 30.5 16.1 12.5 0.1 1.9
Bhumij 2.9 36.1 32.8 15.7 11.1 0.0 1.4
Kharia 2.0 26.0 26.5 18.3 21.4 0.1 5.6

Source: Census of India, 2001.

The data shows that the proportion of tribal literates decline sharply in higher level of education as the
percentage of students after matriculation drops down to almost one third in higher secondary level. Out
 Education of Tribal Children in Jharkhand 3115
of the total 19.8 lakh tribal children in the age group 5 -14 years, only 8.5 lakh children have been
attending school constituting

43.1 percent. Alarmingly, as many as 11.3 lakh (56.9 percent) children in the corresponding age group
have not been going to school. The table below shows that among the major STs, Oraon, Kharia and
Munda have more than 50 percent school going children whereas among Santhal, Ho, Lohra only 36 - 47
percent children are attending schools.

Table4.PercentageofSchoolGoingChildrenintheAgeGroup of
5-14Years

Age AllSTs Oraon Kharia Munda BhumijLohra Ho Santhal

Kharwargroup

5-14yrs. 43.1 55.0 53.3 50.1 46.6 44.1 37.6 36.3 28.6

Source: Census of India, 2001.

The percentage of school going children is concerning 43 percent among tribes which is way less than the
national average. Among them,percentage in kharwar group is more concerning they only constitutes of
28 percent .this may be due to lack of awareness,poverty etc.

Table 5. School Attendance

ScheduledTribes
Socialgroup SC OBC Others Total Male
FemaleTotal

School to far 0.5 1.3 0.9 NA 0.4 0.0 0.4

attende

To support household income 1.0 1.3 1.1 0.6 0.5 1.5 0.9
Never

Education not necessary 3.4 7.3 5.3 2.3 3.7 4.6 4.0
d

Attend domestic chores 0.2 2.5 1.3 2.6 1.2 0.5 1.4
Others 17.2 17.2 17.2 15.2 10.6 11.7 13.2
Neverattendedschool 22.3 29.6 25.7 20.7 16.4 18.3 19.8
To support household income 0.0 NA 0.0 NA 0.6 0.4 0.3
Dropped

Education not necessary 1.4 3.2 2.2 0.4 0.7 0.8 1.1
out

Attend domestic chores NA 0.7 0.3 0.2 0.4 1.7 0.5

Others 3.2 0.3 1.8 2.0 0.6 1.2 1.2
Schooldrop-out 4.6 4.1 4.4 2.5 2.4 4.2 3.2
Non Formal Education NA 0.3 0.1 0.5 0.5 NA 0.3
Total literacy campaign 0.1 NA 0.0 NA NA NA NA
Attending

Pre-primary 4.6 3.7 4.2 11.0 9.2 8.1 8.0

Primary 60.3 49.8 55.4 52.3 54.8 42.9 52.7
Middle 6.3 10.7 8.4 12.0 13.7 19.2 12.9
Secondary 1.8 1.9 1.8 1.0 3.1 7.4 3.1
Attendingtheschool 73.1 66 69.7 76.3 80.7 77.5 76.7
 Education of Tribal Children in Jharkhand 3115
SC - Scheduled Castes; OBC - Other Backward Classes; NA - Not Available Source: Annual
Status of Education Report, 2007.

Table 4 above clearly shows that 25.7 percent students from the Scheduled Tribes never attended school
because of various reasons. Among them 5.3 percent did not attend because they or their parents think that
education is not important. If we compare the figures with other caste or social groups, it shows that the
Scheduled Tribes are more vulnerable in comparison to others in school drop-outs and school attendance.
The table clearly shows that there are more school drop- outs among the STs (4.4 percent) in comparison
to other caste or social groups. In school attendance also the STs are at bottom (60.7 percent) in
comparison to other caste groups such as the Scheduled castes (76.3 percent) and Other Backward castes
(80.7 percent). In school attendance, among the STs, it is interesting to note the differences at primary
55.4 percent), middle (8.4 percent) and secondary level (1.8 percent) which shows that very few students
are reaching up to secondary or college level.

Issues and challenges

The average literacy rate of Jharkhand state is 54.13 percent,butamong tribal,

particularly among the femaleliteracy rate is as low as 10 percent. Although the overall
 Education of Tribal Children in Jharkhand 3115
literacyrateamongtheSTshasincreasedfrom27.5percent(1991census)to40.7percent(2001
census)butdespitethisimprovement,theliteracy
rateamongthetribesismuchbelowincomparisontothatofallSTs at the national level (47.1
percent).

In Jharkhand, over all literacy

ratesamongtheSTs,maleandfemale(54percentand27.2percent) are also considerably
lower than those at the national level (59.2 percent & 34.8percent).

Literacyisoneofthemostbasicparametersforthesuccessof democratic system of governance. But in Jharkhand,

education statistics depicts a very poor situation, particularly in terms of
providingprimaryeducationtotribals.Literacyrateamongthetribal
population(38.10percent)islessthantheliteracyofthegeneral(54.13
percent)populationinJharkhand.The2001censusshowsthatamong the five numerically larger tribes, Bhumij, Ho,
Lohra, Santhal and Kharwar have over all literacy rates lower than that of thenational average. Oraon and Kharia
have done better and more than half of thepopulationintheageofsevenyearsandaboveareliterateswhile Munda have
the literacy rate almost equal to that of all STs at the nationallevel

Although the State has a network of government and privately run schools in cities and urban centres with varied
standard of teaching, the benefits of these schools are mostly reaching to urban people and tribal exposed to these
cities while 91.7 percent of the scheduled tribes are primarily rural, residing in villages. Despite the government's
claim that the state of Jharkhand has reduced the number of out-of-
school children5, it is unfortunate that most of the schools, colleges and institutions which are
focusing the need of general population, unintendedly neglecting the needs of tribals. At school,
the experiences of tribal children range from discrimination to a sense of complete alienation.
Students from the ST communities encounter a series of obstacles including commuting long
distances to school in hostile environmental conditions, abuses and discrimination from teachers
and fellow students from non-tribal backgrounds, difficulty in comprehending the language of
instruction and negotiating space for themselves which they had been denied historically. Most
teachers in schools in the ST areas are non-STs who tend to view tribal language, culture and
social practices as being inferior to theirs. Psychologically, this has a strong negative impact on
children, which again contributes to their dropping out of schools.

Extending the system of primary education into tribal areas and reserving places for tribal
children in middle and high schools and higher education institutions are central to government
policy, but efforts to improve tribal educational status have had mixed results. The major
challenge and concern with this type of drive is that they are mostly concentrated in the urban
areas. To address some of these disparities, recently the state government has launched a
mammoth enrolment drive School Chalein Hum - Abhiyan 20066 with UNICEF, which is a
good initiative but there is also a need to understand that the children who are currently out-of-
school are those belonging to socially and economically weaker communities and groups. This
also includes linguistic and religious minorities and tribal groups living in habitations scattered
over hills and forests. Past experiences indicate that some of these earlier drives have met with
limited or no success.

Some of the obstacles in achieving universal primary education in tribal areas are lack of
physical infrastructure, functional deficiency, poor socio-economic conditions and gender
discrimination. Inadequate educational infrastructure and services, lack of resources (in termsof
material and manpower), shortage of teachers and schools further aggravates the situation. Some
remote areas either have no schools at all or if the schools do exist then poor roads and lack of
transportation make them inaccessible. Schools are being run in inadequate infrastructural
facilities. Either they are being run from dilapidated structures or at some places there is no
structure for children and they even lack basic amenities such as blackboard, chalk, chairs, desks,
clean drinking water and toilets. Based on survey in 22 rural districts in Jharkhand, Annual
Status of Education Report (ASER) shows that there are still 8.6 percent of schools (class I
-VIII) without water provision, and an additional 9.4 percent with water provision but no water
available7. In many schools, physical resources and infrastructure such as school building, toilet,
and boundary wall are in poor condition or not constructed. Multi-grade classes are a common
feature due to lack of classrooms. This number ranges from close to 70 percent in states like
Bihar and Jharkhand to as low as 3% in Kerala (ASER 2007).

Table 6. Physical Infrastructure at Schools (2006-2007)

Schools with Schools with common Schools with Schools with
Building (%) toilet (%) separate female boundary wall
toilet (%) (%)
Jharkhand 22 24.54 15.46 23.07
All India 4 58.13 42.58 49.26
Source: District Information System for Education, 2006-2007

Acute shortage of trained and qualified teachers, high absenteeism among teachers further
worsens the situation. Particularly the high student-teacher ratio, with 7% of schools having a
ratio equal or greater than 100 student per teacher (compared to the All-India average of 5%)8 is
serious matter of concern. This is largely due to an inability to recruit the required number of
teachers9 for approximately 40,000 schools in Jharkhand. Even in light of the serious teacher
shortage, the teachers are often pulled away for non- teaching duties such as election duties,
supervision of Mid-day meal, construction of schools facilities, etc.

Table 7. Teacher-Student Ratios and Attendance

Student-Teacherratio(2006-07)

Teacher Attendance (%) 2007

Jharkhand 49.8* 34.9** 84.7

* based on children enrolled and teachers appointed 2006-7- DISE

** based on children and teachers present 2007- ASER

 Source: DISE 2006-7 and Annual State of Education Report (ASER) 2007

Ignorance and lackadaisical attitude towards education of parents is another important challenge.
Poor socio-economic conditions is a major constraint to educational access, impossible for
marginalised households to make investment in education in the form of school fees, costs of
books, uniforms, meals and transportation. Children from poor families contribute to family
income either directly by working as labour or indirectly by contributing in doing household
chores.

Another challenge in addressing and providing primary education to tribals is geographical

location. Most of the primitive tribes still live in hills, dense forest with difficult terrain and
many a times, it is difficult to reach them because of lack of road and transport facilities. It is a
challenge to provide education to tribals and setting up school and institutions in small, scattered
and remote tribal habitations. The majority of the tribes live in sparsely populated habitations in
the interior and in inaccessible hilly and forest areas. At the time of creation of Jharkhand, there
were about 12,000 revenue villages/inhabited tolas that did not have a primary school within 1
kilometer radius. Under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan/Gram Shiksha Abhiyan, nearly 11,500 alternate
schools have been opened since August 2002 but now there is a need for qualitative
improvement, in terms of infrastructure, staff allocation, provision of books and other facilities.

High school drop-out rate among tribals is another reason for their lagging behind in education
(See, Vinoba Gautam, 2003).10Many schools enrolling tribal population are plagued by high
drop-out rates. The survey conducted by different agencies and compiled by the Jharkhand
Education Project Council (JEPC), carried out among 25,703 school drop-outs in the age group
of 6 to 14 years, reports that compulsion to earn a livelihood forces hundreds of students to leave

schools. According to the survey11, 26.39 percent students leave schools as they have a
compulsion to earn, 25.44 percent are engaged in household work, 12.25 percent lack interest in
studies and over eight percent drop-out due to socio-cultural and other reasons. Despite the
various steps taken by the State governments to check drop-out, including free distribution of
books and stationery, scholarship12, reimbursement of examination fee, and mid-day meal, etc.,
it has shown very little impact. Teacher absenteeism is high in schools in tribal areas, primarily
because when appointments are made at the district level, the candidates who are selected are
normally from in and around the district headquarters and do not want to go to the interior areas.
Since schools as institutions and teachers as critical agents have remained fundamentally
unchanged, the school atmosphere is not very conducive to accept and retain tribal children in
schools. Tribal children's school experience is an important variable which determines whether
the child continues to be in school or decides to drop-out. Generally, children attend primary
school for first three to four years and gain a smattering of knowledge, only to lapse into
illiteracy later. Few who enter continue up to the tenth grade, of those who do, few manage to
finish high school. Even the Ashram schools13 (residential schools for tribal boys and girls)
started by the Government in 1990-91 are poorly maintained and sometimes lack even the basic
facilities. The performance of the state in providing matching grant and maintenance of service
and management of hostels is not encouraging. The pace of construction of hostels has been very
slow and the basic amenities provided therein are substandard. Given the low levels of literacy
among the ST population, several children from these communities happen to be 'first or second
generation learners'. In the absence of State support for helping them cope with studies, many
children drop the schools. Therefore, very few are eligible to attend institutions of higher
education, where the high rate of attrition continues. For example, members of agrarian tribeslike
the 'Gonds' often are reluctant to send their children to school, because they need their children to
work in the fields.

Another reason behind high drop-out rates is medium of instruction or language constraint where
most of the tribal children do not understand the textbooks, which are generally in formal
languages (Hindi and English). The non-tribal teachers in tribal children's school are another
problem where teachers do not know the local language. This was also found in the study
conducted by the Janshala Programme.14 The Commission after commission recommended that
at least at the primary level students should be taught in their native language but recruitment of
qualified teachers and determination of the appropriate language of instruction has always
remained troublesome. Recently (July 2003) the State Government has decided to ensure
teaching in the mother tongue from Class I in tribal languages (Santhali, Mundari, Ho, Kurukh)
and regional languages (Khortha, Kurmali) but the need is to develop teaching-learning material
in these languages and to train/redeploy the teachers.

School dropouts

The issues and challenges in tribal education can be categorized as external, internal,
socio-economic and psychological. The external constraints are related to issues at levels
of policy, planning, and implementation while internal constraints are with respect
toeducation system, content, curriculum, pedagogy, and medium of instruction, et cetera.

The third set of problems relates to social, economic, and cultural background of tribals
and psychological aspects of first generation learners.

Tribal education in Indian context

People should develop along the lines of their genius and should avoid imposing
anything on them. We should try to encourage in every way their own traditional arts
and culture...We should try to train and build up a team of their own people to do the
work of administration and development. Some technical personnel from outside will no
doubt be needed, especially in the beginning. But we should avoid introducing too many
outsiders into tribal territory...We should judge results, not by statistics or the amount of
money spent, but by the quality of human character that is evolved.

Jawaharlal Nehru, 1958

The aboriginal tribes of India are the oldest inhabitants of the country. For millennia,
tribal societies have been subjugated by more recently arrived groups; their land was
taken away, they were pushed further into the hilly gorges and wilds, and they were
forced to work for their oppressors often without payment. Today tribal groups, which
number more than 40 million, require special attention from the government even
though they live largely isolated from the national culture.

In the past, many tribal groups were forced to assimilate into the dominant culture of the
country. But some groups, such as the Bhils, Gonds, Santals, Oraons, Mundas, Khonds,
Mizos, Nagas, and Khasis resisted change and assimilation to maintain their cultural
identities and languages. According to many Indians, their continued isolation poses
problems to national integration. Under the banner of national unity, the government is
now bringing these minority groups into the national mainstream. The main question is
whether tribal societies can enter the national mainstream while preserving their distinct
social, cultural and political beliefs.

Tribal Education System

Government planners see education as indispensable for helping tribal peoples cope with
national integration. Education will also determine their prosperity, success and security
in life. The tribes which remain either deprived of or negligent toward education will
suffer the consequence.

Compared with the literacy rates of 29.34% for the general population, literacy among
tribal peoples in India is at most 6%. The Union and the state governments have spent
considerable sums of money for tribal youths' education, but the results are meager. The
Commissioner for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes asserts that unless
exploitation among the tribels is combatted and eliminated through education, no
improvement in tribal welfare will occur. Within tribal areas, education can be the basis
for integrated development.

Government reports indicate that there is no scarcity of schools, other facilities or

scholarships for the implementation of tribal education schemes. Most tribal youth find
these incentives unattractive, however. Consequently, the government's dream to
assimilate the tribes remains unfulfilled and raises basic questions about the
implementation of such policies and strategies.

Naxal affected areas

Children are one of the worst affected area only 21.89% population are literate. If the
groups in the ongoing Naxalite conflict. More often things are looked out at gender wise
the female than not, they get caught in the conflict between literacy rate (41.42%) is
alarming low than the male Naxalites and security forces (Human Rights Watch literacy
rate (58.57%) which is again below than 2008). They are prone to attacks, injuries, the
state's average. The literacy rate among tribal abduction, recruitment, trafficking,
intimidation, people is strikingly low and even lower for the abuse and other forms of
exploitation. Their right women. to education is often undermined by the concerns of
survival and an overemphasis on law and order problems in these areas. In many cases,
provisions of emergency relief do not include education, although it is a fundamental
right of children and is regarded as an emergency relief measure (NCPCR 2012). There
are attacks on the education system, educational provisions, safe learning environment
and equal opportunities and uniform conditions for success that the Right of Children to
Free and Compulsory Education Act (RTE), 2009 and the National Policy on Education,
1992, guarantee all children aged between 6 and 14 years. These attacks pose several
immediate challenges in achieving universalisation and expansion of secondary
education in these affected areas.

Recent development
Welfare ministry planned to open 23 Eklavya residential school to provide quality

education to the tribal students in Jharkhand.Currently two Eklayva residential schools

at Bhandaria and Dhanbad are under construction. The construction works of other

schools under the project would be started by end of the fiscal year. Eklavya residential

school is a nationwide progaramme that aims to provide education to tribal children.

Besides education, the students will be given training in sports and skill development.

The institution also have special facilities for preserving local art and culture.Union

ministry of tribal affair approved 69 Eklavya schools to Jharkhand, of which 23 were

proposed to be built at Rs 524 crore by this fiscal.

Government aimed to provide jobs to the maximum number of youth by imparting them

quality training for enhancing their skills under the skills development campaign. She

said government was committed to provide quality education to the tribal children in

their own environment.The government has also introduced incentive of Rs 1 lakh for

tribal students who cracked UPSC civil service exams for preparation of Mains and

interview.
 0
Cumulative %

20
40
60
80
100
100
Parentsdidn'tAllowtogotoschool

No employability / No Job Guarantee

Earning Livelihood (No time for Attending School

Looking afrerYounger Brothers/Sisters/Old Parents

Vital Few
Education is not far Women

● Education is not for Women

vital ones which are as follows:
NoAidisavailablefromGovt./OtherAgencies

Objective not Clear (What to do after getting Educated)

● Parents didn’t Allow to go to School

● No Employability / No Job Guarantee

No books are available in Tribal Languages
Useful Many

Earlier Days Nobody Thought of Going to School

Can't Afford the Expense (No Free Education Available)

FIGURE 1

● Earning Livelihood (No time for Attending School)

● Looking after Younger Brothers/Sisters/Old Parents

InstituteisFarAway
Pareto Analysis - Reason for not Joining School

Can't Compete with upper Cast/Rich/Forward People

Further, Pareto Analysis was carried out (Fig. 1) to narrow down the reasons and to identify the
Reason for not attending school

Reasons for Not Attending School

2% 0%
ObjectivenotClear(WhattodoaftergettingEducated) Can'tAffordtheExpense(NoFreeEducationAvailable) Institute is FarAway
6%
EarningLivelihood(NotimeforAttendingSchool No aid is available for Govt. / Other Agencies NoBooksareavailableinTribalLanguages
20%2%
No employability / No Job Guarantee Education is not for Women
1%
Looking after Younger Brothers/Sisters/Old Parents Can'tCompetewithUpperCast/Rich/ForwardPeople Against ourReligion
Parents did't Allow to go to School
EarlierDaysNobodyThoughtofGoingtoSchool AnyOther

0% 15%
1%

13%

8%

4%

11%

17%

FIGURE 2

Reasons are as follows

 They had also to look back to your younger ones

 Not enough awareness about going to school.
 Parents did not allow to go to school
 Paretoanlysis-ReasonsforDrop-out

120

%
100 Cu%

80

60 Vital Few Useful Many

40

20

Reasons

FIGURE 3

Further, Pareto Analysis shows the most important reasons, as follows (Fig. 3):

● Domestic Work Pressure

● Couldn’t Afford the Expenses

Findings of study

1. Ratio of male members compared to female is more i.e., 54:46.

2. More family members are unemployed other major professions are daily labour and in
some business.

3. Most families are having a monthly income below Rs 5000 .

4. Very high no of Illiterates more Illiterates are in the female category.

5. Within the Literates, most of the people are either having no formal education or
having primary level education.

6. More Illiterates belong to the families having lower income families.

7. No. of drop out from school is higher in case of male compared to female.

8. Several reasons have been found for not going to school e.g. parents didn’t allow to
go to school, no employability/no job guarantee, etc.

VALIDITY OF HYPOTHESIS

1. There is a strong correlation between the living standard of tribes and the positive
attitude towards education, i.e. number of literate persons is more (32%) in case of
families with sound economic background (income between 5001 to 10,000) than those
with relatively weaker background, (income below Rs. 1000/-) where only 5% literate
people were found.

2. The second hypothesis is rejected. The development & social security programs being
run by Government, NGOs and other Agencies have wide spread coverage and yielded
the desired result to a great extent. - proved wrong from the high level of illiteracy that
still exists among the tribes.
Recommendation

Considering the low literacy among tribals and high drop-out rates at elementary and
higher levels, there is need of special focus on tribal's education, inclusive of context-
specific traditional and innovative interventions. To enable comprehension of lessons
taught, tribal children should be taught in their mother tongue at least in the Classes I to
III. A normative network of primary, secondary and high schools equipped with proper
school buildings, hostels and other requisite infrastructure facilities should be worked
out for all schools in tribal areas. The norms should be minimum one functional
residential high school for ST boys and one residential high school for ST girls in each
block in the tribal areas, and at least one primary school and one primary level girls'
hostel in every Gram Panchayat. To prevent teachers' absenteeism in tribal areas, local
and tribal teachers from local Panchayats should be given preference in employment,
and the teaching and non-teaching staff of primary schools should be placed under the
control of the village management committee or village education committee appointed
by the Gram Sabha or Gram Panchayat. Finally, to make a substantial inroad towards
attaining the goal of universal primary education, it is imperative that all interventions
should have community participation as a core strategy. In order to ensure universal
education and sustainable improvement in the quality of education it is necessary to
bring the community closer to the school system

Conclusion

There is immense need to understand the context, and background of education system
in Jharkhand to address the question of providing equal access of education to tribals.
Tribal communities in the state have been historically denied of access to resources and
opportunities. The present efforts of the government to bring these children into formal
schools fail at two levels. Firstly, it is not able to enroll all tribal children and provide
good quality functional schools. Secondly, even when tribal children are enrolled into
schools, the education system besides doling out some incentives does not do much to
improve the school environment to treat these first-generation Education of Tribal
Children in Jharkhand 3121 learners with respect and dignity. Instead, tribal children are
made to put up with an offensive and insulting climate that continuously discriminates
and alienates. For such historically deprived communities, providing access to education
is simply not enough, the government has to take a proactive role in creating overall
conditions and opportunities that will facilitate their transition and breaking of the
intergenerational cycle of poverty and illiteracy. A sensitive cadre of teachers and
bureaucracy is definitely required to make the difference. At another level, educational
deprivation must be seen in the context of overall deprivation of the community and
hence emphasis must be placed on improving the situation of tribal communities in
general. Education is a critical input in human resource development and is essential for
the country's economic growth. Though the major indicators of socio-economic
development such as, the growth rate of the economy, birth rate, death rate, infant
mortality rate (IMR) and literacy rate, are all inter-connected, the literacy rate has been
the major determinant of the rise or fall in the other indicators. There are enough
evidences, which show that a high literacy rate, especially in the case of women,
correlates with low birth rate, low infant mortality rate (IMR) and increase in the rate of
life expectancy. The recognition of this fact has created awareness on the need to focus
upon literacy and elementary education programmes, not simply as a matter of social
justice but more to foster economic growth, social well-being, and social stability. The
State had set for itself the goal of achieving universal primary education by 2005 and
achieving 85 percent literacy by 2010 which requires far reaching changes in policies
and rules, tremendous efforts in community mobilization and continued innovations in
teaching methodologies. The state promises, initiative and commitment need to be
translated on ground, especially in the case of marginalized and tribal population. The
paper shows that education of tribals has not received whole hearted support of the state
and focused effort in this area is still awaited.
References

Vinoba Gautam (2003). Education of tribal children in India and the issue of Medium of
Instruction: A Janshala experience.

Census of India. (2001).

Compulsion to earn forces children to leave schools - Survey (2007). Indo-Asian News
Service. (Web: http://in.news.yahoo.com/070910/43/6kk3e.html)

District Information System for Education. (2007). Elementary Education in India:

Progress towards UEE. (Retrieved on 14 August from http://www.dise.in)

Jharkhand - Data Highlights: The Scheduled Tribes (2001). Office of the Registrar
General, India Kundu, M. (1990). "Tribal Education in India - Some Problems" (pp.
246-254), in: B. Chaudhuri (ed.), Education and Literacy Programmes. Delhi: Mittal
Publications

Rustagi, P. (2008). 'Towards UEE in Jharkhand Issues of Equality, Quality and

Inclusion', Institute for Human Development, presented at 'National Seminar on Growth
and Human Development in Jharkhand Perspectives and Policies' 4-5 July 2008 Ranchi
India

Planning Commission of India, 'Tenth Five Year Plans 2002-2007' New Delhi:
Government of India.

Pratham (2007). Annual Status of Education Report. (Retrieved on 14 August 2008

from http://www.pratham.org/aserrep.php)

PROBE. (1999). Report on Basic Education in India. New Delhi: Oxford University
Press.

Veena K. Pailwar& Vandana Mahajan (2005). Janshala in Jharkhand: An experiment

with community involvement in education, International Education Journal, 6(3), 373-
385. ISSN 1443-1475 © 2005 Shannon Research Press. (Web: http://iej.cjb.net 373)
 ANNEXURE

QUESTIONNAIRE

Level of Age Male Female Total

3-5

06-10

11-18

19-25

>25

Total

a. Since how long you have been living in this place:

b. Migration Status of the Family

2. OCCUPATION OF THE FAMILY:

SN Type Main Subsidiary Income Employment (No. of days) Male Female

1. Agriculture

2. Animal Husbandry

3. Agricultural Labour

4. Marginal Labour

5. Fire wood Sale

6 . Lime Burning
7. Sale of Forest Products

8. Any others (Specify)

3. AWARENESS OF TRIBES ON THEIR PRIVIGES

01. As you aware that education is free to tribal Yes / No

02. Do you know that free hostel facilities are provided to tribal students Yes /No

03. Have you participated in any education development programme? Yes / No

04. Do you know their exists tribal welfare office at the district head quarters Yes /No

05. Have you ever been a beneficiary of tribal education welfare programme. If yes what programme
your covered

06. What kind of assistance could you get? Please specify Yes/No

07. Awareness through any other Medium. Yes / No

4. Who decides in the household whether children to be educated outside their village?

ONLY ONE............................. 1

HUSBAND AND................................... 2

ONLY HUSBAND........................................ 3

MOSTLY OTHER MEMBERS......................... 4

SCHEMES

Do you know about Eklavya scheme YES/NO

How do you get to know TV/Newspaper/other source