Tribal Education in India: Challenges & Strategies

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Niladri Pradhan is an M.A in Education with flying colour from Kalyani University, West Bengal and Ph.D in Education from Utkal University, Bhubaneswar. His area of research interest includes deprived section of the society, educational technology, learning and instructional psychology. He is presently working as HOD in the Department of Education, Maldah Women's College, under University of Gour Banga, Maldah West Bengal. Earlier, he worked as a Junior Project Fellow in two NCERT projects. He has published twenty five articles in different national and international referred journals, presented more than two dozen papers in state, regional, national and international level seminars and organized two national seminar funded by UGC. He has also attended several workshops and conferences in different areas across the country and completed one research project financed by UGC. He has been associated with various leading educational institutions since last six years.

The Department of Education of Malda Women's College has published this volume TRIBAL EDUCATION IN INDIA: CHALLENGES & STRATEGIES. This volume is the collection of papers presented at the UGC sponsored National Seminar held at Malda Women's College on March 25-26, 2013.

The constitution of Independent India acknowledged centuries of social, economic and educational deprivation suffered by the SCs and STs and incorporated specific provisions to protect these communities from discrimination and also to facilitate their development. One of the critical factors for economic betterment of tribal people has been access to formal education. Education has facilitated occupational diversification and mobility particularly through reservation. A large section of the tribal population is now in public sector jobs which in turn has lessened their dependence on higher castes and has brought some modicum of social dignity. Nevertheless, there is disparity within disparity of girls lag even among these groups. There is also a wide variation among states in the educational development among SCs and STs which is very prominently reflected in their socio-cultural status. Recognizing the problems of Tribes, the National Government has initiated several measures to ensure the access to basic education for tribal children.

At this juncture the subject chosen for the seminar is certainly of great importance. The volume comprises several papers on issues relating problems and constrains of Tribal Education, Historical, Leagal, Constitutional framework and Policies in the context of Tribal Development. The editor has tried to put all the relevant works in this volume.

The college is highly gratified to UGC for its financial assistance. It is my pleasure to inform that publication of this volume has been possible for the efforts taken by Dr. Niladri Pradhan, Assistant Professor of the Dept of Education of our college. I hope this volume will be helpful for students, research scholars and academicians.

In south Asia, India has the second largest tribal population in the world next to African countries. In India, the indigenous people are referred to as the 'Adivasis' (in Devanagari script), 'Vanavasi" (forest dwellers), 'Ginijana (Inhabitant of Mountains), and sometimes 'Mulavasi (original inhabitants). The tribes comprise a substantial indigenous minority of the population of India, officially recognized by Government of India as 'Scheduled Tribes' in the fifth schedule of the Constitution. There are 414 Scheduled Tribes (ST List, Government India, 2013) spread all over the country barring States and Union Territories like Haryana, Delhi, Punjab, Pondicherry and Chandigarh. The substantial number of tribes is residing in the state like Chhattisgarh (30.6%), Jharkhand (26.2%), Odisha (22.8%), Madhya Pradesh (20.27%), Mizoram (94.4%), Nagaland (87.7%), Meghalaya (85.5%). Arunachal Pradesh (63.7%) and Union Territories viz Lakhadweep-94.8% and Dadra and Nagan Haveli (79%), constituting 8.6% (Census Report, 2011) of the total population. The scheduled tribes differ considerably from other people in race, language, culture and beliefs in their myth and customs. These groups are speaking about 105 languages and 225 subsidiary languages. The persistent social inequalities in India stand out starkly when we look at basic indicators like literacy rate. Though literacy among Scheduled Tribes increased from 8.5% in 1961 to 47.1% in 2011 in India, yet it is very less than the national average.