There are over eight million tribal people living in the state of Orissa, in the east of India, representing some 22% of the population. Despite their numbers, this indigenous rural population is continually marginalised and disenfranchised. The eyes of the world briefly turned to the tribal people earlier this year when the Dongria Kondh battled with mining company Vedanta to stop their sacred Niyamgiri hills being ripped apart for bauxite. They won that battle, but tribal people across the state are losing a much longer war to get their children a decent education.
On a sunny morning in the village of Nuaguda, in the south of Orissa, I met children from tribal families arriving at school. On the way there, I had seen many more in the surrounding fields and villages. This is a common sight, particularly in rural areas. According to the Indian Education Department, although 96% of India’s children start primary school, by the age of 10 around 40% have dropped out.
I asked Sunita Dolei, of local NGO Ekta, why this is the case. She told me that for tribal people, school is secondary to the need for survival. “Education is a livelihoods issue,” she says. “Tribal people often need to send their children out to work in order to survive, which means that they aren’t able to attend school regularly.”
She argues that while the Indian central government offers support to those living in poverty, it is those who need it most who often end up missing out – precisely because of their lack of education. She describes a vicious cycle. “The Indian government have introduced many schemes to try and reduce poverty,” she says, “but those who need the help most lack the necessary education to take advantage of the schemes.”
The literacy rate for Scheduled Tribes in Orissa stands at just 37%. Although the literacy rate has been steadily growing over the last few decades, it has remained significantly lower than the rate for the rest of the population. In 1991, the literacy rate for tribal people was 18% compared to 41% for the general population. By the time of the 2001 Indian census it had risen to 37%, but the rate for the population as a whole had risen to 54%.
There is also a significant and worrying gender disparity in education. While the tribal literacy rate stands at 52% for males, it is just 23% for females. Three in four tribal women will never be able to read or write their own name, cutting them off from many of the schemes designed to help them and curtailing their own independence.
Ekta are visiting Nuaguda today as part of their programme to get tribal children back to school. When the team first arrived they quickly realised that there were a high number of dropouts from the village school. They organised a meeting with parents to explain what a difference education could make to their children’s lives. Few of the adults who attended had spent much time in school themselves. They grew up in a time before the constitutional amendment, introduced last year, which makes education a compulsory and fundamental right for everyone from the ages of 6 to 14. Community involvement is key to successful schools in these remote villages, so Ekta know they have to start with the parents.
A further complication is the diversity of languages spoken by tribal people. Although the most-widespread language in Orissa is Oriya, there are numerous tribal languages from a total of three different language groups – Austro-Asiatic, Dravidian and Indo-Aryan. Many children are put off school simply because they find it impossible to study in a second tongue. If education is to function, it must take account of these regional variables.
Ekta’s staff work hard to persuade parents that broadened horizons in the future outweigh the financial benefits of sending children out to work. Lulu, 24, is one of Ekta’s village facilitators. He’s from a nearby town, and he tells me of that there is also a lack of opportunities available to adults. “There is no education to help them provide a livelihood for their children,” he says.
Getting children into the classroom is only half the battle. Jagannath Mishra, Ekta’s Chief Secretary, estimates that as many as 70% of rural teachers have not been to school and are illiterate themselves. In many cases they don’t even turn up. He says that there have been reports of people bribing officials to appoint them to the relatively lucrative role of teacher, and then bribing them again to turn a blind eye to their own poor attendance. A UNESCO report into education in tribal areas found that poor attendance by teachers is a major problem at traditionally run schools.
One possible solution is the creation of community schools. Trials in tribal areas near Vishakhapatnam, in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, have shown that putting communities in charge of their own schools, with the power to hire and fire teachers, improves attendance by staff and pupils.
Localising responsibility for teaching should not let the Indian government off the hook. In the country as a whole, Scheduled Tribes make up a smaller but still significant proportion of the population, at around 8.5%. Their lack of education is a factor in the ‘two-tier’ development that India has witnessed over the last decade. ‘Scheduled Tribes’ were identified in 1976 by the Indian government as requiring special measures to safeguard their interests. There are 645 different tribes in India, with 62 living in Orissa alone. 13 of Orissa’s tribes have been categorised as ‘endangered’.
The government acknowledges that the tribal population has specific needs, and this needs to be reflected in education policy. When educators and academics met in Bhubaneswar, the state capital, in 2006, they concluded that “the state should come out with an education policy that reflects and includes tribal children and families.”
Improving the literacy rates among India’s tribal people will require a concerted effort to engage with local realities and dedicated teachers willing to stick to their task in remote and often underfunded schools. But the message from the villages is clear: there is a new willingness to learn. Ekta’s Amit Kumar Njayak oversees the schools intervention project. He tells me that the tribal people he works with are increasing aware of the need for better education for their children. “The villagers and the school teachers really appreciate the importance of this cause. If with this project we have been able to make a small difference in the life of the community then I think that all our work is on the right track.”
He acknowledges, however, that there is still much more progress to be made. “We know that this is only the first step of our journey,” he says. “We still have a long way to go.”
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