Role of Vocational Education in Economic Empowerment of Adivasis of Jharkhand

Abstract

The Adivasis are categorized as the Scheduled Tribes in the Constitution of India. Adivasis consist of 26% of the total population of State of Jharkhand. 78% of the total Adivasi population lives in the rural areas of the State. At least half of the rural population of the Adivasi lives below the poverty line. The Adivasis of Jharkhand are enslaved in the poverty trap. The per-capita income of the Adivasi community is very low. The majority of the Adivasi youth of the state are poorly equipped for employment in the labour market. Most of the Adivasi youth are neither adequately educated nor equipped with vocation skills. They are unable to succeed in finding productive employment which increases their per capita income and helps them to escape from the poverty trap. In this context the paper tries to study the roles of vocational education in the economic empowerment of the Adivasis of Jharkhand. Vocational education can equip the Adivasis with skills, especially the Adivasi youth, for self-employment and employment in labor market. It can trigger economic change and transformation in the Adivasi community in Jharkhand.