Tribal people and education: the Indian scenario

Abstract

Tribal people i.e. Scheduled Tribes (STs) represent a sizable amount of the most disadvantaged sections of our society due to their socio-economic exploitation and isolation over a long period of time. The tribes in India are spread over the length and breadth of the country. India has the largest concentration of tribal people anywhere in the world except perhaps in Africa. They lag behind the rest of the population in terms of both human development as well as economic indicators. Scheduled Tribes (STs) distinguish themselves from other communities with their distinctive culture and isolated habitation and lag behind the rest of the society due to their socio-economic backwardness. So the economic and social empowerment and educational upliftment of people belonging to ST category is imperative for achieving faster and more inclusive development. In India, tribal population constitutes about 8.6% of the total population. Various policies and programmatic and legislative interventions have been made for the socio-economic development and empowerment of the STs. Despite continued support by the Government of India, low educational levels among STs remain an area of concern. To address this issue, Pre-matric Scholarship Scheme, Post-matric Scholarship Scheme, Top class Education Scheme etc have been launched. In this paper, an attempt has been made to give a synoptic view of the policies and programmes adopted by the Government of India for expansion of education among the tribal people and examine the role played by the Government for the development of tribal education.