Low literacy and poor education facilities in Tribal areas of India

Low literacy and poor education facilities in Tribal areas of India.
Main causes of slow progress in literacy One of the main reasons of slow progress in literacy in tribal areas is poverty of parents. For the poverty –ridden parents, education of their children is a luxury which they can hardly afford. The tribal areas suffer from inadequacy of educational institutions, boarding and lodging facilities. Also the curriculum of education extended to the tribal areas is not relevant to their socio-cultural milieu, particularly at the primary stage. In the tribal areas the problem of absenteeism of the teachers is one of the important factors affecting the education. Further the medium of instruction in the schools is a difficult problem. They are not generally able to follow the lessons given to them in the language which is totally strange to them. Finally, there is no clear education policy for tribal areas. This is mainly because in some tribal areas, education is under the control of education department and in some under the social welfare department.
Suggestions
The content of education should take in the aspiration of the tribal people. The curricula should keep in view the tradition of local skills and crafts. Tribals should also be thought elementary civics to familiarize them with their right and duties. Due priority should be given for opening up of educational institutions and construction of school buildings should be undertaken under the national rural employment programme. In these areas more and more residential facilities like hostel should be provided to all those who walk more than 4 kms to attend schools. The medium of instruction should also be in the tribal language up to primary level. The teachers should be selected from the tribals themselves even by relaxing the educational qualification in case sufficient numbers of qualified teachers are not available. Non-formal and vocational education are very successful and should be able to provide academic education as well as vocational training to meet the need of the various industrial and other projects setup in the tribal areas. Tribals, thus equipped with knowledge will protect themselves from exploitation and also take advantage of various development programmes. Hence, education plays a key role in the development of the tribals and therefore as laid down in the directive principles of state policy it should be prompted with ‘Special care’.