Parishodh Journal ISSN NO:2347-6648

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Impact of Higher Educational Institutions on the Tribal of : A Sociological Analysis

Subal Tandi PhD Research Scholar in Sociology, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Central University of , Brambe, Ranchi, E-mail: [email protected] Phone No: 91 (0) 9337180798 Dr.Rabindranath Sarma Associate Professor Head, Department of Tribal Studies Dean, School for the Study of Culture Central University of Jharkhand, Brambe, Ranchi, Email ID: [email protected] Phone No: 91(0) 7549198583 (M)

Abstract

Education is the key that opens the door of human life. Higher educational institution is the most important instrument for human resource development as well as a very important for life circle. Higher education is widely accepted as the essential tool for the developmental goals and awareness of constitutional rights and duties among the people of a nation in general and community in particular has a great significance in the context of developing countries like . The objective of this studies that discuss impact of higher educational institution in particular and higher education in general on tribal community in Odisha. The finding of this paper that a pivotal role in social change of tribal community due to higher educational institutions and it brings perfect life, radical transformation in outlook an upward mobility in social status, and perception of tribal of Odisha.

Keywords- Education, Higher Education, Institution, Tribal Community, Social Change

Introduction:

Historically, Schedule Tribes are the original inhabitants of India. They face exclusion from the mainstream society because of their physical isolation in remote parts of the country. Scheduled Tribes have been economically marginal, geographically, and socially

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isolated group. Generally, The Tribal people reside in isolated places situated in remote areas of forests, islands, hills etc. These communities are not able to access basic facilities such as educational institution, hospitals and other basic amenities due to their remoteness. All these factors have led to the socio-economic backwardness of the community (Thorat & Senapati, 2007).

Traditionally referred to as adivasis, vanbasis, tribes, or tribals, STs constitute about 8% of the Indian population. There are 573 Scheduled Tribes living in different parts of the country, having their own languages different from the one mostly spoken in the State where they live. There are more than 270 such languages in India. Realizing that Scheduled Tribes are one of the most deprived and marginalized groups with respect to education, a host of programs and measures were initiated ever since the Independence. Elementary education is a priority area in the Tribal sub-plans from the 5th Five Year Plan. Education of ST children is considered important, not only because of the Constitutional obligation but also as a crucial input for total development of tribal communities (Behera, 2014).

According to the 2011 census, In India, Scheduled Tribes constitute 8.6 percent of total population numbering 104.28 million. More than half of the Scheduled Tribe population is concentrated in the States of , Chhattisgarh, , Odisha, Jharkhand and Gujarat (Census of India, 2011). STs comprise 22.84 percent of the state Odisha. About 45 percent of Odisha is classified as Scheduled Area under Schedule of the constitution, which identifies special privileges for those areas where the majority of the population belong to Scheduled Tribes (ibid).

Statement of the Problems Odisha is stills backed as underdeveloped so as to the tribal’s higher education is concerned. A verity of issues and concerns related to affirmative action policy in the state in the case higher education. But these concerned and issues the planned strategies and invention will never work properly. However, in order to develop and raise their level of aspiration, adequate higher educational opportunities are to be provided so that the tribal students get motivated to participate in the mainstream of higher education system. Even those who have chosen higher education they face number of following; low economic condition, inadequate scholarship system, language barrier, difficult to get constitutional right, lack participation in the mainstream society (Tandi and Tandi, 2019).

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The Human Development Report (HDR) 2014 has brought out the persistent low score in terms of Human Development Index (HDI) (0.582) and low Mean Years of Schooling (MYS) (4.4) as against around 11- 12 years for most of the developed countries. Besides in case of higher education despite the substantial increase in Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) from 10% to around 17% (2014) India position in GER is significantly lower than China (35%), Russia (75%) and USA (95%). The 12th plan aims at GER of 25% by 2017 while identifying Equity, Access and Excellence as the three thrust areas for achieving higher inclusive growth. The constitution explicitly provides for affirmative action in respect of disadvantaged section like SC/ST. As a follow up to the Sachhar Committee Report several initiatives have been taken in respect of Muslims. Despite such initiatives access to higher education remains asymmetrical amongst different sections of society. Further manifold reasons contribute to consistently mediocre quality in higher education barring a few elite institutions like IITs, IIMs, ISCs and National Law Schools (Bal, 2014).

Higher educational Institutions in India

Table No. 1.Number of Recognized institutions in Higher Education: 2015-16

Sl. No Institutions Number 1 Central University 43 2 Central Open University 1 3 State Open University 13 4 State Private Open University 1 5 State Public University 329 6 State Private University 197 7 122 8 Institution of National Importance 75 9 Institutions Under State Legislative Act 5 10 Others 13 11 Total 799 12 Colleges 39071 13 Diploma Level Technical 3867 14 PGDM 435 15 Diploma Level Nursing 3060

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16 Diploma Level Teacher Training 4403 17 Institute under Ministries 158 18 Total 11923 Source: Educational statistic at a glance (2018), , Ministry of Human Resource Development, Department of School Education & Literacy Statistics Division, , pp.7.

In the above table mentions that there are 17 important higher educational institutions of India listed, total number of university and institution of national importance were 799. There were 39071 numbers of college in India and total 11,923 higher educational institutions which based on diploma and management level institutions in India in 2014-16.

Enrolment in higher

Table No. 2. Level- Wise Enrolment in higher education: 2015-16 (In Thousands)

Sl. No Level of Higher All Categories Education Male Female Total 1 Ph. D 75 52 127 2 M. Phil 17 25 42 3 Post Graduate 1818 2099 3917 4 Under Graduate 14612 12809 27421 5 P.G Diploma 123 106 229 6 Diploma 1793 756 2549 7 Certificate 63 81 144 8 Integrated 93 63 156 9 Total 18594 15991 34585 Source- Ibid, pp.8

In the above table shows that there were 34,585,000 students enrolled in 2015-16. The maximum numbers of students were Under Graduate which is 27,421,000 and 42 thousands M.phil students enrolled in same year which is lowest in comparison to others. The highest number of female enrolled in Post Graduate and Certificate course as compared to male students.

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Table No. 3. Percentage Enrolment in Various Disciplines Level in Higher Education: 2015- 16

Sl. No Discipline Ph. D P.G U.G Arts/ Humanities and 12.56 17.52 40.08 Social Sciences Engineering & 24.19 6.69 15.57 Technology Commerce 2.74 10.75 14.14 Foreign Language 2.11 4.95 N.A Home Science 0.51 0.26 N.A Indian Language 5.49 8.77 N.A I.T & Computer 2.19 6.22 2.50 Law 0.88 0.66 1.20 Management 5.03 15.28 1.91 Medical Science 4.14 3.33 3.30 Science 26.25 13.00 16.04 Others 10.08 12.00 1.62 Source- Ibid, pp.9

In the table highlighted that maximum 26.25 percent PhD Scholar from science discipline and keep the second position Engineering and Technology is 24.19 percent. The third number position is Arts/Humanities and Social Sciences which are 12.56 percent and the lowest number of PhD Scholar in Home Sciences discipline are 0.51 percent.

Arts/Humanities and Social Sciences discipline is the highest percentage of Post Graduate students which is 17.52 percent and second percentage (15.28%) belong from management discipline. It also 40.08 percentage of students from Arts/Humanities and Social Sciences discipline which is highest as compared to others discipline.

Gross Enrolment Ratio in Higher Education

The gross enrolment ratio in higher education in all over India (at the age 18-23 years) discussed that is shown in the following table.

Table No 4.Percentage of Gross Enrolment Ratio in Higher Education

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Year ST Male ST Female Total 2006-07 9.5 5.5 7.5 2007-08 12.4 6.7 9.5 2008-09 11.6 6.7 9.2 2009-10 13.1 7.5 10.3 2010-11 12.9 9.5 11.2 2011-12 12.4 9.7 11.0 2012-13 12.4 9.7 11.0 2013-14 13.3 10.6 12.0

Source: All India Survey on Higher Education. (2013 - 2014). Government of India, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Department of Higher Education, New Delhi., Ch. 2, Cited in Majumdar and Sikdar, 2017, pp-12).

In the above table shows that the total number of tribal students were 7.5 percent GER in higher education in 2006-07, males were 9.5 and female were 5.5 percent. It was gradually increased 13.3 (male) and 10.6 (female) out of total 12 percent tribal students in 2013-14.

Higher Institutions in Odisha

Table No 5.Number of Autonomous Colleges, General Colleges and Professional Colleges Recognized by Higher Education Deptt. Govt. of Odisha 2008- 2009- 2010- Sl No Category 09 10 11 2011-12 1 2 3 4 5 6 A Govt. Colleges 96 96 96 96 1 Jr. Colleges 33 33 33 33 2 Jr. Women Colleges 17 17 17 17 3 Degree Colleges 10 10 10 10 4 Degree Women Colleges 13 13 13 13 5 Autonomous Colleges 19 19 19 19 6 Composite Colleges 1 1 1 1 7 Sanskrit Colleges 3 3 3 3 B Aided Colleges 609 609 609 605 1 Jr. Colleges 410 410 410 410 2 Jr. Womens Colleges 38 38 38 38 3 Degree Colleges 124 124 124 124 4 Degree Womens Colleges 9 9 9 9 5 Autonomous Colleges 6 6 6 6 6 Sanskrit Colleges 22 22 22 22 C Block Grant Colleges 153 153 153 153 1 Jr. Colleges 30 30 30 30 2 Jr. Womens Colleges 10 10 10 10 3 Degree Colleges 108 108 108 108

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4 Degree Womens Colleges 5 5 5 5 Non-Govt. (Un- D aided)Colleges 990 990 990 1001 1 Jr. Colleges 439 439 439 450 2 Jr. Womens Colleges 94 94 94 94 3 Degree Colleges 276 276 276 275 4 Degree Womens Colleges 42 42 42 42 5 Sanskrit Colleges 139 139 139 139 6 Autonomous Colleges N.A N.A N.A 1 E Self Financing Colleges 236 236 236 287 Jr. Colleges 91 91 91 142 Jr. Womens Colleges 2 2 2 2 Professional Colleges 112 112 112 112 Law Colleges 31 31 31 31 Other Department F Colleges 14 14 14 14 Jr. Colleges 12 12 12 12 Jr. Womens Colleges 1 1 1 1 Composite Colleges 1 1 1 1 Source: Census of India Cited in Statistical Abstract of Odisha, 2012, pp.451,

Research Questions The research questions of the present study are:

1. What are the impacts of the higher education on the tribal students in Odisha? Objectives

The following objective of the study; 2. To study the impact of higher education on tribal students in Odisha. Importance of Education Higher education is one of the most important empowering tools for an individual. It lays the foundation for a better life. Higher education prepares and trains skilled workers at all level to manage capital, technology, services and administration in every sector of the economy. There is no denying the fact that higher education is important for economic and social development. Higher education supplies the economy with the necessary knowledge, training and qualification to meet the needs for economic development. Hence, higher education is an important factor not only to provide the new generation with skills so essential for earning a livelihood, but also to create among them awareness to social and environmental realities. Method

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The study based on the secondary source information with exploratory in nature.

Discussion on Impact of Higher Education

1) Equity

The constitution guarantees equality of opportunity to all section of society in terms of access to education and employment opportunities. Taking note of historical injustice to alienated communities like SC & ST special provision were subsequently added in Article 15 & 16 to promote the goal of egalitarianism. The Supreme Court in M. Nagaraj case 2006 has endorsed such affirmative action by the state as not violative of right to equality. Income inequality is expressed in terms of GINI Coefficient and India shows a persistently high degree 0.334 despite the economic liberalization initiatives during the last two decades. Since higher education provides an opportunity for high skilled employment. It would therefore be interesting to find how far GER of 7.7% has impacted schedule tribe of the society & promoted opportunities for higher employability in the global market.

2) Quality

According to a recent government report 2/3rd of India‟s college and universities are below standards. Further the previous HRD Minister had assessed that we will need 800 new universities and 40000 new colleges to meet the aim of 30% GER by 2030. Such a massive expansion would need to have significant private sector initiatives. Besides to ensure quality foreign universities of repute would need to be invited to either set independent operations or collaborate with existing Indian universities. The initiative taken by the present government to set up 5 more IITs and IIMs is therefore eminently welcome.

3) Health

The positive association between higher education and health is well established but explanations for this association are not. Well educated people experience better health than the poor educated, as indicated by high levels of self reported health and physical functioning and low levels of morbidity, mortality and disability. In contrast, low educational attainment is associated with high rates of infection disease, many chronic non infectious diseases; self reported poor health, shorter survival when sick, and shorter life expectancy. The positive association between health and socioeconomic status, whether measured by education, occupation or income, is largely due to the effects of socioeconomic status on health, not vice

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versa, and downward morbidity among persons in poor health cannot explain the association (Sekhar, 2006).

Higher education in particular and education in general which affected on health in the development of any community. Both higher education and education play an important role as human resources in all over the world specifically for the marginalise people. Schedule tribes have fallen victims to the exploitation of the middlemen, merchants, and moneylenders on account of their illiteracy and ignorance. Expansion of higher education in a community, by and large, depends on the important factors, such as universal provision of school in, universal enrolment and retention of pupils in school till they complete the prescribed course. One can expect that the education system will become not only a key mechanism for the economic development of various section of its people but also a powerful instrument for accelerating the process of social changes (Dash, 2013).

4) Empowerment

Higher education creates empowerment among the people. They can aware about their health and take better prevention for better health. They can also secure their natural resources and property. For development of marginalised section various tribal institution have established in all over nation still poor became poorer and rich became richer process running here. The people who are aware about their right not trying to inform others in their same communities for that development in grass root level is not possible (Das, 2013).

5) Public Private Partnership (PPP)

Sectors like telecom, airports, national highways and power have witnessed significant progress through Public Private Partnership models and have brought in significant FDI inflow into the country. During the 12th plan an investment of one trillion dollar is proposed through a PPP route within the ratio of 50:50. While economic infrastructure is very high on government agenda the social infrastructure like education which is a vital complement to overall economic growth has been given a short shrift. It would be worthwhile to draw experience of other countries like Sweden, Germany, Singapore & China where the PPP model has worked wonders. The key success factors have been agreement on shared objectives from the beginning of the partnership and political will for participation of the private sector, transparency and accountability within the PPP. Sweden has regarded higher education as a „merit good‟ and has a long tradition of substantial public spending. It has

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substantive relationship with the private sector which includes sharing of roles, responsibility, risks and rewards. In Germany, public commitment to take most risks has encouraged many small private enterprises to participate in the PPP model. Such models have important lessons for India (Ibid, p.59).

6) Regulatory Mechanism

The Yashpal Committee and Knowledge Commission have strongly recommended for establishment of an autonomous overarching National Commission for Higher Education and Research for prescribing standards of academic quality and defining policies for advancement of knowledge in higher educational institutions. Besides accreditation in higher education should be done through an Independent regulatory authority. There is a near unanimity in view that existing regulatory control by UGC, created under Act of 1956 is not lending itself to quality improvement flexibility in charging fees, offering reasonable remuneration to teachers & finalization of curriculum of either public or private universities. UGC‟s primordial concern is with central and elite universities like DU, JNU etc. This has to be abdicated in favour of a regulatory mechanism which is academically less asphyxiating. Arvind Panagariya (2012) makes a powerful plea against such frustrating control mechanism of UGC and recommends privatization to bring quality improvement. In this context is must be mentioned that there is a dissonance in the approach of the UGC and Knowledge Commission under Mr. Pitroda. While the UGC is pitching for greater inclusivity and improving GER in small places which name less than the national average, the Knowledge Commission is aiming at exclusivity, augmenting framework for encouraging private players and foreign collaboration and maximal cost recovery through tuition fees. An independent regulatory body with the thrust to improve research and collaboration should be seriously looked at (Ibid,p.59).

7) Allocation

It may be recalled that Dr. Kothari (1964) had recommended that the government should spend at least 6% of its Gross Domestic Product on education. However in over 45 years we have been able to achieve around half its target. The Knowledge Commission under Sam Pitroda (2009) additionally recommended an increase of at least 1.5% of GDP for higher education (Ibid, p.59).

8) Research and Development

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Research and higher education are complementary to each other. According to HDR 2014 the expenditure on R&D in the field of Science & Technology as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) was 0.8% in the year 2012-2013 in India. However developed countries like Korea (3.7%), Japan (3.4%), USA (2.9%) and Germany (2.8%) spend substantially higher amount compared to India. India‟s higher education institutions are poorly connected to research centres and there is no synergy between research initiatives and industry requirement (Ibid, p.60).

9) Policy Initiatives

The Constitution of India (Article 293) provides the criteria by which Indian citizens, can be classified by “ST” by the President of India. Article 15 & 16 provides special safeguards for them in the matter of entry into educational institutions & employment to government jobs. Schedule 5 & 6 delineate the special responsibility given to the Governor of states in the matter of law, order, economic development and preservation of special legal rights like PESA & Forest Rights. However, education holds the key to true empowerment. Accordingly the Kothari Commission (1966) emphasized the need for bolster of Science & Technology education and suggested for 6% allocation of GDP. A National Policy on Education (1982) emphasized the maxim of equal access to education of comparable quality to all. The neoliberal trends in education began with Ambani-Birla report (2000) which envisioned the creation of a knowledge based economic & society and use of pay policy supported by loan schemes and financial grants for economically backward section. The Sam Pitroda’s Knowledge Commission (2009) recommended expansion of the number of universities in the country autonomy of the universities to set student fee levels, commercial use of university facilities and private sector finance to attract not for profit private investment. The Narayan Murthy Report (2012) recommended autonomy in finance, regulatory, academic and administrative aspects, attracting funding, public private partnership and enabling environment for free movement of faculty and students to promote collaboration with world class institutions abroad. In other words the last decade has made a strong pitch for PPP, increasing privatizing and tie-up with foreign universities. The draft national education policy (2016) envisions that a credible and high performing education system capable of ensuring inclusive quality education and lifelong learning opportunities for all and producing students/graduates equipped with the knowledge, skills, attitude and values that are required to lead a productive life, participate in the country’s development process, respond to the requirements of the fast-changing, ever globalizing, knowledge-based economy and society.

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In other words, the new policy combines inclusivity with quality to harness the opportunity available in the global market for skill based employment. In this backdrop it would be interesting to analyze the initiatives taken by the varied government towards education of the tribals (Ghadai, 2016,p.91).

The post-matric scholarship scheme is a single intervention by the government of India for educational empowerment of tribal students, with the rate of scholarship and income ceiling to be revised. The following table would provide a flavor of these scholarships. The Rajiv Gandhi national fellowship scheme was launched in 2006 for financial assistance to ST students pursuing M.Phil and Ph.D. Entrepreneurship should be developed among tribal youths; one of the reasons for the tribal community being economically backward is because they lack the skill in business (Ibid, p.92).

10) Educational Development Initiatives

The state government have undertaken various measures like providing free education, scholarships, Hostel facilities, free distributions of text books, garments and imparting special coaching to prepare them for requirement to state and all India services as well as for seeking admission to engineering/medical courses. In order to increase the enrollment and reduce the drop out rate at primary school level, mid-day medal scheme has been introduced (Behera, 2014, p.141).

Conclusion

The above discussion shows that despite of having the location in the tribal area in the state of Odisha, the tribal students of this state are not getting benefit of higher education because of various sociological drawbacks like poverty, unemployment, regional disparity and illiteracy etc. However, the tribal students are getting changes to participate in higher education in some extent due to policy initiative, increase funding, equity, quality, research, health and empowerment etc.

Recommendations

Regarding on the discussion on reasons behind respondents entry and expected policy measures for them researcher is recommending about some policy measures for them which

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may facilitate to them and their education and these measures may able to growth the higher education and create interest of present generation to entry into this occupations.

1) The government should provide easy loan facilities with very less interest to tribal students. 2) Stipend or scholarship should be on time accurate amount should be given according to the expenditure as well as admission fees.

References

1. Bal, M. (2014). Equity and Excellence in Higher Education: A Case Study of Convergence in Kiss Odisha, IOSR Journal of Economics and Finance (IOSR-JEF), 5(2), PP 57-61, e-ISSN: 2321-5933, p-ISSN: 2321-5925, www.iosrjournals.org DOI: 10.9790/5933-0525761 2. Behera, S.(2015). Access to Higher Education For Tribals in India, International Journal of Advanced Research in Management and Social Sciences, 4(7), pp.324- 328, ISSN: 2278-6236, www.garph.co.uk 3. Daripa, S.K. (2017)Tribal Education in India : Government Initiative and Challenges International Journal of Research in Social Sciences, Vol. 7 Issue 10, PP-156-166, ISSN: 2249-2496, http://www.ijmra.us. 4. Dash, A. (2013). Relates on Tribal Education and Health: Evidence from Rural Odisha, India, International Research Journal of Social Sciences,2(11), P.11-16, ISSN; 2319–3565, www.isca.in , www.isca.me 5. Educational statistic at a glance (2018), Government of India, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Department of School Education & Literacy Statistics Division, New Delhi, 6. Ibid, pp.8 7. Ibid, pp.9 8. Ghadai, S.K. (2016). Inclusive & Quality Education for Tribals: Case Study Kiss (Odisha) Journal of Education and Practice, 7(28), P.90-95, ISSN 2222-1735 (Paper) ISSN 2222-288X (Online), www.iiste.org 9. Majumdar., R. & Sikdar, D.(2017) Participation of Tribal Women in Higher Education in India, International Journal of Arts, Humanities and Managemet Studies, Volume 03, Issue No.07, pp.8-16, ISSN NO.2395-0692. 10. Ibid,p-11

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11. Ibid, p-12 12. Ibid, p-14 13. Odisha Economic Survey (2014-15), Planning and Coordination Department, , February 2015, pp.1/1-10/4. 14. Sekhar,R.H.(2006). Influence Of Income And Education On Household Health Expenditure: The Case Of Tribal Orissa, “The Orissa Journal Of Commerce”, XXVIII(1), pp. 133-144, http://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/6511/ 15. Statistical Abstract of Odisha, (2012), Directorate of Economic & Statistics Odisha, , Government of Odisha, pp. 1-836

16. Tandi, S., & Tandi, S. (2019). Tribal Participation and Higher Education in Odisha, 2019, pp. 1-157, ISBN: 978-620-0-21985-5. LAP LAMBERT Academic Publishing, Editor- Liuba Esanu, International Book Market Service Ltd., OmniScriptun Publishing Group, 17 Meldrum Street, Beau Bassin 71504, Mauritius. Jul 2, 2019, 12:27 PM. 17. Thorat., S. & Senapati, C. (2007). Reservation in Employment education and legislative-Status and Emerging Issues, Indian Institute of Dalit Studies, working paper series,vol-II,no-5,pp1-46.

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