JOURNAL OF CRITICAL REVIEWS ISSN- 2394-5125 VOL 8, ISSUE 01, 2021 A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF TRIBAL EDUCATION DEVELOPMENT IN INDIA: WITH SPECIAL REFERENCES TO PURULIA DISTRICT, WEST BENGAL UTTAM KUMAR PATRA1, JIBANBANDHU GAYAK2, KHALID RAJA KHAN3, SK. KARIM4, SOURAV HALDER5, ARUP SEN6, GOBINDO PAUL7 1Faculty Member, Department of Geography , J . K . College, Purulia, West Bengal 723101 ,India. 2Ex Student , Department of Geography, S.K.B. University ,Purulia ,West Bengal ,India. 3SACT , Department of Geography, K. Mahavidyalaya ,Purulia ,West Bengal ,India. 4Research Scholar, Department of Migration and Urban Studies ,IIPS, Mumbai ,India. 5Faculty Member , Department of Geography , Prabhu Jagatbandhu College, West Bengal ,India. 6SACT , Department of Geography, S.M.M .College ,Purulia ,West Bengal ,India. 7Ex Student , Department of Geography, S.K.B. University ,Purulia ,West Bengal ,India. [email protected] ABSTRACT Education is one of the most important elements for development socio-economic conditions of any society. India is the second most populated countries in the world. According to the census of India (2011) tribal population share about 8.6% of total population in this country and their literacy rate is about 58.96%.West Bengal being one of the popular tribal concentrated states in India having almost 5.79% tribal people of the total population (census 2011). Purulia is the one of the most backward districts in West Bengal having huge amount tribal people living in the hilly and forested region, but their literacy rate is very much lower as most of the tribal people of this district are very much poor, socially deprived, unemployed, and cannot get proper social benefits due to their dispersed settlements. So, this paper tries to analyse the educational scenario of tribal peoples in West Bengal with special references to Purulia district. This paper also highlighted the reasons behind such backwardness in education, and suggests some positive remedies for educational development of tribal people in this district. ST literacy is very much poor in India, so this is one of the biggest obstacles to development of our society. But in recent times Indian government takes some necessary steps like tribal development policy, manage scholarships to tribal people, formulated educational committees and commissions, takes tribal reservation policies etc. For this the tribal literacy rates gradually increases in few years. So, these facilities and steps will be helpful in future for development of education among tribal communities in India as well as in Purulia district. KEYWORDS: Education, Literacy rate, Tribal and Backward class, Tribal development etc. INTRODUCTION: Education is the backbone of our society, it helps in all round development of persons, enabling them to attain superior attentiveness, better conception of their social, political and cultural atmosphere and also facilitates the development of their socio-economic circumstances(Guha.N, Das. P,2013-2014) .Mainly, development of a country or region mostly depends on its educational status and educational development. India is one of the biggest democratic countries with the total population of about 1.2 billion (Census 2011) and has total tribal population of about 10.42 crores, which comprise about 8.6% of India’s total population. But this largest tribal population might be economically disadvantaged due to several reasons. Total literacy rate of tribal people in India is 58.97% (Census of India 2011), which is very much lower as compared to total literacy rate of this country (74.4%). According to ‘Backward Class Commsstion’1956 and ‘Scheduled Area &Scheduled Tribe Commission’1962, tribal people are low educated because they are living in the dense forest area, which causes inadequate condition of school(Chakraborty.P,2019).Now, it is a fact that India cannot reach its goal of “Development for All” without the development of its 10.2 crores tribal people. And education is considered to be the most important means to enhance potentiality of subaltern class and literacy can cultivate and make them dexterous and transform them from a mere human being to a resourceful person, so they can easily develop their internal quality by themselves and easily overcome the barrier of their day to day life(Dripa.S.K). So, government of India takes some necessary tribal educational developmental policy to develop their educational status, because education is one of the 110 JOURNAL OF CRITICAL REVIEWS ISSN- 2394-5125 VOL 8, ISSUE 01, 2021 most valuable wealth to cultivate the potentiality of the tribal people and can develop them to skilful and convert them as a resourceful human being. ( Chakraborty. P,2019) The literacy rates among tribal population in West Bengal and Purulia district are 57.92% and 53.86% respectively, both the data are comparatively low than the average total literacy rate of India (Census of West Bengal 2011, and published data of BCW Department Government of West Bengal). The Scheduled tribe populations are one of the primitive populations of India as well as of West Bengal, which are mostly found in the western parts of this state and in the northern part also. But among the other districts, Purulia, Bankura and West Midnapur district has the most amount of tribal population in West Bengal. Though the state government of West Bengal takes some serious actions and steps regarding to tribal education and overall development, but the district Purulia is also lake behind in respect of educational development as well as economic prosperity among the tribal population. Being one of the most tribal dense districts of the state of West Bengal, it is necessary to evaluate the educational status and barriers of education among the tribal communities in this district. Therefore, the present paper tries to analyse the present condition of educational status among the tribal peoples of Purulia district, as the district is one of the most tribal populated districts in West Bengal. Being the part of “Jangal Mahal” huge amount of tribal people lives here. According to 2011 census 18.45% tribal people among total population lives in the Purulia district. Some studies claimed that Purulia district is one of the most backward districts because of huge amount of tribal people and this people backward in terms of their literacy status, poverty, hunger, uncomplicated school and education, malnutrition etc. Thus, this paper try to represent the scenario of the tribal educational development, reason for the backwardness in education among tribal people and give some betterment process of educational status of tribal people in Purulia district, West Bengal. OBJECTIVES: 1. To examine the educational scenario of the tribal people. 2. To find out the reasons of backwardness in education among the tribal people. 3. To find out the policy prescriptions have been made towards betterment of educational status of tribal people. DATABASE AND METHODOLOGY: Data Sources This study is based on secondary data. The data collected from District Statistical Department of Purulia, Census handbook of Purulia district, and Census of India 2011, Registrar General of India, Government of India Ministry of Tribal Affairs Annual Report 2018-2019, Selected Educational Statistical, M/HRD, 2010-2011 as well as secondary data has been collected from various paper, journals, books etc. Methods These collected data were analysed by various cartographical and statistical techniques, basically Bar graphs are mainly used to compare different data. We have discussed mainly 30 states in India because ST population is not concentrated in the other five states and UTs. STUDY AREA: Purulia District is the most tribal concentrated district in West Bengal and it is the part of the Chotanagpur plateau. Purulia district is located between 22º42'35" to 23º42'0" North latitude and 85º49'49' to 86º54'37" East longitude. The total geographical area of this district is 6259 sq kms (Census 2001). The district is bordered on the East by Paschim Medinipur, Bankura District, North by Bardhaman district of West Bengal and Dhanbad, Bokaro, Ranchi district (Jharkhand) in Western side and South by West Singbhum and East Singbhum. The main river is Kangsabati, Darakeswar, Subarnarekha, Kumari and Damodar and the important hill is Ajhodhya hill, Panchet hill, Joychandi hill. There are 20 Community Development Block, 20 police stations, 3municipalities located in this district. 111 JOURNAL OF CRITICAL REVIEWS ISSN- 2394-5125 VOL 8, ISSUE 01, 2021 (Fig:1) LOCATION MAP Brief description about tribal education in India: Education is the most important elements in the development of any community. Literacy rate is one of the most significant determinants to measure the percentage of literate among the people. Table 1: Decade wise literacy rate of Scheduled Tribe in India Literacy rate of Scheduled Year Literacy rate in India (%) Gap (%) Tribe (%) 1961 8.5 28.3 19.8 1971 11.3 34.5 18.2 1981 16.4 43.6 19.9 1991 29.6 52.2 21.6 2001 47.1 65.4 18.3 2011 59.0 74.0 14.0 Sources: Census of India, 2011 From the above table it is clear that the total literacy rate of India has been increased smoothly after independence, whereas, tribal literacy rates have been increased comparatively at a slow rate. That’s why there is a remarkable gap has been occurred between these two literacy rates during this time period. It is observed that in 1991 the gap between overall literacy of India and Scheduled Tribe literacy is very high. But after industrial liberalisation on 1991 and different types of initiatives for development of tribal community by government, student enrolment among tribal has increased. After the period of liberalization the literacy gap has decrease continuously which is a positive side for the tribal education. 112 Comparison of TotalJO UliteracyRNAL rateOF CR andITIC TribalAL RE VIEWS literacy rates in India (1961-2011) 80 ISSN- 2394-5125 VOL 8, ISSUE 01, 2021 70 60 Literacy rates of 50 Scheduled Tribe 40 (%) 30 Total literacy 20 rates in India (%) Literacy Rates (%)Rates Literacy 10 0 1961 1971 1981 1991 2001 2011 Year Fig.