CHAPTER! INTRODUCTION 1:1 Historical Development of Tribal Education in India- Informal approach. 1:2 Formal approach of Tribal Education 1:3 Beginning of formal Education Among Tribal in India Pre-independence period. 1:4 Christian Missionaries and Educational Development among Tribals. 1:5 Educational Development among Tribals in India - After Independence. 1:6 Tribals 86 Indian Constitution in regard to Education 1:7 Availability of Schools 1:8 Drop-out at primary, Middle 86 Secondary Levels. 1:9 Socio-Economic aspects of Tribal Education 1:10 Specific causes and factors Leading to educational Deprivation of the Tribals. 1:11 Educational Development of Tribals in Maharashtra 1:12 Ashram Schools- The Role of State Govt. 1:13 Tribal Sub-Plan - A Special Strategy. 1:14 Tribal Education in Nashik District 1:15 Tribal Education in Dhule District 1:16 Tribal Education in Satana (Baglan) Kalwan, and Sakri Talukas. / i INTRODUCTION India has been rightly described as a 'melting pot' of races and tribes, considering the enormity, magnitude and complexity of the problem it is really a very difficult task for the pre-historian and anthropologist to arrange the people and cultures of India in the chronological sequence of their appearance on this sub-continent. India has the largest concentration of Tribal population in the world. The tribals are the autochthonous people of the land who are believed to be the earliest settlers in Indian Peninsula. ^ They are generally called the "adivasis" , implying original inhabitants.2 The ancient and medieval sources of information including the Vedic and the Epic literature mention various tribes like the Bharatas, the Bhils, the Kollas, the Kiratas, the kinnaras, the Kiris the Matsyas, the Nisadas and the Banars. Prior to the introduction of the caste system during Brahminic Age, people were divided into various tribes. A tribe was homogeneous and self-contained unit without any hierarchical discrimination. Each tribe enjoyed equal status. Each tribe had its own system of administration. There was de­ centralization of authority among the tribes. The traditional tribal institutions were vested with legislative judicial and executive powers. 1. Tribal India Today-Nadeem Hasnain-Harnam Publication, Delhi - 193; Page-7 2. Indian Tribes Through the ages -R.C.Verma - Ministry of I 85 B, Govt, of India-1990; page No. 4 a) Demographic Profile: Nearly ^1.1^ million persons were counted in 1991 census as belonging to scheduled Tribes in different states/ union territories in India excluding Jammu 85 Kashmir, constituting 8.08% of the total population. The percentage of scheduled tribes has marginally increased from 7.83% in 1981 to 7.95% in 1991. The tribal population has increased by 25.67% during the decade 1981-1991. This growth rate is more than the growth of the total population of the country (23.79%). In some of the states and union territories the population was predominantly scheduled tribe for example, in Mizoram 94.75% of the total population belongs to scheduled tribes. The other states/UT with predominantly scheduled tribe population were Lakshadweep (93.15%), Nagaland (87.70%), Meghalaya (85.53), Dadra 85 Nagar Haveli (79.99%) 85 Arunachal Pradesh (63.66), Manipur 86 Tripura also had substantial proportion of population as scheduled Tribes, the respective proportions being 34.41 and 30.95% .Among the 15 major states Madya Pradesh had the largest proportion of tribal population (23.27%) followed by Orissa (22.21%), Gujarat, Assam 86 Rajasthan were the other three major states in which more than 10% of the population belonged to scheduled Tribes, the respective percentage being 14.92, 12.82 and 12.44. Of the total scheduled Tribe population of 67.76 million counted in different states /UTS in India, 22.73% are in Madhya Pradesh, 10.80% in Maharashtra and 10.38% in Orissa. Thus, roughly 44% of the scheduled Tribe population of India live in these three states only. Going a little further, 71% of the scheduled tribe population of India live in a six states, viz. Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Bihar 85 Orissa. In terms of absolute numbers, the scheduled Tribe population vi^as 15.4 million in Madhya Pradesh, 7.3 million in Maharashtra, 7.0 million in Orissa, 6.6 million in Bihar, 3.8 million in West Bengal, 2.9 million in Assam 1.9 million in Gujarat, 5.5 million in Rajasthan, 4.2 million in Andhra Pradesh, 1.9 million in Karnataka, 1.5 million in Meghalaya and 1.1 million in Nagaland. All other states and union territories together had a little over 4 million scheduled Tribe population; there being absolutely no tribal population recognized in Harayana, Punjab, Chandigarh, Delhi 86 Pondicherry. Rural -Urban distribution of scheduled tribe population:- only 7.39% of the tribal population in India live in urban areas as compared to 25.73% of the general population. Thus, roughly 93% of the scheduled tribe population are rural based. Of the 15 major states, only 3 states, viz. Karnataka, Maharashtra and Tamilnadu had more than 10% of their tribal population, living in urban areas; the respective percentages being 14.94, 12.47 and 12.01. The percentage of tribal population living in urban areas in other major states are; Andhra Pradesh (7.6%) Orissa (5.1), Rajasthan (4.6), Uttar pradesh (5.9), and West Bengal (5.2), Children in the age group 0 to 6 & sex ratio :- The children in the age group 0 -6 constitute 20.18% of the tribal population in India as against 17.94% for the total population. Thus, the scheduled Tribe population had a relatively higher population of children than the general population. The sex ratio (defined as females per 1000 males) for the schedule^Tribe population was 972, Thus sex ratio among the total population (927). b) Regional Variations:- The tribes dispersed all over the country not only speak different languages, They also differ from one another in racial, language, socio-economic and cultural patterns; The dominant racial type among the Indian tribal communities except those living in the sub- Himalayan belt belong to proto-Australoid racial type is prevalent. A negrito element is also found in some parts of the south Indian tribes. However among the tribals in all the regions of India, there appears a varying degree of Mediterrean admixture. The tribal languages in India belong to all the major language families. Dravidian is the most predominant language used by the tribes in south India. Austria and Tibeto-Burmese languages are spoken by tribes in Eastern India 86 North, Eastern regions, respectively. Based on the historical, ethnic and socio-cultural aspects, the Indian tribes living in different regions can be divided into 6 territorial groupings. (i) In southern Indian Region- Tribes like Chenchu, Irula, Kadar, Kota, Toda & others having Negrito, Caucasoid and proto-Australoid or mixed physical features live in region covering the states of Kerala, Tamilandu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. (ii) Middle Indian Region:- In the older hills and Chota Nagar plateu along the dividing lines between peninsular India and the Indo-genetic basin live many tribal communities like the Gond, Santhal, Bhumji, Ho, Oraon, Munda, Korwa and other comprising the states of Bihar, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, 86 West Bengal mostly belonging to the proto-Australoid racial stock. (iii) Western Indian Region- Covering the states like Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa 85 Union territories like the Daman 8& Diu, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, inhabit a number of tribal communities the most important of them being the Bhils, racially belonging to the proto-Australoid group. (iv) Central & Western Sub Himalayan Region- In the region comprising the states of Sikkim, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Harayana and Jammu 85 Kashmir live Lepcha, Rabha, Tharu and other tribes mostly belonging to Mongoloid race. (v) Eastern sub Himalayan Region:- In the mountain valleys and other areas of North-Eastern India covering the states like Arunachal Praesh,Assain, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura live tribes like the Abor, Garo, Khasi, Kuku and others who mostly belong the Mongoloid racial stock, (vi) Island Regions- In the Andman & Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep Islands live a number of small and large tribes like Great Andamanese, onge, sentineless, Nicobarese, belonging to Negrito and Mangoloid racial orgin. c) Occupational Profile :- The work participation rate (total workers as percentage of total population) of the scheduled Tribe population is 49.30% which is much higher than that for the general population (37.46%). This is primarily due to very high participation rates among the scheduled Tribe women. In case of males, the work participation rate of sechedule tribe population is 54.74% which is somewhat higher than that of the total population (51.55). But the female work participation rate among the scheduled Tribes is 43.71% as against 22.25% for the total population of the country. The female work participation rate is generally quite high in most of the states and union territories. Among the major states, the highest female work participation rate among the scheduled tribes is found in Andhra Pradesh (50.63%)) and the lowest in West Bengal (27.43%). The tribal population is largely rural based which has a higher female participation rate than the Urban population. Secondly, the scheduled tribe population may be engaged predominantly in such activities as forestry, Which are female oriented. Thirdly, because of the extremely poor literacy level of tribal women, the school going female population would be much less thereby increasing the participation of younger girls in economic activity. 90.03% of the main workers among the scheduled Tribes are in the primary sector, 3.85% in the secondary sector and 6.12% in the tertiary sector.