SOCIO, ECONOMIC AND EDUCATIONAL STATUS OF TRIBAL WOMEN’S IN INDIA

The schedule tribes are designated group of people in India. They were also known as depressed classes. India is the second largest tribal dominated area after Africa. As many 550 tribal communities are residing in India. The tribal population in India, though a numerically small minority, represents an enormous diversity of groups. About 104 millions of people in India are members of schedule tribes which are 8% of total population; they are the most vulnerable groups. The tribal’s are found mostly in central belts of India and parts of north east. They share common dialects, common culture and at the same time vary in different aspects like- the size of population, modes of making livelihood, level of development, social satisfaction etc. since British rule tribal population has faced segregation. From being employed in tea gardens in northeast to post independence period.  Much progress in socio, economic and education has not been noted. In post independence period many efforts have been made for economic and social development of tribal’s but still the performance of tribal’s is much lower than schedule cast and schedule tribes. They have been subject to various forms of deprivation such as alienation from land and other resources.

India can be divided into six zones on the basis of distribution and population of tribal community :-

  1. North zone- tribes of region of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal, Punjab, Uttarakhand , UP and Bihar comes under this region
  2. North East zone- it includes Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Tripura Meghalaya and Mizoram.
  3. Central zone- it covers Chhattisgarh, MP, Western Rajasthan and north AP
  4. Southern zone- Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala
  5. Eastern zone- Jharkhand, West Bengal, Orissa and Bengal
  6. Island region- Andaman Nicobar and Lakshadweep

The schedule tribes in India form the largest proportion of population in Lakshadweep and Mizoram followed by Nagaland and Meghalaya.

Challenges of Tribal Women in Education

The status of women in society is a significant reflection of the level of social justice in the society. Tribal women had also been facing deprivation of various amenities like health, water, primary education etc. A tribal woman, like any other social group comprises of half of the population.

If you educate a man you educate an individual, however if you educate a women you educate whole family. Women empowered means mother India empowered- PT. Jawaharlal Nehru

Progress of the nation is impossible without education. Education is the key to success. Women have played a stable role in the society from daughter, sister, wife and mother. A woman is known as the first teacher of a child therefore education for women is certainly most important part of the development of society. Napoleon was once asked that what the great need for France was. They replied, progress of nation is impossible without educated mother. If women of my county are not educated, then half of the population remains illiterate.

There are more than 500 tribes in India as notified under article 342 of the Indian constitution in various states and union territories of the country. About 93% of tribal people live in rural areas and are engaged in agricultural activities. The trend of literacy of tribal people has increased since 1961. The percent of literacy of tribes in 1961 was only 8.54% which has increased to 58.96% in 2011. But the literacy rate of women in relatively low than men. The literacy a rate of women in 1961 was only 3.16 % but it has increased to 49.35 % in 2011. Bihar has the lowest tribal literacy rate and Kerala has the highest tribal literacy rate

In spite of educational initiatives, there is disparity between the states in case of tribal literacy rates. Low enrolment coupled with soaring dropout rates increases the problem.

There are many critical issues related to education of tribal women, which are discussed below:

  1. Location of village- most of the tribal communities are located in forest areas. Therefore it becomes impossible to open separate schools in each village. On the other hand, tribal habitations remain segregated from each other by some physical barriers like rivers, hills, forest etc. these barriers produce an obstacle for girls of tribal village to attend school in neighboring village. In this situation parents don’t allow girls to attend school
  2. Attitude of parents- most of the girls are living with their family. As per the study signifies, majority of parents do not have proper education and they are early dropouts. They have a different attitude towards the education of girls
  3. Economic conditions- the tribes depend on forests for 8 months and agriculture for 4 months. Most of the girls are found to be helping their parents in collection of forest products. In this situation parents do not spare their girls and allow them to attend schools.
  4. Lack of prohibition– due to bad coordination between the tribal welfare department and the school education department, proper monitoring is inhabited.

Socio- Economic Status:

The socio- economic status of tribal women is quite high the men in tribal areas.

She enjoys the right to decide about her marriage. Tribal women can divorce and marry again very easily because they are economical independent. They do not depend on male members for their living. They earn themselves

In some tribal areas there is a practice where one man can marry more than one woman which is known as polygamy.

The practice of bride price during marriage is quite common among tribal community. Surprisingly, in some areas, when the groom is not able to pay the price of bride, he has to render physical labor and service at the wife’s house.

A tribal woman is more independent then man. The socio economic status of tribal women is quite high than educational and health status.

Regulations made for tribal welfare

Pre independence:

  1. The schedule district act (1874) – it was the first step taken to deal with the tribal areas. The act granted special status for tribal dominated areas
  2. The Indian education commission (1882) – the commission favored the children of tribal’s by making payment of school fees and also made provisions of grants for the schools in tribal areas.
  3. Government of India act (1919 and 1935)- these acts proved to be very helpful for tribal’s. The areas which were covered by tribal community were declared as partially and fully excluded areas, restricting movements of common man.

Post Independence :-

Here are some provisions of Indian constitution inclined towards the tribal population as wholes-

  1. Part (c) of the article 244(1) says that: the expression schedule tribe means such areas as the President of Indian may from time to time declare to be schedule areas
  2. Article 15(4) prohibits discrimination on the grounds of religion, race, sex, caste. Clause 4 makes special provision for schedule cast and schedule tribes
  3. Article 16(4) says that state can make any provision for reservation of appointments on any post in favor of any backward class
  4. Article 19(5) says that state can impose reasonable restrictions on the exercise of any right either n interest of general public or for the protection of interest of schedule tribes
  5. Article 23 eliminates system of bondage labor. Most of the forced labor belongs to this community only.
  6. Article 29(2) says that no citizen shall be denied to any educational institution maintained by state fund on the grounds of religion, race, sex, caste
  7. Article 45 says that state shall provide free education for all children till the age of 14 years
  8. Article 46 talks about the promotion of educational and economic interests of the weaker section, especially schedule caste and schedule tribes to protect them from social injustice and exploitation
  9. Article 330, 332, 334 and 335 ensures reservation for SC and ST in the Lok Sabha and legislative assemblies
  10. Prevention of atrocities Act 1989– This act was enacted to prevent atrocities against the minors especially SC and ST and this act is also known as schedule tribe and schedule caste prevention act.

Conclusion

Despite many constitutional provisions and policies for the tribal population as whole, it is a hard reality that the tribal’s in general and tribal women in specific still are lagging in many aspects. Their low level of economic activities, social backwardness, low literacy and health level make it important for a systematic process of tribal development. Various programs are taken up for the development of tribal community and a lot of betterment has already been done, but still it requires a lot to be done. It is very important that importance of education must be explained to the tribal community so that they can get jobs in urban areas which will lead to overall development of the community.

There are certain suggestions which can improve their social status in the society, which are as follows:

  1. Literacy campaign- a proper awareness campaign must be organized in tribal areas to make them aware about importance of education.
  2. Attitude of tribal parents– it is very important that the attitude of tribal parents towards girl education must be changed.
  3. Stipends and scholarships– since higher education amongst the schedule tribe is very less, the government should provide them with scholarships so that they be well educated
  4. Residential schools– the government of tribal areas must try to build a school in almost every village so that parents can send their daughters to schools without worrying much.

Appointment of tribal teachers– it is suggested that tribal teachers should be appointed in tribal schools because they share common culture and common dialects, it will be easy for students to understand.

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