ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at the systematic exclusion of the Scheduled Tribes with regard to educational attainment vis-à-vis all social groups, including the Dalits. While number of commissions and committees were constituted by the government to address the economic and social plight of the STs, education of the tribal population has continued to be marginalised in educational policy and planning. Apart from strategies including setting up of Ashram, Eklavya, and KGBV schools and developing multilingual texts (that too on a pilot basis), there has not been any holistic approach to seriously address issues of access, retention, and most importantly learning related issues of tribal communities.
This chapter further notes that the educational status of tribes is far poorer than the non-Schedule Areas and also the Schedule Six Areas. The reasons behind poor educational participation beyond elementary include lack of access, failure to develop an educational programme that is suitable for Schedule V Areas, impact of poor nutrition and malnourishment on the cognitive development of children, many tribal areas are affected by conflicts, and governance issues facing the education sector.
