ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the education trajectory in the State of Odisha while focusing, through both primary and secondary data, as to the gendered dimension of residential schools and what they have done to tribal cultures and languages. The theme of education of disadvantaged persons is high on the agenda of India particularly Odisha because it is related to a much wider phenomena: growing deprivation and social exclusion. The institutionalization of education has destroyed the very fabric of tribal communities in Odisha and India. In light of the evidence provided above, it is important to consider whether one should tread the path of residential schools as being one of the main 'choices' for remotely based 'tribal' people. Since then much has been written on the impact of colonisers on education of indigenous populations around the world, the stolen generations amongst the Australian aboriginals, and in many instances even extending as far as the genocide of indigenous populations.
