Scope of Education among Tribal Children in Telangana

Abstract

Tribes are the people with a different way of living and community life. They are living in definite geographical area. They have their own culture, customs, religious belief etc which make them different from other tribal community. Scheduled Tribes in India are generally considered to be ‘Adivasis,’ meaning indigenous people or original inhabitants of the country. The tribes have been confined to low status and are often physically and socially isolated instead of being absorbed in the mainstream Hindu population. Psychologically, the Scheduled Tribes often experience passive indifference that may take the form of exclusion from educational opportunities, social participation, and access to their own land. They belong to different racial stocks and religious backgrounds and speak different dialects. Discrimination against women, occupational differentiation, and emphasis on status and hierarchical social ordering that characterize the predominant mainstream culture are generally absent among the tribal groups. Adivasis are not as a general rule regarded as unclean or polluted in the same way as the Scheduled Caste population is perceived by the mainstream culture. However, the mainstream Hindu population considers the general tribal population as primitive, technologically backward, and illiterate. The literacy scenario of the Scheduled tribes, in general, is below the literacy rate of the general population of the country. This paper focuses on the education of tribal children and the hurdles they face.