While discussing to understand in nutshell the structure of tribal societies and the nature of tribal cultures. In India there are a large variety of 283 scheduled tribes; out of which there are 62 in Orissa. They generally inhabit in forests, hills, plateaus and naturally isolated regions, and hence are variously designated as vanya jati (forest cast), varansi (forest inhabitants), girijana (hill people), adimjati (primitive castes), janjati (folk communities), adivasi (original settlers) and several such other nomenclatures which signify either their ecological-economic or historical-cultural characteristics.
Culture of a community has got to be studied so as to find to growth-negative and growth-positive elements in it, and particularly, with regard to educational development such an exercise is not only necessary but also unavoidable. The system of education that is operative in India is, by and large, a western model, specifically a British one. The British had introduced their system of education in India with a view to creating an elite class in Indian society who would assist and interpret the British administration. This system of education has no doubt been modified from time to time since independence, but the core structure still persists. Most of the castes and some of the tribal communities have succeeded in articulating with the prevailing system of education and their performance are not unsatisfactory, but the achievement of most other tribal communities, by and large, is inadequate.
In this context, it is imperative to discuss those features of tribal cultures that are repugnant to and those others that are compatible with the on-going system of formal education. There are certain constraints in tribal culture, which render difficult spreading in formal education among the tribes. Tribal eco-systems or habitats constitute a major constraint that prevents generation of any zeal of formal education. Analysis of a culture always begins with the examination of physical environment or habitat which the examination of physical environmental or habitat which has shaped it. Culture is invariably shaped and reshaped by its specific physical world, that is, the eco-system. Tribal eco-systems or habitants are mostly forest and halyards as well as plateaus and naturally isolated reigions.geophysically tribal habitats have certain distinguishing characteristics. Each tribal habitat is picturesque being abound with which the culture of the native is intimately associated. The dense vegetation cover around the settlement consisting of deciduous and ever green plants and creepers regularly yield fruits, nuts tuber, juice, timber, fuel, flex, fodder, greens, leaves, medicines, resin, lac, shells, beads, seeds, fibers and a variety of other materials. For the tribal the forest is the perennial source of food, drink, shelter, pleasure, pastime and sport. In other words, the forest is rich pleasure, pastime and sport. The vast verdant expense of forest, its pristine glory the roars, howls and growl of carnivores, screams, snarls and wheezes of herbivorous, chirps and songs of birds, rumbling of the wind and clutter of the streams not only constantly break the monotony of the forest entice but also fascinate the tribal perpetually.
The glamour of tribal habitat is so strong that the tribal child right from infancy remains submerged and inebriated in the splendor and vehemence of its richness and scenic beauty. Very splendor and vehemence of its richness and scenic beauty. Very quickly he becomes an inextricable part of his habitat through apprehension of the sleepy hillocks, undulating plateaus, rolling ridges, girdled by chains of tortuous streams and rivulets and the medley of flora and fauna in the labyrinth of the forest. The tribal child, living with his parents in the village is gradually exposed to the total environment around and his knowledge of the habitat steadily increases as he develops an intimae relationship with it.
As compared to the home atmosphere the scene and composition of the school are very different from each other. When the tribal child comes to school he find himself in an altogether different world. He is periodically separated from the company of his usual peers, and on the contrary asked to adjust to the discipline of the school.
He disdains the sudden curtailment of his freedom. In addition to this, the village schoolteacher who is most often a non-tribal and even if he is a tribal, he belongs to a different tribe, and unable to speak the language of the tribal child and the latter is generally a monolingual. The home culture of the tribal child and the school culture almost parallel to each other, and hardly there is any meeting point between them. Therefore, the tribal child becomes nonplus and initially loses normal composure in the school atmosphere.
Tribe of India belongs to four language families, namely (a) Indo-European (b) tibeto-chinese (c) Austro-Asiatic and (d) Dravidian. Typologically each language family is distinct from other. Languages belongings to a language family arte genealogically related and therefore communications between them is somewhat easy, but not between languages of different language families, for instance, if a pre-primary or primaryeducant’s home language belongs to Dravidian language family and the school language belongs to the Indo-European, then the problem of communication and comprehension for the child is insurmountable. It is, therefore, appropriate to introduce a bilingual transfer model in order to overcome this problem. This is an academic strategy likely to serve the educational purpose of minority children better, whose home language is different from their language in use. The transfer model aims is different from their languages in use. The transfer model aims at a smooth transfer to the school language by the end of the primary stage. It assumes that the linguistic wealth of the child must be fully used in the classroom in the interest of better education. It envisages a time- bound gradual transfer to the school language from the linguistic wealth of the native children.
The next constraint is the tribal economy, which in most cases a below subsistence level one. It invariably consists of variety of activities, as the income from any particular source is utterly inadequate for a living. Tribal economic pursuits are mere struggles for survival, in which all members of the family are engaged. Although it is free from greed, hoarding chicanery manipulation and clandestine dealings, it is always subject to rampant external exploitation. External vested interests siphon out innocent and honest, and is prompted in all his actions by a rationalistic conception of self-interest, and achieving his aims directly and with the minimum of effort. He works being prompted by motives of highly complex, social and traditional nature and aims, which are certainly directed towards the satisfaction of present wants or to the direct achievement of utilitarian purposes.
Forest is the treasurer- house and important source of tribal livelihood. Forest produces supplement the meager income of the tribal from his main economic pursuit i.e. agriculture, shifting cultivation or any other. In their economic activities tribes depend mostly on their own labour. In the past there were no employers and employed in tribal societies. Tribal considered it derogatory to work on payment and therefore no hired labour way available in tribal societies. Now, of course, things have changed, in addition to cooperative and exchange labour, hired labour is available. But whether it may be in tribal societies everyone continues to participate directly or indirectly in economic activities of the family. Men and women are equal partners in work.
Small children in tribal societies do not remain idle. They assist their parents in a variety of ways. They take care of younger brothers and sisters in the absence of parents, tend the domesticated animals and birds and remain useful to parents as apprentices. As such they are no spared for schooling. Their absence at home brings additional problems to their parents. Thus their poor economic condition and the nature to their subsistence economy function as deterrents for the spread of formal education among them.
The next factor that hinders the growth of formal education among t he tribes is laxity of sex. This apart, what is more important is the exposure to sex-life relatively early in age. Chastity has different meanings in different cultures, its meaning is culture-specific, and hence it has no universal standards. At an incredible early age tribal children get initiated into sexual life. The young ones often indulge in innocent looking plays of childhood, which are erotic and not innocuous as they appear. In most cases, as the children grow up, they live in some sort of free-love through their dormitory life, which sometimes develop into more permanent attachments, one of which ends up in marriage. Before this is reached, unmarried boys and girls are openly supposed to be quiet free to do what they like, and are openly supposed what they like, and there are even ceremonial arrangements by which the girls of a village move in a body to another place, there they engage themselves for inspection and each is chosen by a local boy belonging to a different descents group, with whom she spends a night.
Every time a girl favors her lover, some small gift has to be given immediately. This is the case in normal intrigues, going on frequently, between unmarried boys and girls belonging to different descent groups and in more ceremonial cases of indulgence some special gifs are to be given. This keeps the mind of the young boys engaged, who other prepare a gift wasting time and energy or buy the same from a nearby weekly market.
Sex is powerful drive, which culture contains and channalizes. Channalization of sex in tribal societies is different from those of the peasant and urban societies. In tribal societies the general orientation is that as vim, vigor and vitality are short lived, one must have his/ser share of sex, and to have sex is only human. What the tribal societies expect is that one must follow the prescribed rules while indulging in sex.
The next factor, which impedes the spread of formal education, is the worldview of the tribal. Worldview accounts for an individual’s psyche and his attitude towards his natural, social and supernatural world in time and space. Indeed these determine his attitude to work, leisure, health, sickness, economic development, and attainment of formal education and rest of the things of life.
Culture shapes the personality traits of its bearers and a particular culture shapes these as per its specific ethos or spirits. This has been amply demonstrated by psychological anthropologists and by Max Weber in this book, the ‘protestant which and the spirit of capitalism’. Thus an individual’s attitude to his physical, social a supernatural world is shaped y his culture. Worldview determines the tribe’s concept of good life and happy life, which can be analyzed either as conducive or antithetical to secularism, modernization, attainment of formal education and a host of other things.
Good-life involves ethical domain and value judgments and hence is normative; whereas happy life is more value free but not norm less and it is merely not loaded with ethical preoccupations
For the tribal disease, sickness and death are natural phenomena and there is no full proof protection against these. Non-human or supernatural forces control all these. However, in spite of theses impeding unavoidable hazards life is meant for enjoyment. He believes that when he is born as a man he has a natural right to live and has socially, permissible freedom to enjoy life. Happiness consists in being free to enjoy one self without restrictions of time-frame or work-0routine. It does not mean that the tribal is not amendable to time frame certainly he is, but he resents right time schedule and considers it as an anathema. Normally one develops this sort of orientation at the pre-adolescent stage of life, which is the proper time for schooling.
As the youthful vigor declines with the dissipation of physical energy one necessarily turns away from ‘happy-life’ and steers towards “good life” which is more closely integrated to the moral order of the society. Love for fun, frolic and freedom from social responsibility, steadily fades away. In the later half of life, the tribal fully conforms to the belief pattern that he must live in peace and harmony with his physical environment, social milieu and the supernatural world.
Literacy and educational attainment are proverbially low among the tribal women and girl child. It is a type of social neglect, which has represented them as the weakest the most disadvantages group among the weaker sections. It warrants disadvantageous group among the weaker sections. While assessing the social status of tribal women in any society, some characteristic features, such as actual treatment, legal status, opportunity for public activity and the character and extent of participation in labour force (c.f. lowie, 1953:177-194) come to forefront. It is quite usual to think that the status of women is high in matriarchal societies ands low in patrilocal societies. But this analyze he status of women in tribal societies in Orissa, which are characterized as patriarchal, patrilocal and patrilineal. Although there is masculine authority, descent is counted in male line, property is inherited from father to son; women play active role in labor force participation outside their domestic chores. Tribal women substantially contributed to the common economic pool of the family. They do not participate in tribal council meetings where politico-jural matters are taken up. They have also very limited roles in religious and ritual actives. In spite of all these facts, the position of women in tribal communities in Orissa is not extremely low. They participate in activities concerning production and reproduction. They exercise their option in selecting the marriage partner an their choice in this regard are taken as final. They maintain the family, take care of children and actively participate in domestic chores. But in the fields of education/literacy an health care they are neglected. Consequent upon the introduction of panchayat raj, democratic devolution constitution of self help groups (SHGs) and creating of awareness for women empowerment, the status of women in the promotion of literacy/education and health care facilities for women and girl child are felt needs. Thus it is essential to take special care for the purpose.
Tribe in the past, though were non-literate, certainly possessed their own systems of indigenous informal education. The dimensions of informal education emphasized community involvement and acquisition of competence as effective members of society. Even today, the core of informal education consists of instructions on world-view, more practical rather than theoretical, and well adopted to suit the typical needs of the society. In other words informal education is designed to make the child ready for the world, which emphasize conceptualization rather than acquisition of agricultural and other techniques in practical situations.
The syllabi of pre-primary education of tribal should be different from those of the non-tribal, and while designing these due importance must be given to their rational processes and logical thinking operative in tribal mind. At this stage the medium of instruction need be the mother –tongue of traibls, which may be substituted by the regional and national language through a process of gradualism. The system of education which is to be imparted to tribal children should articulate with their of education which is to be imparted to tribal children should articulate with their natural intelligence. Therefore, it is necessary that the curriculum of education include a part of tribal culture. This, of course, necessitates knowledge of tribal cultures; without which development planning is likely to result in failure.
THE ORISSA SITUATION
In Orissa there are 62 scheduled tribes, and out of this 13 communities, namely the Lodha, Kharia, Mankiridia, Juang, Paudi Saora, Didayi, Birhor and Chuktia Bhunjia have been identified as primitive. There are also some advanced tribal communities in the state, such as the santhal, Hol, Munda, Bhumij, Kondha, Bhuniya, Bathudi, Oraon, Kisan and Gond.
The total tribal population of the states is 7,032,214 as per the 1991 census, out of this only 361,708 live in urban areas and the rest reside in rural areas. All the 62 schedule tribe communities of the state are classifiable into three categories, namely (i) indo-Aryan (ii) Austro-Asiatic (Mndari) and (iii) Dravidian. The speeches of tribal communities of the Indo-Aryan category are the variant dialects of the regional language; whereas each of the tribal communities of the other two categories has its distinctive speech. The tribeto-Burmese language family is absent in Orissa.
The provision of universal elementary education has all along been conceived as an integral part of the education, a legacy of nineteenth century elitism, begins with a single point entry, sequential and full-time process of institutional instructions provided by professional and full-time process of institutional instructions provided by professional and full-time teachers in the schools and colleges.
In order to eliminate the upper class bias various alternative paradigms had been suggested from time to time to universalize primary education for all children in the age group of 6 to 10. But no serious thought has been paid to any of them. For effective integration of the masses with the classes the Education Commission (1964-66) recommended adoption of ‘neighborhood school’ concept at the primary and later at the secondary stage. It also contemplated of multiple entry system and of non-formal education through part-time courses and self-study. The implementation of this system is still lackadaisical.
The constitution came into operation n 1950. Article 45 of the constitution states that the state shall endeavor to provide for free and compulsory education for all children until they complete the age of 14 years. This has no doubt been given a trail. But there is a lot more to be done. Primary education continues to be prominent among the neglected sectors. It continues over the years in a humdrum routine manner. Along with the growth of literacy rate in the country the number of illiterates is also constantly rising. India is said to be entering the 21st century with the maximum number of illiterates in the world. Century with the maximum number of illiterates in the world.
Literacy is an essential feature of human dignity and self-image, a window to the world of knowledge around and a prelude to modernization. Literacy has been defined in the census enumeration as the liability to read and write a letter with understanding donating formal schooling at least up to the primary level. But this test is seldom-applied persons claiming literate status. Literacy is also often equated with the ability to sign one’s name. However, literacy bestows glory and self-esteem on a person.
There is a wide difference between the national literacy rate and the literacy rate of the scheduled tribes of the country. As per the 1991 census the percentage of literacy among the literacy rate of 52.21. The percentage of tribal women was dismal. Another difference was also noticed in respect of the literacy rate of urban a rural tribal women.
When one examines the state level percentage of literacy of Orissa with that of the scheduled tribe in the state similar difference emerges. According to 1991 census the percentage of literacy of the scheduled tribes was 22.31 as against the state literacy rate of 49.09. The literacy rate of schedule tribe men was 34.94 as against 63.09 for men in the state. Likewise, the percentage of literacy of tribal women was 10.21 as against 34.68 for women of the stat. However, these are effective literacy rats and refer to the population, which is in the age group of seven years and above.
Low level of literacy and educational backwardness among the tribal communities are due to (i) acute indigene of the tribal people (ii) want of positive motivation for education (iii) lack of adequate educational infrastructure in their neighborhood and (iv) deficient communication system.
Over the years, the number educational institutions have increased in tribal areas, but these are still inadequate, because the number of students seeking enrolment in schools is constantly increasing. The present position of educational institutions provided by the welfare Department of the state Government to facilitate education of tribal student.
