Scheduled tribes (ST) students: Challenge & development

Abstract

High School education for ST students is seen as one of the most emerging policy issues of contemporary India. Teachers engaged in teaching of ST student’s face unique set of challenges, which are emerged primarily from the unique cultural patterns of Bedia and Santal community. This study was conducted in the native area of Nadia district of west Bengal. Interview of the teachers was conducted in order to get valuable data for understanding the research problem. Data was subjected to rigorous of content analysis to unveil the major themes and patterns in the interview data. The study identified that the issue with teaching ST students lies in their inability to adapt in normal school conditions. The study also reveals that there are large gaps between school culture and family culture of children, creating a situation of cultural mismatch, resulting into creating discipline problems, management problems and poor responsiveness of Bedia and Santal students towards academic activities.