An Evaluation of the Progress of the Educational Situations of Tribes in India: A Futuristic Approach

Education is the key to the holistic development of human community. A nation’s progress is greatly determined by the educational progress of its citizens. For India as a nation, to achieve the planned target in educational progress, after all the interventions made still appears to be a long journey. The primary reason for this is due to its rich cultural diversity reflected through the multitude of cultures, religions, languages, and rituals. There exists large disparity in the social and economic progress of various groups, especially marginalized communities. Among these groups Scheduled Tribes (STs) commonly referred as Adivasis have been recognized as the community with least progress in socio-economic parameters. Over the years, education of the members has been identified as the most effective tool in empowering this group and to enable them to be at par with the rest of the citizens in the country. The Ministry of Human Resource Development has initiated various measures for the promotion of education among these ethnic groups of the country. Despite of all these, tribal education in the country is seriously handicapped. This paper primarily investigates the challenges and progress of tribal education in India. It will also discuss about government policies introduced in the recent past for the promotion of tribal education in the country. The author a propose a model applying Social Capital for the revival of tribal community in India.