Delivering quality education to girls from particularly vulnerable tribal groups (PVTGS) in India

Abstract

Purpose of the study: The Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) are the least developed among all the communities in India. In spite of multiple state-supported schemes to bring about positive changes in their lives, the results have been abysmally poor. This study aims at identifying the social and cultural barriers that have prevented school-going PVTG girls to participate in education and to suggest the enablers that would facilitate their level of participation in education. Methodology: The study was conducted in Sundargarh and Mayurbhanj districts of Odisha (India) comprising four PVTGs, namely, Paudi Bhuiyan, Lodha, Hill Kharia, and Mankidia. For the selection of villages in the districts, a list of villages inhabited by these four tribes was prepared. After filtering out the populated villages, a random selection of four villages was made for each selected tribe. The study included PVTG girls in the age group of 6-14 years, and 80 girls, including both school-going students, and out-of-school girls were randomly accessed to meet the objectives of the study. A mixed-method approach was adopted to identify the barriers to participation in education. Firstly, the primary responses were collected during a five-month period from Aug-Dec, 2018 by using three separate interview schedules for the girls, their parents, and the school teachers. Data triangulation was further done through four focused group discussions (FGD) in the selected villages. The feedbacks thus received were used to prepare the proposed educational structure for the PVTG girls. Additionally, content analysis of all the audio-visual recordings collected during the fieldwork was done to enumerate the case-studies pertaining to each district. Main Findings: The results indicate that the dropout percentage is more among students in classes VI-VII as compared to lower classes. Assisting in household work and in agricultural lands during harvest season, single-teacher schools, which are a reality in many remote schools of the districts, and predominantly male teachers in day-schools, are other hindering factors. Applications of this study: The study holds implications for researchers and scholars working in the fields of tribal studies and education and other allied areas. It can assist the policymakers in taking corrective measures to address some of the persistent issues relating to tribal girl-child education. Novelty/Originality of this study: The novelty of the paper lies in the proposed methodical model that takes into account the ground-level realities, which need to be addressed to enhance the tribal girls ’ participation in quality education. Negative and positive influences of siblings staying and studying in the same residential schools have been identified in this study which could be taken up for further research.