COIMBATORE: A grassroots movement to keep Adivasi kids in school has seemingly worked wonders in over 320 tribal hamlets in Gudalur, Nilgiris. The Adivasi Munnetra Sangam, Gudalur, spearheaded a movement that prevents Adivasi children from dropping out of school, by involving local tribal communities in the process.
Members of the Sangam said that in the early 90’s, tribal children would often drop out of school. One reason was because they only conversed in their dialects, and could not follow teaching in Tamil or English, which were the mediums of instruction. They also faced discrimination at the hands of teachers and headmistresses.
In 1999, a survey by the Adivasi Munnetra Sangam discovered that only 737 children were enrolled in schools in Gudalur. Today, thanks to their efforts, over 2,800 tribal children are studying in schools across Gudalur.
Speaking to Express, D Ramdas, former Founder-Trustee of the Viswa Bharathi Vidyodaya Trust, which worked through the Adivasi Munnetra Sangam, said they appointed village elders in all tribal hamlets and have given them the responsibility to take children to school, wait till classes get over, and then return. […]
These persons would keep a track of children in their villages and ensure that they would at least complete their basic education.
Taking cognizance of the work done by the Sangam, government programmes like the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan also began providing escort services and even made arrangements to transport children to school, said Ramdas.
Source: “Grassroots movement to keep kids in school” by Rohan Premkumar, The New Indian Express, 11 August 2016
Address: http://www.newindianexpress.com/states/tamil_nadu/Grassroots-movement-to-keep-kids-in-school/2016/08/11/article3573987.ece
Date Visited: Sun Aug 21 2016 20:35:38 GMT+0200 (CEST)
[Bold typeface added above for emphasis]
Reports in the Indian press | List of periodicals included in this search >>
Find up-to-date information provided by, for and about Indian authors, researchers, officials, and educators | More search options >>
Search tips: in the search field seen here, type the name of any tribal (Adivasi) community, region, state or language; add keywords of special interest (childhood, language, sacred grove, tribal education, women); consider rights to which Scheduled Tribes are entitled (FRA Forest Rights Act, protection from illegal mining, UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, right to education, Universal Declaration of Human Rights); specify any other issue or news item you want to learn more about (biodiversity, climate change, ecology, economic development, ethnobotany, ethnomedicine, global warming, health, nutrition and malnutrition, rural poverty)
Related posts
- Accord | Articles by Mari Marcel Thekaekara (writer and Co-Founder of ACCORD-Nilgiris)
- Ashwini community health programme
- Childhood | Childrens rights: UNICEF India
- Community facilities
- eJournals, eBooks & reports | eLearning
- Education and literacy | Right to education
- Forest Rights Act (FRA) | Legal rights over forest land
- Gudalur | Communities: Paniya | Kattunayaka | Mullukurumba | Bettakurumba
- Health and nutrition | Recommendations by the Expert Committee
- Shola Trust | Nilgiri biosphere
- Success stories
- Tribal elders
- Viswa Bharati Vidyodaya Trust
- Western Ghats – tribal heritage & ecology
- What is the Forest Rights Act about?
Who is a forest dweller under this law, and who gets rights? - “Who are Scheduled Tribes?”: Clarifications by the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes – Government of India
Tips for using interactive maps
- toggle to normal view (from reader view) should the interactive map not be displayed by your tablet, smartphone or pc browser
- for details and hyperlinks click on the rectangular button (left on the map’s header)
- scroll and click on one of the markers for information of special interest
- explore India’s tribal cultural heritage with the help of another interactive map >>