Eleven-year-old Kaira Sing was in Class-III when he joined the Dillisore Primary School. Kaira, a Ho, was a potential dropout before joining this school. Reason: He was unable to understand what the teacher was teaching because the medium of teaching was Odia.
He used to spend more time on grazing goats and cattle than attending school. When his parents learnt about the appointment of a Ho language teacher in Dillisore school, they were relieved. A year of classes in Ho and some Odia helped Kaira grasp basic concepts better. Now in class 5 he is able to identify alphabets and numbers in English, and more important, he is taking interest in studies and regularly attending school.
like him when Telong Barda’s parents enrolled her in a primary school in their village, she was reluctant to attend. Even after a few months, she stayed back and said she was unable to understand what her teacher was teaching at school. Her parents also did not take any interest to bring her back to school. After a few months, when a trained language teacher joined, the first attempt was to bring these dropout children back to school and teach them in their mother tongue.
Telong is now in class 5. Apart from her mother tongue Ho, she copes with Odia language as well. Now she does not face any problem in understanding her studies. “When our language teacher convinced my parents that he will teach us in our mother tongue, I was very happy. He taught us in our mother tongue Ho till we were in class 3.later, he introduced Odia with Ho language and whenever we felt any difficulty, he helped us by translating it in Ho language,” Telong says with confidence.
Right to Education State convener and Sikshasandhan secretary Anil Pradhan says after the introduction of language teachers in schools, some indigenous tribes who had never stepped into any school boundary, started sending their children to schools. Citing an example, Pradhan says, “Not only did the tribal kids get education in their mother tongue (tribal language), it was also ensured that their quality of life improved which was equally necessary for the first generation learners.”
Odisha is one of the seven States in India that collectively houses 40 per cent of the country’s poor. Tribals comprise nearly 22.8 per cent of Odisha’s population. Compared to other social categories, tribals fare badly in most of the education indicators. The literacy rate for tribals at 52.2 per cent is much lower than the literacy rate of 73.5 per cent. The gender gap in literacy among the Adivasis is wide. While it is 63.7 per cent for men, it is 41.2 per cent for women.
One of the key reasons identified for high dropout rates is the language barrier in the tribal belts of the State. Most of the children in the tribal-dominated areas have inadequate exposure to Odia language, which is the main medium of teaching. The State notified a policy on Multi lingual Education (MlE) in the year 2014, extending to all tribal children in the State. The policy ensures that the mother tongue of tribals is used as a medium of instruction for the first five years of schooling. It is a big step in realizing the long-term benefits, absenteeism and enrolment, especially in the tribal areas.
In order to ensure access to quality, universal and inclusive elementary education, Oxfam India along with Shikhasandhan, an NGO based in Odisha, initiated Project Birsa in 2011. The project is implemented in 11 primary and upper primary schools across 30 hamlets of tribal dominated Noto Gram Panchayat under Kaptipada block of Mayurbhanj district.
When Sikshasandhan launched Project Birsa, a survey of the Gram Panchayat showed that attendance in these schools was 30 per cent. They found that due to the language barrier, children did not go to school and there was hardly any communication between teachers and students. As part of the project in Mayurbhanj, Shikshasandhan appointed ‘Ho’ and ‘Santhali’ language teachers in the primary Government schools. After a few months, it showed the school attendance has increased to 85 per cent. The language teachers who were selected from the community were also trained on community mobilization and interacting with children and their parents.
“Earlier the teacher could not understand what the students were saying and the vice versa. The students used to come, eat and leave. This led to more instances of dropouts. But since the language teacher teaching in their mother tongue, dropout rate has reduced and children from other schools are enrolling here,” says Dillisore Primary School headmaster Somnath Nayak.
Anil Pradhan stresses upon the need to integrate tribal songs, stories, riddles and games in the curriculum. He insists that the academic calendar should be aligned with the local festivals as it is one of the reasons for high absenteeism. Holidays not related to their culture too should be removed. For instance, Adivasi children should be taught about their festivals like “Maghe Parab” rather than mainstream festivals like Durga Puja. This is important to ensure that children do not miss school and have a sense of integration and importance.
Oxfam India, Regional Manager, Odisha Akshaya Kumar Biswal stresses, “When it comes to tribal children’s education, one of our initiatives is to bring together different civil society organizations and influence the State Government to speed up the process of appointment of MlE teachers. Also provide them adequate training and facilitate proper implementation of MlE policy, so that all tribal children are benefited.”