In a time when globally policymakers are talking about equality, many children of marginalised communities in Odisha are sufferers of inequality in education for various reasons. They are deprived of proper infrastructure, teachers for different subjects, lack of understanding language and allocation of funds for their development.
A study conducted by Oxfam reveals India ranked 147th out of 157 countries on its commitment to reduce inequality- which is a very worrying situation given that the country is home to 1.3 billion people, many of whom live in extreme poverty. Oxfam has calculated that if India were to reduce inequality by a third, more than 170 million people would no longer be poor. The Government spending on health, education and social protection is woefully low and often subsidizes the private sector. This not only increases inequality, it also impacts the marginalized community hugely.
The situation in Odisha’s rural areas is worse, particularly in tribal- dominated districts. In these far-flung villages, tribal and Dalit students are forced to study in schools with dilapidated conditions such as leaky asbestos roof, broken walls, half-constructed buildings and sometimes on verandahs or near trees.
Apart from infrastructure issue, a single teacher has to attend all the students of primary school and his regular absence not only disturbs teaching the children, they are also deprived of Midday Meal (MDM), which is the only nutritional food in a day for some students. Language barrier is another issue that creates a hurdle before these tribal students and the study says due to lack of understanding in an alien language, many students leave studies half-way or drop out.
In Odisha, the literacy rate for tribals stands at 52.2 per cent, much lower than the State literacy rate of 73.5 per cent. The gender gap in literacy among tribals is wide, while it is 63.7 per cent for men, it is only 41.2 per cent for women. The dropout rates among tribals are also high, 28.5 per cent children drop out of schools by Class 5 while 72.7 per cent by Class 7 and 77 per cent by Class 10. If we take Mayurbhanj district as an example, the situation is grim. Geographically, the district is one of the largest districts with a dominance of Santal, Ho and Munda tribes. It has more than 50 per cent of tribal population and there are 3 PVTG (particularly vulnerable tribal groups) such as Mankadia, Lodha and Khadia living in the district.
According to the OPEPA (Odisha Primary Education Programme Authority), there are 2,884primary schools and 1,507 upper primary schools in the district. In 2016-17, the total enrolment to both primary and upper primary school was 417,224, while ST enrolment in that financial year was 285,284. Among them girls enrolment was 203,183 and out of schoolchildren (both boys and girls in the age bracket of 6-14 years) were 663.
More than 60 dialects are spoken across the State. In order to manage the issue of multi-lingualism in primary grader, the State has been a pioneer in declaring a policy guideline on multi-lingualism. In Mayurbhanj district as language is a barrier among tribal students in understanding studies, the Government is supposed to provide multi-lingual teachers. But, in reality the situation is quite different; there are many schools with 100 per cent tribal students.
The programme is yet to be implemented properly. Some NGOs working in this district in education sector have provided multi-language teachers in tribal schools with text books, but the effort from the Government is abysmal.
The other problem of students is regular absence of teachers in the State-run primary schools. If teacher will not attend school regularly, it is obvious that the students’ learning will be affected.
Apart from absence of teachers, lack of proper road to schools, engagement of girls in household chores, early marriage, lack of separate toilets for girls in schools, insufficient rooms for separate classes, low students-teachers ratio are the other major reasons of increasing inequality in education.
Closure of primary schools is another gray area putting some students out of schools. Some parents are enrolling their children in residential schools; others are forced to enroll them in private schools, which has extra financial burden on them.
Evidence suggests learning levels of children in elementary schools are far from satisfactory. According to Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2017, 4.6 per cent teenagers between the age group 14 and 18 years are not able to do basic reading of courses in class II in their own regional languages.
The primary school of Hudisahi village in Nota Panchayat in Mayurbhanj is 3 km far from the panchayat. Surrounded by dense forest with regular animal fear the school does not have a proper road which deprives students to attend the school regularly. During monsoon the situation becomes worse as the only teacher of the school remains absent for the entire monsoon season and the children are forced to stay at home and also denied MDM. The school also does not have basic facilities for the students such as drinking water and toilets. For drinking water the students have to walk 1 km from their school premises.
The situation of primary school in Dekhachaturi village is another example of inequality in education to the marginalized children. In this school, there are total 46 students out of which 25 students are from tribal community. Around 11 tribal students from Denkubania hamlet, which is few km from Dekhachaturi village are not accessible to school due to lack of proper road. These small children have to cross 3 km forest cover to reach the school every day, for which most of the time they are forced to stay at home. The only MLE teacher and the SMC members have no voice to discuss about any issue with the headmaster who is from upper caste and has dominance in most of the school matters.
The UP school in Haladiasahi does not have separate toilets for girls; so after attaining puberty they drop out from school. The same situation prevails in upper primary school in Bagadapha village. The school has around 172 students, but due to insecurity, lack of separate toilets force young girls to drop out from schools than pursue their studies.
An official list of OPEPA says there are about 41,000 children between the age group of 6-14 years who are out of school fold. While a recent study conducted by the State Women and Child Development Department shows there are 55,868 girls within the age group of 11 to 14 years who are out of school. There are only 3 per cent of schools which are Right To Education (RTE) Act compliant in the State. The most surprising thing is the students face systemic inequality from the Government, as the major financial expenditure is towards Navodaya Vidyalay and Adarsh (Model) schools than the State-run primary and upper primary schools in remote villages.