An Investigation into the Attitude of Sc and St Children of Southern Orissa towards Education

Of all the creation of God, human life is the noblest and most perfect. He is distinguished from other animals by his power of thinking and thirst for knowledge or education. India is a multi-classed society and there are large numbers of backward classes in India. Among the backward classes the SCs and STs merit special mention. In comparison to other classes the STs particularly and to some extent, the SCs suffer greatly from social backwardness, oppression and economic deprivation. Santosh Kumar Behera ISSN:-2249-894X AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE ATTITUDE OF SC AND ST CHILDREN OF SOUTHERN ORISSA TOWARDS EDUCATION RR Santosh Kumar Behera Assistant Professor & Head, Department of Education, Jagannath Kishore College, Purulia, West Bengal-723101 Vol.1,Issue.IV/Jan; 2012 ROR (2), specialists, intellectuals and technocrats who occupy privileged positions in the modern society are associated with special rights and privileges. Education is the most potent builder of a nation and equips the society with the fittest who are capable of being “adoptative, adaptative and adept”. Education is the critical provider of the higher education which is a major tool for bringing about socio-economic transformation. Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen has said so appropriately, “Education is essentially about capacity building and it widens the choice of people and empowers the nations”. International Commission on Education for Twenty First Century (Delars Commission), has rightly observed, “Education must now be viewed as a part of a new approach to problems in which it is not simply one of many means towards development, but one of the constituent elements and one of its essential goals”. Though some efforts (commissions, committees, plans, programmes etc.) were made for the education of underprivileged classes of India in the preindependence and post independence period, yet much was not achieved. Literacy is an important index of the development of human capital. It can broaden the view of tribals equipping them to meet the present day challenges. Literacy is an input for their socioeconomic and political development. Lots of money have been spent and lots of investigations have been carried out to spread education among all sections of Indian people, yet it is found that the rate of literacy among SCs and STs remains far from satisfactory. Various provisions had been made for their welfare, but up till recent times, these could not bring expected results. As a result, a number of potential talents among these people, who could perhaps contribute much towards the progress of our country, are withering away. The investigators being a resident of Orissa, knows that the Southern part of Orissa have a high concentration of SC and ST people. The more number of people of SC and STs are living in the undivided districts of Koraput, Bolangir, and Kalahandi. Popularly known as KBK / Southern Orissa. The KBK districts have been bifurcated into eight districts (1992-93). These districts are namely Malkangiri, Nawarangpur, Rayagada, Koraput, Nuapada, Kalahandi, Bolangir and Sonepur. These districts are drastic underdevelopment in the state of Orissa. High rate of poverty and various socioeconomic, educational, cultural, and political epidemics keep them in a dark place. These districts account for 10.4 percent of total AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE ATTITUDE OF SC AND ST CHILDRE....... population of state. 90 percent of them still live in villages of hilly area and respective areas dominate by tribal communities. These districts are known as poorest districts in India where 87 percent people and nearly 12 Lakhs families live below poverty line. KBK / Southern Orissa is still the most backward region even though funds for development programmes continue to flow these districts over the years. But the development in various spheres of their life still elusive. Most of these people particularly in Southern part of Orissa do not have education at all. Compared to the literacy rate of General Caste people, the literacy rate of SC and ST people in this part of Orissa has been found to be very low. Obviously, there are many reasons behind this low rate of literacy or educational backwardness of SC and ST children. The researcher thinks that, parents' callousness towards their wards' education may be one of the important factors for their children's educational backwardness. It is probable that due to parental callousness and other social / economic hurdles, the SC and ST Children of Orissa have not developed favourable attitude towards education. As their parents do not know the significance of education in life, it is likely that they too are unaware of the importance of having education. But it must be remembered that in spite of all the socio-economic problems, the importance of education in one's life can never be minimized. Therefore, if the children of these backward communities are really unaware of the significance of education in life, and / or, if they have really developed adverse attitude towards education, then some effective measures must be taken to remove their ignorance and develop positive attitude towards education. Naturally, the question arises: what is the real situation? Do the SC and ST children really have unfavourable / adverse attitude towards education? In order to get answer to the above question, the researcher decided to take up a systematic and objective attitudinal study of SC and ST children towards education. The investigator, being a resident of Orissa, was particularly interested in studying this matter in his native state, because a sizeable proportion of inhabitants there belong to backward community. He therefore intended to restrict his research work to Southern part of Orissa. Statement of the Problem: The problem for the present study is specifically stated as below: “An investigation into the attitude of SC and ST children of Southern Orissa towards Education”. Review Of Research