Education

A large number of village level primary schools have become defunct due to lack of funds and as the children of that age group are unable to travel the distances to attend the existing schools, they go without an education. The residential schools where they can be educated do not take anyone below 3rd class.

A substantial number of tribal boys and girls are unable to cope with one or two subjects they need to pass to qualify as tenth pass or Inter pass. Lack of proper coaching for these students does not allow them to graduate to higher level of studies.

Some of the tribals who pass intermediate board examinations are unable to fair well in the competitive examinations due to lack of proper coaching in the multiple choice format which is popularly followed now.

Despite the large number of reservations for the tribals, a number of tribal students who are able to complete graduation are not able to find proper jobs due to lack of timely information about the various career options open to them.

Activities

Primary education - a large number of community schools have become defunct.

Samata has identified 50 schools and some of them have already started functioning

Obtain caste certificates for the children who are capable of getting admitted into the residential school

Help the children thus identified to get admission into the residential schools

Setup an educational fund through individual contributions and parent contributions for operation of the schools

Pressurize the government to take over the schools and run them

Balamitra Schools

Balamitra is an initiative of Samata, an environmental and social justice organisation working for the rights of the tribal “Adivasi” people of Andhra Pradesh, India and for the protection of the natural resources and ecology of the Eastern Ghats (hills). Samata is the National Secretariat for the national alliance of mining struggle groups across India called mines, minerals & PEOPLE (mm&P), one of the largest environmental justice coalitions in the country.

Balamitra Tribal Education program - Video

Puppet Play by students at the Balamitra Tribal Education School - Video

Tribal Nature Schools

The tribal way of life is closest to nature. It imparts a culture of traditional knowledge systems and skills to its children, which are symbiotic with the ecology and forest life. The greatest challenge of education in the tribal context is to bring about a balance in imparting literacy skills which enable them to deal with the mainstream society, to help them gain competence to enter into mainstream professions and occupations while strengthening their cultural identities and knowledge base which is so strongly linked to land and nature.....