A seminar on “Quality of Tribal Education and its Characteristics: A Study in Mayurbhanj district of Odisha at primary level using primary data,” was held at the Joan Robinson Hall on June 28, 2019. The seminar was presented by Ms. Susama Hansdah, Doctoral Scholar, Centre for Development Studies Trivandrum.
Abstract: The Education Commission (1964-66) and the Educational Policy- 1986 have emphatically suggested and promote education among the weaker section of the society as a measure to distribute human resources more equitably. However, much progress has not been achieved in equalizing the educational opportunities to weaker sections of the society in comparison to other students. The objective of this paper is to understand the quality of tribal education and examine the relationship between student’s demographic characteristics and school characteristics with student academic achievement of tribal children. Mayurbhanj is one of the tribal dominated districts of Odisha, which has been declared as a fully scheduled district of the State. The study is based on primary data, where 20 schools have been selected, on the basis of high concentration of tribal student particular from 8th standard students. A total of 805 number of students are there in this sample and the information of students have been collected from both rural and urban schools. The researcher conducted a reading test from each student in particular class room and the study covers six types of communities (Santal, Bhuiyan, Lohar, Munda, Bathudi and Kolho tribes) from both government and unaided schools. This study reveals that a higher proportion of students have given bad performance in their reading score which shows that there is a difference in educational achievement of the student in terms gender, type of school and location of school and among the social groups. Secondly it reveals that students’ demographic characteristics are more influencing rather than the school’s characteristics on student academic achievement of tribal children.