ROSHAN KUMAR
Introduction
This article talks about the education of the tribal during colonial rule. Tribal are one of the most marginalized group of Indian society even in that period they are the most backward class. Although education was introduced but it was just to meet their own needs. Missionaries introduced education in tribal land but it was not for the betterment of the tribal instead for their conversion and they were successful to large extent but there was complete neglect of tribal by the colonial government, for them tribal were people with no brain and who were meant for working as efficient carpenters, mechanics and blacksmiths. They ignored tribal education, they tried to some extent but finally they missionaries the task of educating tribal. Summary Chotanagpur was the part of Bengal province. This region was dominated by two agriculture tribes, they were the Mundas and Uraons. Urban centres like Bombay, Calcutta, Madras and even small urban centres like Patna were eduvatinally the most vibralt cenres in colonial India on the other hand tribal were marginalized. The tribal area of chotanagpur was hardlt touched by any notable provincial scheme until the late 19th century Need for Tribal Education:- The government wanted to spread education to the masses from the upper classes which they termed “filtration”. They further thought educating trbal was white men’s burden. For them trbals wild and savage and they needed to be civilized. Initiation of Education in the Tribal land The first popular scheme was Campbell scheme which fail in the absence of proper policy. It was the year 1839 which laid to the establishment of first Anglo-vernacular school at Kishenpur in Chotanagpur with the effort of T.Wilkinson they have their own indigenous institutions like Giti-ornaon and Dhumkuria gor youth so their cultural situation was against the introduced missionaries system of schools. They disliked the immigrant as they deprived them of their tradinal land rights which was locally known as “Bhuinhari”. Role of Missionaries Major part of tribal education was done by the missionaries. The leading missionaries where Gossner Evangelical Lutheran(GEL) Mission from Germany, the society from the propagation of Gospel(SPG) from Britain and Jesuits from Belgium, government sponsored there missionaries under the policy of 1854. The state and missionaries agreed on drastic reforms with the help of western education. Missionaries opened many schools in and around Ranchi. They thought can be civilized only using enlightens western ideas. The missionaries gave more emphasis on Christian and moral teachings and the government was also compelled to introduced Christian thoughts because of popularity of the missionaries Jesuits added more than 55000 tribal converts and some 30000 catechumens in just 5 years since 1885 leaving behind GEL missionaries who was pioneer in mass conversion. SPG also published a mouth Hindi magazine called Dut Patrika. In less than 2 years SPG established two middle Verandas school in the area. They also set up a St. Columba’s college in Hazaribagh. Missionaries neglected the high school education of tribal for mass conversion …show more content…
of lower primary school, middle and upper middle ratio was too poor.
Tribal Awareness
Tribal became aware of the missionaries, they started recognizing the true nature of missionaries although they keep encouraged the education of the tribal but now they wanted to established their own school parallel to Christian schools. Tribes now started aspiring for high education, knowing the importance of it. Many organizations like the Vidya Vriddhi Sabha etc in support of tribes, Chotanagpur Unnati Samaj. The intellectual elite of tribes became active in for the betterment of their tribal community.
Conclusion
Tribals were the most socially outcast group of this land, they were the last to be part of the colonist educational policy. Missionaries along with the help of the state spread the education in the tribal land but it was for their own purpose, further, missionaries deprived tribal from getting higher education. Missionaries were ignorant towards tribal culture. They imposed their own thoughts on them. Still today tribal is going through same pain and suffering. There is a slight change in their social and economic condition in present society. There is a lot more to do for