STATUS OF ELEMENTARY EDUCATION AMONG SCHEDULED TRIBES OF ANDHRA PRADESH: IMPEDIMENTS IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF RIGHT TO EDUCATION ACT 2009

Abstract

Education is one of the important indicators of human development and it is essential for the development of the individual as well as society. Several studies underlined the fact that poor literacy is a strong indicator of low socioeconomic and political participation and poor education is concerned with poor general health which leads to exclusion of particular groups. Hence Government of India brought in Right to Education Act as an inclusion measure.

In India, majority of the population has been excluded in one way or other. Among them, Scheduled Tribes stand the most excluded with low human development across the country. Scheduled Tribes exhibit stumpy literacy rate when compared with general population, and the literacy gap between Scheduled Tribes and others is 21.71 according to 61st round of NSS 2001. In Andhra Pradesh, the literacy rate among Scheduled Tribes is only 37.04 percent and female literacy among them is only 26.11percent according to 2001 Census. This accounts for their lowest status in the literacy when compared with general population literacy rate i.e. 60.5 percent. This situation mirrors the failure of both state as well as central government in implementing the directive principle of state policy (Article. 45) with regard to the educational development of Scheduled Tribes. In this context, this paper attempts to analyse the plausible impediments in the Implementation of Right to Education Act 2009 in Andhra Pradesh tribal area.