Aboriginal female children in Kanyashrams of Orissa, India: a critical assessment of the processes of educational institutionalization.

Education varies widely from the perspective of time, space, context, and requirements. Different aboriginal communities possess their own systems of informal education. The dimensions of this informal education emphasize acquisition of competence, subsistence techniques, and traditional values in order to prepare children as effective members of society. Children learn to master these skills from an early age, but there are no special institutions, personnel, or rigid time frames for such instructions. Education is an informal process of learning skills and maintaining continuity with aboriginal traditions. As modern nation-states grow through absorption of smaller and weaker cultural entities, formal education is imposed, and a common national language, culture, and identity severely threatens the existence of aboriginal people as viable collective entities.

In India, the Constitution now includes special educational safeguards for aboriginals (Mohanty, 2003). Aboriginal communities, commonly denoted as "tribal," constitute roughly 8 percent of the total Indian population. In 1960, the Scheduled Area and Scheduled Tribes Commission was established with the aim of integrating the aboriginal people into the mainstream. It was assumed that formal education would enable the aboriginal people to meet their needs and requirements, especially in a changing world, and that it would be instrumental in reshaping their "quality of life" by integrating them into the mainstream (Sachchidananda, 1990, p. 404). Following the recommendation of the Dhebar Commission, a number of Kanyashrams were opened in India during the fifth five-year plan, 1970-75. The term "Kanyashram" has been derived from the word "ashram." An ashram is regarded as a center of learning where the guru (teacher) and the shisyas (students) live together in a secluded congenial environment and where the teaching-learning process takes place in a natural way. Kanyashrams are residential schools meant for aboriginal girls. Students and teachers live together within the school-cum-dormitory premises. Similar residential schools meant for aboriginal boys are known as "Ashram Schools." These schools admit students from standard I to X. Some schools have teaching facilities from standard IV to X.

This article critically examines the process of institutionalization of aboriginal female children in two sample Kanyashrams in Orissa, an eastern state in India. It analyzes the impact of these Kanyashrams on the lives of their aboriginal inmates.

Aboriginal Education in India: An Overview

In spite of the government's concern for educating the aboriginal population, the literacy level in different aboriginal communities in India is very low. Furthermore, the gap between the literacy levels of the general and aboriginal populations has widened in the successive census periods (Ratha & Behera, 1990). It is disheartening to note that the aboriginal female literacy in the country as a whole is unusually low. Again, there is a substantial gap between the general female literacy and the aboriginal female literacy in every state.

In this article, "institutionalization of education" refers to the process by which the organized routine arrangements of the school system influence children's lives and schedule their every activity throughout the day. These schools are specialized institutions meant for imparting education within a fixed time schedule and where adults (mostly non-aboriginal) are engaged exclusively to communicate with aboriginal children in a room set aside for that purpose. When the children of the aboriginal communities, which had no formal educational institution, begin to live within the strict routine of the Kanyashram, they must adjust to a very different life. They become subject to an authority, rules, and regulations in the school and hostel (dormitory) and become associated with a world with values and ideologies unlike those of their aboriginal community. Some of the most criticized features of these schools are: regimentation; a rigid system of seating, grouping, grading, and marking; and the authoritarian role of the teacher. Thus, the institutionalization of aboriginal female children through the Kanyashram educational system needs critical assessment.

The children at the Kanyashrams studied here are from the Kisan, Kondh, Mirdha, Munda, and Sabara aboriginal communities. Of those, students from Kisan and Kondh backgrounds together constitute roughly 80 percent of the total students of the sample schools. All those aboriginal communities are highly decentralized by nature, and people have overlapping and interdependent roles. Kinship in those communities is not strictly a system of consanguinity and affinity; "obligations and responsibilities" structure kinship relations. These kinship relations between persons who are not necessarily close blood relations are very important for identity within the community. All those aboriginal communities retain a fundamental character as a small-scale system with subsistence economy and simple technology; the majority of the people in those communities primarily depend upon natural resources for their basic survival. Thus, land is an important historical basis to their aboriginal identities. It is essential to know and understand the deeply spiritual special relationship between aboriginal peoples and their land as basic to their existence. Aboriginal identities in the sample communities are based on the continuity of the group rather than the individual. Aboriginals identify themselves as adivasi and consider them as first settlers or original inhabitants in a particular geographical area.

The Research Project

The two Kanyashrams selected for the present study are located in two different parts of Orissa. Data for the study were collected through observation, interview, and case study methods. Ardabahal Kanyashram is located in the northwestern part of Orissa. The school has a teaching facility from grades 4 to 10 with residential facilities for 180 boarders. Most of the aboriginal students of the school are Kisan (1) and are first-generation learners. Of the 14 teachers of the school, three are from an aboriginal background. The school has seven classrooms, of which three are used as a teachers' common room, the headmistress's room, and an office. Three rooms of the dormitory serve as classrooms during the daytime. Robadi Kanyashram is located ill the southern part of Orissa. Established in 1975, the school admits students from grade one to ten, with a total of 220 students. The majority of the aboriginal residents are from the Kondh (2) and Saora (3) aboriginal communities. There are 10 teachers in the Kanyashram, including the headmistress. None of the teachers are from aboriginal communities. The school has 10 classrooms, one of which is used as a teachers' lounge and another as a sewing room. The lower primary classes meet on the veranda, due to the shortage of classroom space.

Life Within the Walls of a Kanyashram: A Critical Look

Inadequate Physical Facilities. The residential facilities of the Kanyashrams are extremely poor. The dormitory rooms get converted into classrooms during school hours. Thirty to 40 students sleep on a damaged floor in a room that measures 30 feet by 20 feet. Cots are an unknown luxury; the students sleep on the floor, cushioned only by bed sheets. The rooms are very poorly maintained with no fans, leaky roofs, and broken doors and windows. The lighting and ventilation facilities are far from satisfactory, as also observed by Pfeffer (2003). There is no regular water supply to toilets and bathrooms.

Inadequate Nutrition and Health Services. The resident-students live in sub-human conditions and remain half-starved. The meager amount of food sanctioned for students is often misappropriated by the teacher in charge of the students' mess. What food the children receive is of extremely poor quality. The three daily meals generally consist of rice, dal (lentil soup), and occasionally a vegetable curry. As one resident of Ardabahal Kanyashram says, "I find it difficult to concentrate in my studies, especially during the evening hours, as I feel hungry around that time." The menu remains the same throughout the year, with the exception of few festive occasions and special days when the school organizes a feast for the students. In winter, however, the students do get vegetable curry more regularly.

Malaria, viral fever, diarrhea, dysentery, skin irritations, and lice are common health problems among the students. Neither of the Kanyashrams conducts periodic health check-ups. The health ministers (students are selected by teachers for these roles) in both the Kanyashrams are kept very busy. In the Ardabahal Kanyashram, we found the health minister dispensing some syrups and tablets. She gives medicine to the resident-students as per an instruction manual in case of any ailment. She reports to the superintendent only when she finds it difficult to handle a case. A student is taken to a hospital only in extreme cases. If the students suffer from malaria or viral fever for a long period, they are sent home; many leave the school permanently.

Regimented School Routines and Supervisory Practice. All of the students' activities are kept to a strict schedule. The school day starts at 10 a.m. and ends at 4 p.m., with two breaks--one for 10 minutes and one for 30 minutes. On Saturdays, school begins at 6:30 a.m. and ends at 11:30 a.m. In the summer, school starts at 6:30 a.m. and closes at 12:30 p.m. Students are awoken by bells at 5 a.m. and assemble for prayer, which is followed by a half-hour break for taking care of personal hygiene. Another bell rings at 7 a.m., signaling the beginning of the study hour, which continues until 9 a.m. Soon after, the students get ready for school. Upon returning from school, they are engaged in cleaning the school premises, gardening, reporting to their teacher's house for household work, assisting with meal preparation, etc. Another bell at 6 p.m. draws all of the students together for the evening prayer, followed by a discussion regarding work allotments, assessment of non-academic performances, etc. The students study between 6:30 and 8:30 p.m. The final bell rings at 9 p.m., indicating the time for dinner. Thus, the students' daily lives are strictly scheduled by the ringing bell. In this socially marginalized childhood, children's activities are restricted to "child-specific places and child-specific ways" (Bardy, 1994, p. 307).

The common holiday calendar of the state-managed schools does not take into account the agricultural cycle or the festivals of aboriginal communities. Students are given holidays to observe non-aboriginal festivals such as Ganesh puja, Saraswati puja, etc., rather than for celebrating such aboriginal festivals as Phagunpuni, Kandul parab, Chait parab, etc. Many students stay away from school during their community festivals, as they very much wish to be with their families and communities on those occasions. This ultimately leads to discontinuity and irregularity in their education.

Each Kanyashram runs under the supervision of a headmistress, who shares some of the responsibilities with a few teachers and student leaders, locally known as mantris (ministers). Students in grade 6 or above are chosen by teachers to be ministers. In both of our observed Kanyashrams, we saw a number of student ministers, such as ministers of health, discipline, garden, cleaning, time, light, education, and food. The teachers select these ministers without seeking the students' consent. The students take up the responsibilities out of fear. Such an arrangement grossly violates the provisions contained in Article 12 (Child's opinion) of the Convention on the Rights of the Child-CRC (Verhellen, 2000).

Students' lives are directly controlled by the adult teachers. Lansdown (1994) rightly says that "for many children of contemporary societies, the dominating feature of childhood is that of powerlessness and lack of control over what happens to them" (p. 34). The rigors of a strict disciplinary regimen, long arduous hours, and a rigid work pattern dictated by the school system lead the children we observed to feel imprisoned. As Verhellen (2000) says, "Children appear to be the victims of adultcentrism" (p. 19). They have very little free time, especially because of the "increased supervision and curricularization of [their] lives" (Qvortrup, 1994, p. 7). They spend a critical part of their childhood in a school environment that is overly formal and intimidating. The students' physical and social spaces are squeezed to allow for classrooms, and their dormitory is over-crowded. Thus, the very placement of aboriginal female children in the Kanyashram leads to a process of institutionalization and marginalization of childhood. To sum up, the process of educating aboriginal female children in the Kanyashrams has, in many ways, colonized their lives.

Culturally Inappropriate Curriculum and Pedagogy

The curriculum offered to the children in Kanyashrams is not life-oriented. An urban, middle-class education has been superimposed on them, both in terms of structure and content (Sharma, 1976). The syllabus is too dense; the assigned books deal with complex subject matters unknown to aboriginal children, including a host of scientific terms and abstract concepts, stories of technological progress and great historical figures, and geographical information about far-removed countries (Srivastav, 1978). Therefore, the curriculum failed to interest the students we observed. In addition, education is imparted through Oriya, the regional language of the state. Textbooks are not written in aboriginal mother tongues, making it difficult for these children to comprehend academic content and concepts as they must simultaneously learn a new language (Sachchidananda, 1990).

Due to a shortage of teachers, the sewing and music teachers have been assigned to teach the economics, geography, and history classes; similarly, the Hindi and Sanskrit language teachers also manage Oriya and English language classes in the Ardabahal Kanyashram. The arts teachers teach science and mathematics classes in the Robadi Kanyashram. The non-aboriginal teachers of both the Kanyashrams possess very negative attitudes toward the aboriginal students. They believe that the aboriginal students are inferior, both mentally and culturally, and therefore do not expend much effort in teaching them. One of the teachers of Ardabahal Kanyashram commented,

The aboriginal students are really dull and have no genuine interest in their studies. The free boarding, lodging, and stipend motivate aboriginal parents to send their children to the school. Therefore, the success rate is very low among these students.

The non-aboriginal teachers neither speak nor understand the local aboriginal dialects. Consequently, there is very little communication between the teachers and students. The pedagogical strategies used in these two Kanyashrams rely heavily on rote memorization. Education for these children means simply repeating whatever the teacher pronounces, and learning endless passages by memory without truly involving their intellect. A child has to obey, not to think. Essentially, the children are trained like parrots (Pfeffer, 2003).

Unmotivated Teachers. The residential facilities for teachers of both the Kanyashrams are very poor. Teachers do not get good medical, market, or educational facilities for their family members. The majority of the teachers make a sustained effort to get themselves transferred to better places at the earliest opportunity. For instance, a teacher in the study shared, "I have virtually become a Kondh by staying here for six long years. I am really worried about my children, who have been also staying here with me ever since I joined the school."

Some teachers do not keep their families with them; they keep their families in urban centers and are frequently absent from the schools when they visit their families. Some of them stay outside and commute to their workplace due to the shortage of living quarters. Since the teachers gain no special benefit to serve in these difficult areas, they do not put their hearts into the work. Consequently, the teachers' low level of motivation and aspiration matches that of their students. The level of supervision and administration in our sample schools was far from satisfactory. Inspecting staffs seldom visit the schools, due to bad communication facilities. The teachers of neither school adhere to the school's time schedules.

The resident-students never do their homework seriously during the study hours. The teacher who is in charge of looking after the students during study hours does so only in a cursory way.

Consistent Exploitation of Students. The teachers consistently coerce the student into doing many of their chores. The students are also asked to assist the cook in the kitchen, and they grow vegetables in the school's garden. When the vegetables are picked, however, the majority of the produce goes to the teachers' houses and only a very little bit finds its way to the students' kitchen. Children do not get enough time to play, even after school. This goes against the provisions of Article 31 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (the right of children to leisure, play, and participation in cultural and artistic activities). Sporting equipment supplied for the students' use often is used instead by the children of the teachers. Corporal punishment against the children, including denying meals and making them kneel down, sit down, and stand while being held up by the ears, is still practiced. Students do not feel free to discuss their problems with the teachers, neither at school or in the dormitory.

The majority of the older students maintain a good relationship with the younger ones. The older students guide the younger ones in their studies and provide care when they are sick. However, some older students take advantage of their position. Some junior students fear the senior ones and are bullied by them into doing menial work, like fetching water and cleaning clothes.

Insufficient Educational Incentives and Misappropriation of Funds. There is considerable delay in the sanction and disbursement of scholarship funds. The scholarship (Rs. 325/per month, or about US $7) provided to each resident-student is inadequate, due to the rapid inflation in recent years. The amount received by the school for each student is meant to cover their food expenses, daily needs, washing allowance, medical expenses, etc. The headmistress is supposed to deposit the amount in the account of each student as soon as she receives the installment. However, this practice is not followed in either of the Kanyashrams observed. It is important to note here that the amount allocated to the students covers only 10 months of a year. Furthermore, the amount is not released every month; rather, it is doled out in three or four installments a year. Both headmistresses and teachers often use the funds for their own purposes, paying off inspectors with bribes.

Kanyashram: Community Perspectives

Some aboriginal parents think that education makes their children defiant, rebellious, and insolent, thereby alienating them from aboriginal culture and society. It is customary in aboriginal communities to restrict a girl's movements, particularly after puberty. Aboriginal parents view the timely marriage of their daughters as an important aspect of their tradition. As a result, many girls drop out of school soon after they reach puberty.

The introduction of formal education in Orissa has displaced aboriginal education in favor of mass examination systems and a "textbook culture" (Kumar, 1991). Many partially educated aboriginal female children face an uncertain future, as they are unwilling to work in the home and fields yet unable to find other ways to make a living. Schooling for many aboriginal female children acts neither as a channel for upward mobility nor as an instrument of personal and economic development. Thus, formal education emphasizes conceptualization rather than the acquisition of techniques to handle practical situations. The Kanyashrams bring aboriginal female children out of their cultural milieu and deny their cultural identity. Furthermore, the new and alien school environment, with its modern values and ideologies, sets new standards of behavior for these children. They are sandwiched in between two cultures: the aboriginal culture and the superimposed modern urban culture.

Recommendations

Mohanti and Kundu (2003) note that the Kanyashrams were originally established with high ideals, as special schools for aboriginal female children. Due to lack of proper management, however, these schools have turned out to be second-rate. Based upon our analysis, we make the following recommendations for the betterment of Kanyashrams.

Life- and culture-oriented education should be imparted to the resident-students of the Kanyashrams. Such education should be adaptive, and reflect specific local conditions and cultural patterns, and the needs of aboriginal communities. The supplementary curriculum of the Kanyashram should have schemes for "earning while learning" in order to ensure good attendance and minimize waste. To create interest among students, textbooks should include lessons depicting the lives of the aboriginal people, their folklore, songs, and history. The aboriginal child should be taught in the mother tongue and textbooks should be written in the aboriginal language, at least in the lower primary levels. The primers should be designed to bridge the aboriginal language and the regional and national languages through a gradual process. Schools can provide lessons in two shifts, thereby relieving the monotony that often exists. One batch of children receives instructions in the classroom while the other batch engages itself in outdoor activities. Then the allocation is reversed. School timing and holiday schedules should be adjusted according to the sociocultural and economic needs of the aboriginal communities, which will reduce the extent of absenteeism. The amount of scholarship given to aboriginal students should be revised from time to time and incentives should be given in proper time by simplifying the current cumbersome procedure for sanction and disbursement. Special incentives must be given to meritorious students.

A good teacher-student-parent continuum in the Kanyashrams will help develop a positive attitude among aboriginal parents and children towards education and thereby reduce waste, stagnation, and absenteeism. Educated people from local aboriginal communities need to be recruited as teachers in order to bridge the communication gap between school and home. There should be rewards and incentives for sincere and dedicated teachers in order to sustain their interest, as well as to attract talented people to take up teaching jobs in Kanyashrams.

References

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Notes:

(1) Kisan are numerically the most dominant tribe in the Kuchinda, Bamara, and Banei subdivisions of Sambalpur District, Orissa. They are settled agriculturalists and supply a cheap labor force to the advanced Agaharia caste of this region.

(2) The Dongria Kondh, a sub-tribe of the Kondh, is found mostly in Rayagada district, South Orissa. They solely depend upon forest and donger (patches of land on hill) for their livelihood.

(3) Saora are mostly found in Rayagada, Koraput, and Ganjam districts of Orissa. They belong to Kolarian family. Agriculture is the principal occupation of the Saora. Their religion is inextricably linked with the agricultural cycle.

Deepak Kumar Behera is Professor of Anthropology, Sambalpur University, Sambalpur, Orissa, India, and Honorary Fellow, Department of Anthropology, University of Free State, Bloemfontien, South Africa. Nibedita Nath is ICSSR Doctoral Research Fellow, Department of Anthropology, Sambalpur University, Sambalpur, Orissa, India.