DNA Edit: Students’ message – Job reservations alone won’t work for the tribals

The wide gulf between policy formulation and ground realities has once again come to the fore with tribal students appealing to the central government to take effective measures to ensure that quality education is provided in schools and colleges having proper facilities. The students have highlighted a fundamental flaw in the government’s approach to job reservation for Scheduled Tribes. What use is reservation if students are deprived of the fruits of education? If tribal students are denied basic facilities in various academic levels, they won’t be able to do justice to the very jobs meant for them. 

Affirmative action is rooted in the belief that it will bring holistic improvement for the weaker sections. The way things stand now, as the students pointed out, the government has missed the woods for the trees. The all India convention held in Delhi, organised by Adivasi Adhikar Manch and the Centre for Adivasi Research and Development, should be an eye-opener for both central and state governments since they do not seem to be aware of the plight of these marginal people who live in remote regions. 

There aren’t enough schools, and where there are schools, teachers are hard to find. The tribal regions are invariably the most backward ones with children suffering from malnutrition. Poverty is rife and in the absence of health care, life expectancy is poor. If these tribal children have to succeed, the government needs to play a far more active role. It needs to create a conducive atmosphere for these children to flourish. The tribals are the most vulnerable lot and governments since Independence have only treated them as a liability. That mindset has to first change. They are the true sons of the soil, the custodians of our forests and minerals.