Ministry of Tribal Affairs status on Primary Education of Tribal Children

PIB News Update: Union Minister of State for Tribal Affairs Smt. Renuka Singh Saruta  has informed that Section 29 (2) (f) of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009 states that “medium of instruction shall, as far as practicable, be in child’s mother tongue”. The National Curriculum Framework (NCF), 2005 emphasizes the importance of imparting primary education in the mother tongue of the child. Since education is in the Concurrent List of the Constitution, States have the liberty to decide the medium of instruction in schools. The NCF clearly states that the Three-Language Formula is an attempt to address the challenges and opportunities of the linguistic situation in India. As per the “Three Language Formula” the first language to be studied must be the mother tongue or the regional language.

Ministry of Tribal Affairs extends support to State Governments / UTs for mother tongue-based education and development of bilingual Primers for enhancement of learning achievement level amongst the Scheduled Tribe Students. So far 82 language primers have been developed by various State Governments as detailed below:

As reflected in U-DISE: Flash Statistics 2016-17, details of the student enrolment and student retention ratiosof boys and girls by social category at Primary and Secondary level school are as under:

Enrolment

Dropout

Ministry of Tribal Affairs has been issuing advisories to engage local teachers to overcome shortages and to enhance the teacher student responsiveness and employment opportunities. Further, funds are also provided to the State Governments for the purpose under various schemes of the Ministry based on the proposal received from them.