HIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Tribal communities in south Kerala that embraced Christianity have achieved higher social mobility with education and migration to urban centres,according to a study by D Narayana, economist and former director of the state-run Gulati Institute of Finance and Taxation.
The tribal communities in south Kerala that embraced Christianity have higher number of graduates and more employment-related migration to urban settings compared to their counterparts in the north.
Narayana attributes the educational achievements to the intervention of Christian missionaries in the south.The conversion by their brothers also brought in a competitive spirit among the tribals in the south who remained Hindus to strive for better education, it said. The study cites the case of Malai Arayans in Idukki and Kottayam districts. They number around 15,000 and account for 60% of all Christians in the South.
British missionary Henry Baker’s visit to the community’s settlements changed its fortunes. He established 11 churches and 27 schools in different parts of the high ranges.
“While the Church played an important role among the Malai Arayans in their cultural development and attitude towards education, Malai Araya Mahasabha of the Hindu segment in competition with their Christian brethren was awakening the Hindus. The two together helped the Malai Arayans to compete with the other Hindu groups to achieve educational development,” says the study.
The Malayarayar and Ulladar communities of the south too witnessed a similar development. Only a small proportion of tribes in the northern districts profess Christianity. On the contrary, 20.77 % of tribes in the south are Christians and 30% of them reside in urban areas suggesting that they are migrants.
“Tribes following Christian religion make a difference to their educational achievements and migration to urban areas,” the study says. The only tribe in the north which adopted Christianity is the Koragas of Kasaragod district, 16.50 % of whom are Christians, says the study.