COIMBATORE: The Annual Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) report (2014) has stated unambiguously that the enrollment of Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) students at the primary level (I-V) had come down continuously for the past three years in the country.
The report was prepared by the Ministry based on U-DISE report and earlier national census survey reports. While the enrollment of SC and ST students had been increasing steadily from 1980's, there was a sudden dip in the numbers now.
The total number of enrollment of SC students was 2.87 crores during the academic year 2011-12, but it dropped to 2.61 crores last academic year (2013-14) at the annual rate of close to three per cent.
Similarly 1.53 crore ST students got enrolled in various schools across India in 2011-12, but in 2013-14 it was reported to be around 1.45 crores.
National Convenor for Strengthening SCs and STs, Prasad Srivella said these numbers showed a failure in the implementation of Right To Education Act by the Government.
The government failed to create access to schools and particularly during the last three years when the Government supported privatization of education, it restricted these people from economically backward sections as they could not afford it, he added.
Dalit activists opined that discrimination in schools by the dominant community still continued to be an important factor for increased drop outs.
The Standing Committee on Social Justice and Empowerment (2014-15) presented to Lok Sabha on March 13, 2015 also informed that 55 per cent of enrolled ST children dropped out at elementary level. This was 15 per cent more compared to SC children and 22 percent more than that for all school going children.
The literacy rates among STs vis-a-vis India average continued to show a wide gap and this committee also stated that literacy rates of most north eastern states including Meghayala, Mizoram and Nagaland, STs were at par with the general population, whereas in Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, Maharasthra and West Bengal which have sizeable ST population in remote areas, the literacy gap was still as high as 18 to 26 per cent.
Educationist Prince Gajendra Babu said the mobility of parents in search of jobs, text books for students from remote locations and other States not made available in their own mother tongue, accessibility problems and inadequate awareness on rights and facilities provided to them were reasons for this decrease in enrollment.
Secretary, Thanthai Periyar Dravidar Kazhgam (TPDK), S.Ramakrishnan said the State governments should keep track of students from other State and provide special attention so that they were given an opportunity to study.