DONGARIA KOND TRIBE AND HIGHER EDUCATION A CASE STUDY

There has been a growing concern over education across the globe. India is considered as leading country in terms of making legislations and taking strategic initiatives for education for its people since the onset of liberalism. Some of the fundamental reasons behind these are associated with the idea of sustainable development of human population in a competitive environment and protecting the global commons. Higher education is considered to be as a step forward for capacity building of individual and society in this regard in a knowledge driven society. This paper portraits the kind situations prevailed amongst the vulnerable Dongaria tribes in India in terms of getting access to opportunities of education particularly higher education and its implications in their socio-cultural, political and economic life. This paper claims that that the Dongaria Kond graduates have positive impression towards the system and the kind of opportunities there for higher education. Nevertheless, it establishes a contradictory unpleasant fact. On one hand Dongaria Kond graduates have positive impact on the social stability along with financial well-being of their family, however the quest for education and productive aspirations have brought some sort of disturbances in their own families caused by their movement to a distance place for education and participation in productive works on the other. The graduates sometimes crate distance from their own socio-cultural values because of their adaptive nature of behaviour they gradually develop. This paper suggests to strike a balance in terms sociocultural and economic sustainability of vulnerable groups loke Dongaria Kondh and developmental initiatives like opportunity for higher education and their effect in their own regions rather pulled by the external forces at the cost of culture and sustainable sources of livelihood. KEYWORD: Higher Education, Socio-economic life, Dongaria Kond