Pergamon Int. J. Educational Development, Vol. 15, No. 2, pp. 193-194, 1995

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P h . D . A B S T R A C T

D R O P - O U T F R O M P R I M A R Y S C H O O L S I N T R I B A L I N D I A : A C A S E

S T U D Y O F T H E H O I N P A R A M P A N C H O , W E S T S I N G H B H U M

AVINASH KUMAR SINGH

Ins t i t u t e o f E d u c a t i o n , U n i v e r s i t y o f L o n d o n , U . K .

This thesis examines the problem of drop-out from primary schools among Ho tribal chil- dren in the village of Parampancho, West Singhbhum, India. The tribal people are dis- tinct cultural groups, legally categorized as the Scheduled Tribes. Drop-out rates from primary schools are higher for tribal children than for children from most other social and economic groups in India. The thesis examines the question 'why do some tribal children drop-out from primary school, while others stay on to complete the course.'

The thesis employs the concept of POLAR- I T Y between the home and the school to ana- lyze the problem of drop-out. The sub-culture of learning and teaching in the school differs from that in the home. Although this gap exists in most cultures, the difference is very large in communities where modern schooling is of recent origin and has not developed from indig- enous learning systems. The concept of polarity between the home and the school is applicable to the Indian tribal communities when seen in terms of two contexts, the historical and the cultural. The problem of a very high incidence of drop-out from primary school among tribal children in India is an outcome of such home and school polarity.

A qualitative case study approach has been employed in this research to study the problem holistically within a village as a single social unit. A school drop-out survey was conducted among households to ascertain the nature and extent of drop-out from the village primary school. Subsequently, 20 Ho children were selected in terms of schooling profile (drop- outs and stay-ins) and household occupation (tusar farming and non-tusar farming) for an intensive study. The three broad research ques- tions were: (a) what is the nature and extent of drop-out in the village primary school;

(b) what are the perceived similarities and differences between the primary school and the domestic households in terms of content, motivation, method and language medium; and (c) do the perceived differences between the primary school and the home explain individual differences in drop-out?

The polarity between home and school in the village has been examined by comparing and contrasting the two learning and teaching situations: domestic learning and teaching of Ho tribal knowledge and skills with special reference to silkworms (tusar) rearing, and school learning and teaching of 'Social Stud- ies'. The analysis shows that polarity exists between the primary school and the Ho home in terms of content, motivation, method and language medium. For example, in terms of knowledge content while domestic knowledge and skills were based mainly on the household chores, of local relevance, based on the sexual division of labour, had in oral form and were holistic; school knowledge was mainly based on school tasks of national and international relevance, prescribed in the school syllabus in terms of grades, written in the form of school textbooks and organised in terms of disciplines and lessons. In terms of motivation, while in the domestic setting the goals and expectations were mainly to supplement the household labour force, to assume adult roles, to learn the skills which will earn money, to work within the village and to learn about Ho culture; in the school setting the expectations were to concentrate on academic tasks, to get jobs based on a school education, to gain access to secondary school education, to work outside the village and to learn about other cultures. In terms of methods of learning and teach- ing, while the domestic setting emphasized learning by doing, learning and teaching in

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real situations, learning though the kinship network with the selective use of positive and negative reinforcements and learning according to Ho cultural traditions, the school setting em- phasized learning by memorizing, learning and teaching through imagination, learning through unfamiliar persons in an impersonal environ- ment, and learning and teaching in accordance with the established mainstream school culture. Furthermore, while the language medium in the domestic setting is characterized by the sole use of Ho, the use of both verbal and non-verbal means of communication, equality in terms of participation and close relationship between the Ho language and the Ho culture as practised in the village, the school, however, is characterized by the use of both Ho and Hindi, the predominant use of verbal means of communication, dominance of teachers in classroom communication and the association of the main school language with the national mainstream culture.

Although there existed polarity between the home and the school in terms of four dimen-

sions, the perception of the polarity varied from child to child and from parent to parent. The drop-out children and their parents perceived the polarity to a greater extent and experienced learning difficulties of a higher degree than the children who stayed in the school. The drop- outs and the stay-ins participated in the home and the school educational fields differentially. For example, while the drop-outs participated actively in home educational activities but did not use their home learning experiences in the school, they did not do any school work at home and their parents on the whole were unaware of their school activities. Conversely, the stay-ins did not participate actively in the home educational activities but instead concentrated more on their school work and used some of their home learning experiences in the school. The parents of these children were aware of their school activities. Thus, one may say that the problem of drop-out from the Parampancho Primary School is to a large extent a product of perceived polarity between the home and the school.