Barriers to Education and Skill Acquisition among Tribal Women of Jharkhand

This study article identifies barriers in the education and skill acquisition of tribal women in Jharkhand, with a focus on two dominant tribal groups: Santhal and Munda. The underlying reason for the marginalization of tribal women in the state of Jharkhand continues to be education and skill-building. Despite being the brainchild of several government initiatives in order to improve the socio-economic condition of society, tribal women still remain significantly marginalized in terms of education and skills acquisitions in Jharkhand. The report explains the socio-cultural, economic, and institutional barriers that stop these women from acquiring education or vocational training. Influence of traditional gender roles, early marriage, problems in awareness, and financial constraints drastically limit the educational attainments of the tribal women. Behind it lies the problem of infrastructure, schools not adequately provided for education; also, there are rarely enough qualified teachers to instruct the students. Moreover, the minimal use of technology by the schools aggravates the situation. The formal educational system, having been imposed from a far culture, also creates cultural dissonance, which discourages the family from sending their daughters to school. In addition to this, skill development programs, initiated for the region, are carried out poorly in the name of the said initiative and do not aim at fulfilling the needs of tribal women, who, by the way, are also in need of literacy and numeracy skills for the full upliftment of these programs. Such an all-encompassing policy would culminate education with culturally relevant skill development, improved community engagement, and gender-sensitive policies empowered for tribal women. It argues that integration of traditional knowledge systems into formal education frameworks would hold more inclusive and effective solutions. Finally, the article makes some proposals for policy intervention that include infrastructural development, teacher training, and vocational programs to the socio-economics of such communities.