Education or livelihood?

I was travelling to assess the impact of the work by the Kanasu team among rural and tribal students. I met students who belonged predominantly to the Soliga tribe. Almost all of them were economically backward. I had to see whether they were studying properly and providing desired results academically. It seems like a simple exercise. Except that it isn't quite simple enough.

Soligas have a great culture of their own. They are highly educated people; their culture equips them with an intimate knowledge of nature. Their culture equips them to know about medicinal plants in the forests by the time they are 3 or 4 years old-something we learn only if we do a BSc in Botany. Yes, they weren’t literate.
But then, the education these kids receive is quite poor. They do not receive any special kind of education which opens up their mind. They are learning things that totally disconnect themselves from their surroundings.

The current education is not helping them be creative and thinking individuals. As is the case everywhere, there will be creative and thinking individuals not because of the system but despite the system. But yes, I am sure it is successfully killing the creativity of many kids there and also creating various other problems in process.

Early in my travels, it became clear that we are not helping them be “educated”. We are only providing them with tools to earn a decent livelihood! That in itself is a big thing, considering for various reasons including globalisation, their decreasing right within their own forests have rendered them totally helpless. They just don't have a choice but to join the larger national economy. And education here helps them. It helps them to secure a livelihood; it helps them to earn money so that they don't starve and die.

Shobha S.V.