Saturday, November 12, 2016

A tendu gleaner woman

During the time when 'Salwa Judum' was much in the news, I had visited Chhattisgarh. I met a tribal woman who has decided to withdraw her son from school. The reason she stated for doing so was quite straightforward.
The poor woman, whose livelihood was based on gleaning tendu leaves, said something most important that all the educationists, educators and policy makers must listen. Her answer was an eye opener. She said that if her son continuous with the education he was getting, he stop assisting her in gleaning tendu leaves. And if he continuous and becomes educated, your system does not have job for him. He will be called 'unemployed'.
What is the point of enrolling him in a school, she asked, if it was going to make him jobless? She was better served with him working alongside her. The tribal woman's plight is a serious indictment of our education system

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