Tribal Heritage and Empowerment: A Perspective on Leveraging Indigenous Knowledge System through Mechanisms of Geographical Indications Tagging and Education Policies in Indian Context

Abstract (English)

The integration of Geographical Indications (GI) tagging and education policies in India offers a strategic pathway to preserve and promote tribal heritage through the lens of the Indian Knowledge System (IKS). This approach has potential to not only safeguards indigenous cultural expressions but also empowers tribal communities economically and socially. The cultural heritage and ethnicity lead to context specific interventions which facilitates the educational planning process for access, equity and quality concerns. In Indian context education policies of 1968, 1986 and Plan of Action (PoA), 1992 highlighted the reforms in school education providing a number of measures for educating the Scheduled Tribes (STs) group by devising the mechanisms for providing schools in remote areas. Availability of primary schools in the rural areas, residential schools at the middle levels, Anganwadi centres, non-formal education and adult education centres played a significant role in reaching the goal. Later with the establishment of Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MoTA) (1999) and the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (2001) which works particularly for the development of the regions and monitoring the implementation of socio-economic programmes in India. These two ministries are vital institutional mechanisms which fosters the process of empowerment of the tribal communities.

This paper is an attempt to review the status of integration of cultural heritage in educational processes with reference to education policies in particular the National Education Policy (NEP), 2020 as an attempt to decolonize the system and address the cultural hierarchies which isolated them from the mainstream. The NEP 2020 focus on introducing vocational education from Grade VI opening a window for identifying and preserving the local heritage with an attempt to empower tribal communities. Though the education policies attempted to empower them yet the issues and challenges continues on the inclusion of ST children into the school sector. This calls for relooking the dynamics as this group is heterogenous and chart out the future prospects.