Marlavai village in Jainoor mandal of Adilabad district was not this sleepy when Austrian anthropologist Christoph von Furer-Haimendorf was at work during the decade of 1940.
He had launched his pioneering experiment in education of tribal people at this village.
This experiment, christened Gond Education Scheme in Adilabad district, was the first concrete step in tribal education in the then State of Hyderabad in 1943.
The scheme eventually became the model on which the present day education of tribal people in Andhra Pradesh is designed.
“Literacy is indispensable as the first step towards enabling tribal people to operate within the orbit of advanced communities,” the legendary researcher notes in his book ‘Tribes of India - The Struggle for Survival'.
He founded the Marlavai Training Centre (MTC) to produce teachers who can teach in Gondi dialect and others to work in Revenue and Forest Departments.
The MTC had a humble beginning with just five semi-literate Gonds as students. They underwent training as per the Gondi primers and readers composed in Devanagari script by Prof. Haimendorf himself.
In 1946, the government opened 30 primary schools where the teachers from MTC began teaching. In another three years, the number of primary schools reached 90, signifying the success of the Gond Education Scheme.
By 1951, the MTC had produced 95 teachers who were able to teach tribal students in Gondi in the agency areas of the district.
The Centre also produced five village officers, one Revenue inspector, five clerks and seven forest guards.
Notable achievement
The most notable achievement of the MTC came in the shape of Atram Lingu. From a village patwari, he rose on to become the president of Panchayat Samithi of Utnoor Tribal Development Block in 1967.
The excellent progress came to a naught in later years which became a cause of worry for Haimendorf. He makes a mention of this in ‘Tribes of India' apparently piqued at the negative development as Marlavai produced only 11 literates until 1979 though the first primary school was started here in 1945.
