All talk of education as a tool to uplift the life situation and prospects of Attapady tribespeople seem vain when one finds the number of highly educated youngsters in the community either jobless or in jobs that do not match their qualifications.
As per the findings of tribal voluntary organisation ‘Thambu,’ at least 200 tribal youngsters with post graduation and above are now engaged in menial jobs. “It was a welcome relief during July first week when the government conducted a special recruitment of 74 tribal youngsters into the State police force. Though efforts are now on to ensure more tribal representation in government services, the focus is more on youngsters who completed School final and Plus Two. There must be efforts to conduct special recruitment for tribespeople with postgraduation and above,” said K.S. Rajendra Prasad, director of Thampu.
“Postgraduates and those with professional qualifications from the tribal community must get immediate placements, as that would inspire many others to complete professional degrees. Despite having a postgraduation in Hindi along with MPhil and diploma in translation, I have been working as a guest lecturer for the last six years in different colleges and that too with poor remuneration,” said 36-year-old N. Rangasamy, an Irula tribal of Sholayur.
After completing his postgraduation, Rangasamy even cleared the National Eligibility Test (NET). It was only last week that he wrote a letter to SC/ST Welfare Minister A.K. Balan seeking steps to ensure him a decent job with better pay packages.
His wife 32-year-old Naveena has an MSc in Botany apart from BEd. Yet she works as a temporary school teacher in the absence any direct recruitment. “Hailing from lower income families, we are not in a position to obtain jobs in government-aided private institutions paying huge donations to the managements. Even in the PSC examinations, we have to compete with candidates from privileged families with higher exposure,” said Naveena.
Same is the case of 30-year-old P.K. Murukan of Kadukumanna, who belongs to primitive tribal community Kurumba. After passing BTech in Computer Science with high marks, Murukan worked for four years as watchman of a tribal welfare project in Attappady. Now he holds the post of a temporary clerk at the local office of Integrated Tribal Development Project (ITDP). Yet another example is 28-year-old Unnikrishnan of Irula hamlet in Chindakki, who serves as warden of a tribal hostel despite his qualification as a marine engineer.
