The Integrated Tribal Development Project (ITDP), Ghodegaon, will be signing Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) with universities to encourage tribal students to take up more research work. Ayush Prasad, project director, ITDP Ghodegaon (Pune), said they also will be encouraging students to take up community development work in remote tribal areas.
The tribal welfare department has introduced various schemes to ensure academic development of tribal students. However, at present, the initiatives focus on helping post matriculation students — those in junior college and above. Prasad said they were in talks with the Savitribai Phule Pune University, among others, to work on the issue.
The initiative will see quarterly performance review of students and identification of academically weaker students. “Such students will be given special coaching…,” he said. This would be the first time the department would be taking an initiative beyond the scope of scholarships and hostels.
Another sphere, where the department plans to work on, involves promoting research among tribal students. Under this scheme, students will be asked to take up various projects, both in the social and technological sector. In the social sector, students will be encouraged to take up projects to channelise their potentials in the right direction.
Recently, Madan Pathave, a student of social work, had co-authored a research paper that discussed the problems girls of migrant labourers in the district faced while pursuing education. Similar work is being done by other students too.
In order to promote involvement of members of the tribal community in preparation of the vision document, students in tribal hostels were asked to write about their future plans during an essay competition. More than 500 applications were received, which saw students writing about the various ways in which they thought members of the tribal community could be helped. “We have chosen 32 of the best essays, which will be published in the form of a book,” he said.