Attitude of Tribal Students Towards Online Classes in Kerala

Abstract

The Right to Education is a Fundamental Right of an individual enshrined in the Constitution of India to provide free and compulsory education of children up to the age of 14. As tribal students come from a different and peculiar background,the school dropout rate is very high among this segment of students when compared to those from other segments of the population. As per the available reports the educational level of tribal students isexceptionally low, and the number of those who acquire higher education is low too when compared to non tribal people. In the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic situation, the education system is facing an unprecedented crisis and many States are considering the proposition of cancellingthe annual examinations to promote the student to the next level. Based on this situation the Department of Education Government of Kerala introduced a new method to continue the academic activities through the online platform, namedas the First bell. This study focuses on the attitude of the tribal students towards thenew online educational initiativeintroduced in theState in the backdrop of the pandemic. The researcher adopted the experimental research design and convenience sampling method to identify the respondents. The sample size of the respondents is 121, and it is collected from Wayanad District in the State. It mainly focuses on the responses of high school and higher secondary school students who are regularlyattending the online classes. The result showed that the majority of the tribal students are not
interested to attend the classes through the online system and some of them have a neutralviewpoint. Different opinionsare highlighted in the study