Discipline: Education
Universal primary education is a constitutional directive. Article 45 of the Directive Principles of the constitution urges all state to provide ‘free and compulsory education for all children until they complete the age of fourteen years’ within a period of ten years from the commencement of the constitution. Right to education has been recognized as fundamental right in 83rd constitutional amendment, even then the goal of universal education for all has remained distant dream. The status of education is one of the key indicators of socioeconomic development and employment opportunities largely depend on the level of education. In this paper we have examined the status of primary education in the Dings district of Gujarat state. The availability of basic necessary infrastructural facilities in the primary schools of the Dangs districts is not satisfactory. The process of education and development does not seem to have benefited the disadvantaged tribal groups in the Dangs district as much. Attempts have been made by the government and different voluntary agencies to promote education among tribal groups. The efforts to enhance the tribal education did not achieve its objectives because in many of the cases the educational needs and problems of the tribal communities are not properly identified.