What is the issue?

A field study was recently conducted in various ashram shalas in Maharashtra. It analyses their conditions, and makes recommendations for future improvements.

What are ashram shalas?

In remote areas of the State where basic education facilities are not available, residential Ashram Schools are being operated there to provide the education facilities of primary and
middle level for tribals.

What are the findings?

• There has been recurring incidents of rape and sexual abuse of children in these schools.
• In 2013, a PIL was filed in the Bombay High Court, highlighting the deaths of 793 children in ashram shalas in the last decade due to snake bites, scorpion bites, fever, and other minor illnesses.
• These deaths were mainly due to the “negligence of staff” who did not ensure proper treatment in time.
• The prevalence of such heinous acts, despite the culprits of the Buldhana incident being brought to justice underscores the lawlessness, and impunity that prevails within tribal education programmes.
• Field visits to ashram shalas in Nandurbar, Dhadgaon, and Taloda tehsils showed that girls as young as six years old live in overcrowded hostels without proper sanitation facilities.
• Although schools appointed female wardens long ago, the conditions that persist in and around these hostels are as dangerous as ever. The situation forced the Maharashtra State Commission for Women to demand the shutting down of ashram shalas that cannot provide security to girl students.
• There is a lack of sufficient water and toilets.
• The lack of a proper dining hall forces the management to serve meals on a mud floor just in front of the school.
• Students, especially girls, do not wear school uniforms; moreover, students are not provided with utensils and necessary educational equipment.
• This school has all the teaching and non-teaching staff it needs but the quality of education remains poor.
• This shows lack of proper monitoring on the government’s part.
• The parent–teacher association (PTA) seems to be dysfunctional due to rigid laws regarding ashram shalas and does not have a say in the administrative affairs of the
  school.