Empowering Cultural Heritage: Leveraging Indigenous Knowledge of Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups in Mayurbhanj, Odisha through Education

Abstract

As modernisation and globalisation dominate cultural diversity in the world, can education be a vehicle for the conservation of Indigenous knowledge and capacity building of vulnerable communities? The Santhal, Bhumji and other Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) in the Mayurbhanj district of Odisha, India, are threatened with the extinction of indigenous knowledge systems and cultural practices due to erosion of language, economic pressures and educational marginalisation. Despite their great cultural richness, these communities are underrepresented in formal academic and policy frameworks, leading to great gaps in the preservation of their heritage. The focus of this study was to investigate how indigenous knowledge can be integrated into inclusive educational practices to preserve culture and empower socioeconomically. Data were collected from 137 respondents using a structured survey using a quantitative research design. Statistical analyses included descriptive statistics, chi-square tests, and multivariate regression, which were conducted using SPSS 28 software. In this study, systemic barriers were addressed using multilingual education, participatory learning, and digital tools. The key findings were that 54.7% of respondents named language erosion as a major barrier, and 55.5% admitted a lack of resources for cultural preservation. Government initiatives were partially considered effective but had policy gaps in implementation and community engagement. This work showed that participatory educational approaches and technological innovation (digital documentation of tribal folklore) promise to span generational divides and secure cultural continuity. In line with India's National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, this study also endorses community-driven strategies for safeguarding intangible cultural heritage in the global discourse. Rather, its findings make clear the power of education as a weapon to enable cultural preservation and socioeconomic empowerment and make it a model which can be replicated throughout the world in other marginalised communities. This study proves that education is one thing that walks us to modernisation, not only but also to modernisation, which goes hand in hand with the tradition itself in the progress of an increasingly interconnected world.