Keywords

Adjustment Problems, Model Residential Schools, Intervention Packages, Tribal Students, Tribal Community.

Introduction

Human progress is always measured in novel ways. Development in technologies and improved transportation facilities facilitate educational improvement Education in present day context is perhaps the single most important means for individuals to improve personal endowments, build capability levels, overcome constraints and in the process, enlarge their available set of opportunities and choices for a sustainable improvement in wellbeing. Shaffer defined “Adjustment is the process by which a living organism maintains a balance between its needs and the circumstances that influence the satisfaction of these needs” (Dash & Patra, 2014).It is not only a means to enhance human capital, productivity, but it is equally important for enabling the process of acquisition, assimilation and communication of information and knowledge, all of which augments a person’s quality of life, education is important not merely as means to other ends, but it is an attribute that is valued in itself, by most individuals. More importantly, it is a critical invasive instrument for bringing about social, economic and political inclusion and a durable integration of people of any society. Due to the geographical and cultural diversity many communities from the remote villages and hilly areas are left out from getting the educational provisions. Many of the tribal villages are denied the educational facilities. Therefore in order to provide provisions for education to those deprived sections of the Indian Society, the Central Government started model residential schools. Here the tribal children can come and reside and have the possibilities of completing their education in a well-defined manner.

Need and Significance of the Study

In the model residential schools we come across with adjustment issues. This is due to the totally new environmental and cultural atmosphere the new students face in model residential schools. So the issues become complex in the case of those students who already suffer from adjustment problems. Adjustment is totally based on the pattern established by earlier adjustment. The quality of adjustment in the early years of life determines the quality of adjustment in later years. Adjustment is positively correlated with academic achievement emotional intelligence (Raj, 2018) and negatively correlated with anxiety (Kusam,2014). The students are confronted with the adaptation challenges of living apart from family and friends, adjusting to the academic regimen, assuming responsibility for the task of living, and developing a new array of social relationships. with peers. Such transition requires the students to create new coping styles, overcoming initial anxiety and adopting new behavior. Thus children who fail to do something can negatively influence their adjustment in school and which in turn affects their academic performance adversely. School is one of the important pillars on which the child’s personality is formed. It is the place where children have contact with peers, form friendships and participate in social groups with other children. At the adolescence period peers become increasingly important in the lives of an adolescent (Gaur, 2013). So we need to address the adjustment issues prevailing in model residential schools so that the purpose of the institutions is met successfully through these schools.

This study aims to find out the adjustment problems of tribal students in model residential schools and to develop an intervention package to deal with it. The result of this study will provide professionals, policy makers and administrators a perception about adjustment problems of tribal students in model residential schools. The intervention package will be helpful in the future too to deal with the adjustment problems of the next generation of tribal students. The intervention package which will be developed can also be used in other model residential schools in various parts of Kerala.

Statement of the Problem

The study is aimed to find out the adjustment problems of tribal students in model residential schools and to develop an intervention package for dealing with it. Hence the study is entitled as ‘intervention package for tribal students with adjustment problems in model residential schools’

Definition of Key Terms

Intervention Package

An intervention is something that comes between two things or something that changes the course of something. An intervention is a combination of program elements or strategies designed to produce behavior change of individuals or an entire population. Interventions that include multiple strategies are typically the most effective in producing desired and lasting changes.

In the present study intervention package is defined as a package to deal with adjustment problems of tribal students in model residential schools.

Tribal students

Students belonging to tribal communities are denoted as tribal students.

Adjustment problems

An adjustment problem is a state of difficulty arising from the failure of an individual to conform to the standards of the society in which he is living. In the present study adjustment problems of tribal students in model residential schools is studying.

Model Residential Schools

Model residential schools are residential schools for backward students where they can reside and study. It is a government of India scheme.

Objectives of the Study

To find out whether there exist any significant difference in the adjustment problems of tribal students in Model Residential Schools with respect to gender.

To find out the effectiveness of intervention packages for the adjustment problems of tribal students in Model Residential Schools.

Hypothesis of the Study

There exists a significant difference in adjustment problems of tribal students in Model Residential Schools with respect to gender.

Intervention package is effective for minimizing adjustment problems of tribal students in Model Residential Schools.

Review of Related Literature

Varma (2014) conducted a study on the factors influencing educational adjustment among English medium students in Kottayam Diocese, Kerala. The study found that neither English language anxiety nor math anxiety was found to be significantly related to the respondents' reported level of educational adjustment.

Saraswathi (2016) investigated the educational status of tribal communities with the help of literacy rate. The paper highlighted the challenging issues of tribal education in Odisha. The central and state governments have initiated various education supportive measures like establishments of Ashrams school, Ekavalya, Model Residential Schools and pre-matric and post matric scholarship. If these facilities are fully available to needy tribal students, then there will be an increase in the educational status of tribal students.

Raji & Baiju (2020) made a study on the Institutional factors, the location of school in terms of nearness to their place of residence, socio-cultural background of students are the three major factors affecting school education of tribal children. Government has established residential schools such as, Rajeev Gandhi residential school kaloor, Model Residential School pookode, Government Model Residential School kaniyambetta, Dr. Ambedkar Model Residential School Nalloornad, and Government Ashram High School Thirunelly. Institute of Tribal Studies and Research (ITSR), located at Chethalayam. Sulthan bathery, Wayanad, is a new center under University of Calicut, devoted for higher education of tribal students.

Methodology

Here for this study the researcher had used an Experimental method. In the experimental method the researcher explicitly and intentionally induces exogenous variation in the intervention assignment to facilitate causal inference. For this particular research work the researcher employed the Single group pre-test post-test quasi experimental design. The experimental time period was 90 days between pre-test and post-test. This was to ensure a reasonable time to resolve the adjustment related issues.

Sample

The target population of the study was the tribal students of secondary level. The investigator limited the population area to the Model Residential Schools in the state of Kerala. In Kerala there are 20 Model Residential Schools and of those Model Residential Schools students of 14 model residential schools were taken for study. And the investigator selected 9th standard students of model residential schools, as the sample for pre-test and post-test. The Final sample comprises 320 girls and 310 boys of 9th standard.

Tools

The investigator used the following tools for the present experimental study:

1. Student’s adjustment problem checklist (Bhukya, 2010)

2. Adjustment Enhancement Package.

Data Collection Procedure

The investigator approached the selected schools in person and with the help of the teacher in charge of the standard IX pre-tests were conducted. Student’s adjustment problem checklist was given to identify adjustment problems of tribal students in model residential schools. Analysing the result, an Adjustment Enhancement Package was developed. And after discussing with the school heads the developed adjustment enhancement package was implemented on students in Model Residential Schools. And after giving adequate time for adaptation and improvement, a post-test was conducted in order to know the effectiveness of the package. The given time period was 90 days.

Statistical Techniques

In order to find out the effectiveness of the use of the intervention packages in model residential schools the investigator made use of the following: Preliminary analysis, Percentage analysis, t-test and paired t test.

Data Analysis

Hypothesis 1

There exists a significant difference in adjustment problems of tribal students in Model Residential Schools with respect to gender.

To find out whether there exists any significant difference in the mean scores of adjustment problems of tribal students in Model Residential Schools on the basis of gender, a test of significance of difference (t-test) was employed. The result of the statistical analysis is presented in the appendix table 1.

Table 1 Data and Results of Test of Significance Difference in the Adjustment Problems of Girls And Boys
GENDER	N	MEAN	S.D	t	Sig. (2-tailed)
Girls	320	94.68	23.53	1.344	0.184
Boys	310	86.67	23.78		0.184

The mean score of adjustment problems of girls and boys is 94.68 and 86.67 with standard deviation 23.53 and 23.78 respectively. The critical ratio for the test of significance of difference in the mean scores adjustment problems between girls and boys is found to be 1.344. Hence the obtained critical ratio (1.344) is less than the table value (1.96) at 0.05 level of significance. It is obvious from this that the girls and boys tribal students in Model Residential Schools do not significantly differ in their adjustment problems.

Discussion

The analysis of the result shows that there exists no significant difference in the adjustment problems of tribal students in Model Residential Schools with respect to gender. It may, therefore, be concluded that both girls and boys have adjustment problems to the same degree. The reason may be that there are lots of similarities in culture, socio-economic background and environmental conditions of boys and girls. This finding is consistent with earlier studies in adjustment problems in relation to gender. (Gahlawat,2009; Jose,2009; MacKenzie & Pamela,2009; Hussain et al., 2008). This analysis helps to conclude the researcher to propose a common intervention package irrespective of gender. This analysis makes the study more feasible and the outcomes have much more reliability. The researcher need not spend more time in the work for framing different intervention packages for girls and boys. This in turn helps to save time, energy, space and money.

Hypothesis 2

Intervention package is effective for minimizing adjustment problems of tribal students in Model Residential Schools.

After the implementation of adjustment enhancement package the researcher rechecked the adjustment problems of students in Model Residential Schools. Through this rechecking the researcher intended to check the effectiveness of the package that was implemented on tribal students in Model Residential Schools.

The objective was to compare the difference between mean pre-test and post- test scores of adjustment problems of tribal students in Model Residential Schools. The data was analysed with the help of paired sample t tests. The test of significance of difference in mean pre-test and post-test scores of adjustment problems of tribal students in Model Residential Schools is given in the appendix table 2.

Table 2 Data and Results of the Test Significance of Difference in Mean Pre-Test and Post- Test Scores of Adjustment Problems of Tribal Students in Model Residential School
	N	MEAN	S.D.	t	p
Pre test	630	90.75	23.81	8.78	p>0.01
Post test	630	57.56	15.37

The table 2 reveals that post-test scores of adjustment problems of tribal students in Model Residential Schools(M=57.56, SD=15.37) is higher than pre-test scores(M=90.75, SD=23.81) of adjustment problems of tribal students in Model Residential Schools. The obtained value of t for the difference between the mean pre-test and post-test of tribal students with adjustment problems in Model Residential Schools is 8.78 at 0.01 level. The table value at 0.01 levels and at 0.05 levels are 2.58 and 1.96 respectively. The obtained value of t 8.78 is greater than the table value and is significant at 0.01level (t=8.78; p>o.o1). It means that there is a significant difference between the mean pre-test and post-test scores of tribal students with adjustment problems in Model Residential Schools.

The paired sample t test shows a significant difference in the pre-test and post-test scores of tribal students with adjustment problems in Model Residential Schools. The hypothesis stating that the intervention package is effective for minimizing adjustment problems of tribal students in Model Residential Schools was accepted. From the result it may be concluded that significant difference in the pre-test and post-test scores may be due to the effect of the intervention package for tribal students with adjustment problems in Model Residential Schools. The systematic and timely employing of the intervention package is effective in sorting out the issues prevalent in model residential schools. The adjustment problems due to psychological and social issues are effectively heard and solved. This analysis clearly points out the need of deploying such intervention packages for improving the social and psychological atmosphere of the model residential schools. The sample test showed the need and significance of the intervention packages and the post-test shows the effectiveness of the intervention packages. It again points to the necessity of addressing the adjustment issues of tribal children. It is simply not enough to start tribal residential schools but we need continued monitoring and constant support for the physical and psychological welfare of the tribal students irrespective of gender in order to overcome the adjustment issues.

Findings and Suggestions

The study was intended to find certain amicable and feasible solutions for treating adjustment problems of the tribal students of model residential schools. From the analysis of the hypotheses we find that there is no significant difference in the Adjustment Problems of tribal students in Model Residential Schools with respect to gender. Boys and girls of tribal students in Model Residential Schools experience the same degree of Adjustment Problems. The t value obtained for the test of significance of difference in the mean pre-test and posttest scores of Adjustment Problems of tribal students in Model Residential Schools is 8.78. The obtained t value is greater than that of the table value (2.58); hence the difference is significant at 0.01 level of confidence. It shows that the Adjustment Enhancement Package is effective for minimizing adjustment problems of tribal students in Model Residential Schools.

In order to carry out the mission 'education for all' successfully, the government needs to provide adequate provisions for similar enhancement packages. Sometimes the resources used by the government are not reaching the model residential schools in time. Therefore adequate and apt remedial measures are to be implemented for removing the possible errors. The tribal students always have the tendency to go back to their previous and most peaceful home atmosphere even though there are no sufficient opportunities to grow and progress. To help the tribal students to be fit and sit in an urban atmosphere needs utmost care from the part of the educators (Kaur & Kaur, 2007). They are fish out of water and must be given an atmosphere of understanding, accompaniment and accommodation.

Intervention packages will help the tribal children to overcome the difficulties faced in the model residential schools. The psychological help and motivations specially designed in the package will surely reduce the dropout rates also in the model residential schools. This will in turn change the attitudes of the society towards model residential schools. When social taboos and other hindrances are taken out positively by the intervention packages this will in turn give and ensure the teaching learning process a positive outlook and an atmosphere of cooperation and healthy development. Therefore further research projects are to be done to improve the present conditions of the model residential schools. It will surely in return increase the participation of the tribal community to actively engage in educating their children and thus become part of the elite society without losing their ethnic identity.

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Received: 11-Oct-2023 Manuscript No. AAFSJ-23-14087; Editor assigned: 12-Oct-2023, PreQC No. AAFSJ-23-14087 (PQ); Reviewed: 23- Oct-2023, QC No. AAFSJ-23-14087 ; Revised: 25-Oct-2023, Manuscript No. AAFSJ-23-14087(R); Published: 30-Oct-2023