Socio-cultural Processes and Livelihood Patterns at Tirurangadi - CDS

eligious instruction apart from learning a trade, and these two could be learnt in the
centers of religious instruction and in the workplaces. The standard discussions of the
history of South Malabar talked of the resistance against Malayalam as ‘aryanezhuthu’,
but the local informants insisted that there was no resistance to their knowledge, but only
that people were not convinced of the relevance of modern school education, and the
benefits that their children would gain from attending the school. Sending children to
school meant losing a hand in the field or workplace, which parents could not afford.
Now in the background of absence of work and increase of dependents it is not surprising
that some parents thought of sending their children to school as a means of opening a new
way of life. Sending girls to schools was unthinkable, not only from the perspective of
social and religious restrictions, but also from the general perspective regarding the role
of women as additional household laborers and procreating agents, and girls as those
cared for the younger children when the parents were busy elsewhere.
This meant that majority of the population did not receive any education at all, or
received education only up to primary level. A substantial number of the older generation
even today has only reached up to this level. Those who managed to complete middle
school went on to complete their training and became teachers, or joined the Government
service. There were no high schools in the area, and one major school nearby was
Umbichi High school at Chaliyam, which could be reached only after walking a long
distance and using the boat to cross the river. Majority of those who completed middle
schools, even from richer families did not think it worth taking the risk. Of course, the
landlord families sent their children to Calicut, and very few of them returned to the
villages. By the middle of 20 th century, new High schools began to emerge, mainly a
string of Government schools, which gradually brought higher education into the area.
There was also an oriental Arabic school, meant for giving education in Arabic, in the
unaided sector.