It is highly deplorable that the cultural heritage of tribal India is relegated to back

seat at the advent of modernization of India. The forest resources can be husbanded
only when the government and the tribes work in synergy. For our tribal brothers,
forest has been a way of life and they know how to tap the resources judiciously. It
is incumbent on us to provide them such an education system that helps realize the
potential that lies dormant in them. The example of schoolteachers falling on deaf
ears to the prodigious knowledge of the tribal children about the medicinal plants is
heartrending (Chaiti Bais story and Modern India, Nov. 29). Who has to unlearn the
facts?