First Koraga woman all set to get her doctoral degree

First Koraga woman all set to get her doctoral degree

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangaluru, Feb 25, 2022: A 36-year-old Assistant Professor in Sociology in Mangalore University, Sabitha, will become the first woman from the community, to obtain Ph.D degree when she will receive her certificate in the next convocation of Mangalore University.

 

The university has now awarded her with the Ph.D provisionally and a notification on this was issued on February 17, 2022. The convocation is likely to be held in April.

Ms. Sabitha has done her doctoral thesis on “Evaluation of policies and programmes of tribal development of Karnataka State- a situational analysis”. This thesis deals with a situation of her own Koraga tribe and also Malekudiya tribe, which are two tribal communities in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts.

A former Professor of Sociology of the university Jogan Shankar was the guide for this doctoral study.

A native of Gudmi village in Udupi district, Ms. Sabitha, like several of her community members, has gone through humiliation and untouchability. “Like fellow members of the community, I too desisted in my initial days from identifying myself as Koraga because of the fear of ostracisation. But with my studies that has landed me in a good position, I am now proud of community identity,” she said.

Having lost her parents at a young age, Ms. Sabitha and her younger brother, who has completed diploma in graphic designing, were brought up by their grandmother. “I vividly remember my days in primary school days when Koraga children were made to sit on the floor. My classmates did not mingle with us as we took part in customs like Ajalu and our parents did odd jobs like cleaning sewage line,” she said. The situation forced her to discontinue her studies for two years after Class 10.

Ms. Sabhita thanks activist Ashok Shetty for bringing her out of the woods during her work with the latter’s Samagra Grameena Ashrama in Kaup in Udupi district. She then enrolled at Ashrama School in Pernal in Udupi district and completed her PU. She stayed in Kudmal Ranga Rao hostel in Mangaluru and studied BA from Besant Women’s College. She completed her masters in Sociology in 2011 and cleared NET to join the university in 2013.

After her appointment, Ms. Sabhita said, she brought her younger brother, who had also discontinued his study for four years, to live with her. She counselled him and made him do his Diploma in Graphic designing. “He has shaped up as a good artist,” Ms. Sabhita said.

Many from the Koraga tribe, she said, still continue to face harassment, ostracisation and they are living in poor conditions. “Even a handful of the educated among the community are pushed towards doing odd jobs done by community members as there are lack of employment opportunities for them outside,” she said.

Courtesy:The Hindu