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Context

Kerala's Literacy Mission provides home-based education to a bedridden tribal girl, exemplifying inclusive learning initiatives

About Cholanaikkan tribe                                                        

• They are considered as one of the most isolated tribes
• They inhabits the forests in the Nilambur Valley, Malappuram district of Kerala.
• They call themselves as Malanaikan or Sholanaikan.
• They are also known as the Cavemen of Kerala.
• The meaning of the name of the tribe is as following:
• Shola or chola means deep thicket in the forest and
• naikan means king.
• They are the only cave dwelling community in India.
• The overall population is extremely low.
• They are small tribe with a total population of less than 400 persons
• Their population is diminishing recent years.
• They are divided into smaller groups called as Jenmam.
• They are found in groups which consists of 2 to 7 primary families.
• Each group is called a
• They have no permanent dwellings.
• They prefer to live close to water sources.
• They live essentially by scavenging the forest.
• They do not cultivate because of the problem of elephants trampling over their produce.
• A fraction of whom live in caves
• The rest in temporary self-built structures.
• Their forest area is completely protected
• Outsiders are not even allowed to scavenge for forest produce or contact the tribal communities.
• They live in a protected forest along with elephants and other wild animals including occasional sighting of tigers. Antelopes are very common there.
• They speak a language which is weakly called Dravidian
• But it is noteworthy that it is not directly related to any of the modern Dravidian languages.
• Their names also suggest local words and do not carry any names from Hindu mythologies or other more prevalent names suggesting long period of isolation.
• They are classified as Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs).

THE HINDU