Sacred landscapes as learning spaces: Exploring the interaction of secondary education and cultural heritage among tribal students in Rayagada district, Odisha

This study explores sacred landscapes as culturally situated learning spaces and the role they play in the framework of secondary schooling for indigenous learners in Rayagada District. Rayagada in southern Odisha is home to mostly indigenous people like the Kondh, Paroja, Saora, and Gadaba. For such communities, sacred hills and forests, rivers, ancestral groves, or ritual open spaces are intrinsic to the social life of those who live within a belief system lived through ecological practices and moralities. Apart from their spiritual meanings, these landscapes are evolving academic settings for the intergenerational transfer of ecological knowledge, oral traditions, agricultural practices, ethical standards and collective memory.Building on qualitative research, ethnographic observation and policy review, the article conceptualises sacred landscapes as formalised but informal systems of knowledge that run alongside institutional schooling. The paper is located in discussions of culturally responsive education, Indigenous knowledge traditions and the inclusive imagination projected by the National Education Policy 2020. Even though NEP 2020 seems to encourage experiential learning, knowledge context and local system knowledge, on-ground implementation in tribal secondary schooling frequently continues to be examination-centric and textbook-aligned, leading to the alienation of place-based Indigenous epistemologies.The results reveal a complex interplay of sacred cultural space and formal schooling.Tribally sacred sites foster ecological awareness, social responsibility and personal identity development, and community cohesion for American Indian youth. Formal educational systems, on the other hand, promote standardised curricula, mainstream languages and impersonal academic content that can result in culture dissonance and alienation among students. Few elements of local heritage enter the curricular content in schools, increasing the distance between institutional academic schooling and students’ cultural life. The paper underscores the need to identify sacred landscapes as a rightful body of knowledge in developing a more inclusive, contextual secondary-level education in tribal areas. It proposes a land-based, culturally situated pedagogy that is made salient through knowledge from community elders, Indigenous environmental practices, oral histories, and ritual teachings to open up opportunities for students’ learning within classrooms. This integration is in tune not only with the transformative endeavours of NEP 2020, but also fosters greater academic attachment, cultural validation and sensibility towards sustainable development among the tribal learners.By discussing the pedagogical significance of sacred landscapes, this article also speaks to larger scholarly conversations about Indigenous education, cultural sustainment and decolonising knowledge, which I explore further in my book(5). It contends, in the end, that reciprocal links between hierarchical knowledge systems and contexts are invaluable for achieving equitable, culturally responsive and contextually embedded educational possibilities for tribal students of Rayagada district.