“Education for All” and the Rabaris of Kachchh, Western India

India does not cater formally to the education of its itinerant populations, which include a large number of nomadic pastoralists. Consequently, there is a dearth of provision of, and research into, literacy education for such pastoralists. Literacy education is inextricably linked with broader markers of power in Indian society, and its absence (i.e., illiteracy) helps to perpetuate the marginalization of the nomadic pastoralists. The author draws on a pilot scheme in literacy education for the Rabaris of Kachchh in Gujarat to suggest possible ways forward in meeting the critical literacy needs of Indian nomadic pastoralists. Specifically, the tensions between the peripatetic teaching program and the Rabaris’ desire to `learn to talk’ by using sedentary education are examined.