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The study aimed to analyze the educational participation of tribal students at the elementary stage of school education in district Ganderbal, Jammu and Kashmir. The study emphasized the enrolment of tribal students at various Grades (I, V, VI, VIII) at different points of time; compare the enrolment shares on a gender basis, and assess the change in patterns of enrolment shares from the initial Grade i.e., Grade I to terminal Grade i.e., Grade VIII of the elementary stage of school education. The study is descriptive. The official enrolment records and figures of tribal Gujjar and Bakarwal students were accessed through the concerned educational offices of the district. The investigators developed the information blank to seek Grade wise (I, V, VII, VIII) enrolment records of overall and tribal students. To analyze and visualize the collected enrolment data, tabulation, percentage statistics, and graphical representation was used. The study concluded that tribal share in overall enrolment comprises a significant portion at various Grades (Grade I 36.61%., Grade V 34.51%, Grade VI 31.57%, and Grade VIII 27.74%) of the elementary stage. The results indicate decline and gender disparity have been observed in tribal enrolment. At the elementary stage, i.e., from Grade I to Grade VIII, the tribal enrolment shares declined by -.8.87 percent (Boys -8.27 percent; Girls -9.25%).

Gojri speakers, i.e., Gujjars and Bakarwals, are the relatively deprived indigenous tribal communities and groups. The hegemony of dominant languages in significant fields such as polity, judiciary, and education accentuates the exclusion of tribal and minority languages. The study relied on secondary sources and mainly focused on Gojri speakers of Jammu and Kashmir, and India. We examined the indigenous Gojri language, its genesis, evolution, resemblance, geography, and diversity, and the plight of its neglect and exclusion from significant fields. We highlighted how Census operations, official languages of States/UTs, schedules of the constitution, parliament and judicial proceedings, pedagogical medium & school curriculum, language education policies, and initiatives contributed to such exclusion. The study expands our understanding of language landscape and diversity, hegemony and preference for dominant languages, and exclusion of minority and tribal languages. Considering the linguistic diversity of J&K and India, we believe this study can sensitize educational and language policy planners and practitioners about language bias, non-inclusive, discriminant, and unjust treatment, alienating Gojri speakers in different domains.

Disparities in educational access especially in tribal areas has been one of the grave issues in addressing tribal education. The study aimed to analyse educational access and disparities in school availability in tribal educational zones and stages of school education. The study adopted descriptive survey to understand the demographics and availability of schools; applied self-designed information blank to collect data from educational zones and analysed the data, using tabulation as well as percentage statistics. The study concluded that access to secondary education is limited in district Ganderbal, as the district possess low number of educational institutions (middle, high and higher secondary). Moreover, disparity has been found in educational institutions with respect to tribal dominated educational zones i.e., Hariganwan and Kangan. The tribal dominated educational zones lack access to schooling and possess low number of schools compared to other two educational zones i.e., Ganderbal and Tullamulla having dominant non tribal populations. This study has implications for policy planner to understand the dynamics of school access in tribal areas and increase schooling accessibility by establishing more upper primary and secondary schools especially in remote tribal zones, keeping in mind their topographical, seasonal movement, cultural underpinnings.

The study attempts to know the extent of enrolment, and retention rate of tribal students at upper primary stage and provide a comparative picture of tribal with respect to gender and educational zones of Ganderbal district. Descriptive survey has been used in present study. Using Information Blank, the primary information about student enrolment was gathered from the Chief and Zonal Educational offices of district Ganderbal. Percentage statistics was used to analyse the data. Statistical results were visualised through tables and bar graphs. The study revealed that tribals constitute 31.37% and 27.74% of aggregate Grade VI and Grade VIII enrolment respectively. The aggregate retention rate of district Ganderbal at Upper Primary stage of education was low (88.62%) while as that of tribal children also low (78.83%). The gaps/disparity between aggregate and tribal GRR were found. Gender disparity in GRR were observed in GRR of district Ganderbal. At upper primary stage, girls had low GRR (76.08%) than boys (81.48%), and tribal girls have lowest compared to boys (aggregate & tribal). Zonal disparity in GRR was observed in district Ganderbal. Zone Hariganwan had lowest GRR (Tribal and Overall) compared to zone, Kangan, Ganderbal and Tullamulla at upper primary stage.

Environmental ethics is the code of behavior for guiding and controlling human actions towards environment. This code of behavior does not depend on the presence or absence of environmental laws for the understanding, protection and improvement of the environment. It was found that the mean scores of Tribal Boys and Tribal Girls were 141.24 and 151.43 with Standard Deviations 42.13 and 44.37 respectively. The obtained 't' value between the two groups came out to be 2.02 which is more than the table value i.e., 1.646 at 0.05 level and less than 2.581 at 0.01 level of significance. It revealed that there is significant difference in both the groups. It also revealed that tribal girls secondary school students have more dispositions about the environment than the tribal boys secondary school students. Hence, the null hypothesis of the present study "There is no significant difference between secondary school boys and girls students with respect to environmental disposition" is rejected. It means that the girls at secondary school level have more environmental disposition than the boys.

The study aimed to explore the indigenous language of Gujjar and Bakerwal tribal communities of district Ganderbal of Jammu and Kashmir, India. The design of the study is qualitative in nature. The researcher employs purposive sampling in selecting the sample. The researcher surveyed 81 Gujjar and Bakerwal households and interviewed 22 (19 Male and 3 Female) members of both the communities chosen from villages of Hayan Palpora, Ganwan, Harignawan, Jara Pati, Thune, Syed Basti (Surfraw), Chount Waliwar, and Yechihama of Ganderbal district. The researcher employed semi-structured questionnaire, interview schedule, focused group discussion and observation methods to collect data pertaining to the study. Qualitative content analysis was used to analyse the collected data. The study concluded that the Gujjar and Bakerwal communities are multi-lingual and, their mother tongue is gojri. Variation in mother tongue with respect to mannerism, tone and symbolic meaning of things has been observed between two communities. In intra community settings, mother tongue primarily used and in inter community settings, they mostly interact in Urdu language. Furthermore, in religious observances, both Arabic and Gojri is used. Gojri language has a close resemblance with Mewari and Urdu languages. The speakers of gojri language are declining as dominant languages like English and Urdu are much preferred in school and other settings. The school going children of both the communities learn and speak these dominant language instead of their own mother tongue that becomes a threat for the survival of the gojri language. The development of content in gojri language and financial support to the writers of gojri literature will be helpful in promoting gojri. The translation of school curriculum in gojri and the inclusion of gojri as a separate language subject besides, the usage of gojri as pedagogical method in educational settings will save the language form extinction.

Krüppel-like transcription factor 7 (KLF7) promotes preadipocyte proliferation; however, its target gene in this process has not yet been identified. Using KLF7 ChIP-seq analysis, we previously showed that a KLF7-binding peak is present upstream of the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor 3 gene ( CDKN3) in chicken preadipocytes. In the present study, we identify CDKN3 as a target gene of KLF7 that mediates the effects of KLF7 on preadipocyte proliferation. Furthermore, 5′-truncating mutation analysis shows that the minimal promoter is located between nt –160 and nt –7 (relative to the translation initiation codon ATG) of CDKN3. KLF7 overexpression increases CDKN3 promoter activity in the DF-1 and immortalized chicken preadipocyte (ICP1) cell lines. Deletion of the putative binding site of KLF7 abolishes the promotive effect of KLF7 overexpression on CDKN3 promoter activity. Moreover, CDKN3 knockdown and overexpression assays reveal that CDKN3 enhances ICP1 cell proliferation. Flow cytometry analysis shows that CDKN3 accelerates the G1/S transition. Furthermore, we find that KLF7 promotes ICP1 cell proliferation via Akt phosphorylation by regulating CDKN3. Taken together, our results suggest that KLF7 promotes preadipocyte proliferation by activating the Akt signaling pathway by cis-regulating CDKN3, thus driving the G1/S transition.