The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.
- Proverb 1:7

According to projections by the United Nations Fund for Population activities, world population will "probably hit 6 billion by 1999. The world population grows every minute by about 150, every day by 220,000." It is rising by "one billion in approximately 12 to 13 years." The current world population has already exceeded five a billion (500 million). As part of the total world-wide tribal population, Nagas alone will number not less than 1.5 million, more than the Native Americans (American Indians) in the USA.

For generations the Naga have lived in contiguous areas bordering India and Burma (Indo-Burma). But beginning in the 1830s the British colonial power began to split up the Naga areas for administrative convenience and political expediency, later joined by the Indian and Burmese governments: the process continued even after the British left the area. Today the Nagas are found in the following political territories:

1. Nagaland State
2. Manipur
3. Eastern Nagaland (Burma)
4. Arunachal Pradesh
5. Assam
6. Meghalaya.

The Nagas are tribal belonging to more than 40 different tribes, living in thousands of villages many of which are deeply buried in the jungles of Indo-Burma.

To many, the world "tribe" or "tribal" denotes something primitive, savage (uncivilized), underdeveloped, illiterate, and poor. Hence many Nagas today do not like to be labeled "tribal." While such an attitude is understandable in the negative image the dominant cultures have created about the tribal the world over. I feel that "tribe" when defined in its proper perspective conveys many noble features which so-called developed (industrialized) societies lack but long for.

History tells us that Germanic tribes organized themselves into states during the Middle Ages; the tribes of Rome joined in what became the Roman Empire. Biblical history tells us that early Jewish tribes grew into the kingdom is Israel. The tribe was "the normal social unit among Semitic nomads and seminomads, especially Israel before the conquest of Canaan. The basic unit was the family or household. It was a corporate personality consisting of clans and families held together by kinship. The belief in kniship by blood, marriage, adoption, or covenant is essential to the life of the tribe. Interest in genealogy is common to all tribal societies. In the Old Testament Hebrew Scripture, Joshua 7:16-18 lists Four sub-divisions of Israel's early tribal organization: nation, tribe, clan, household or family.

While there is no universally acceptable definition of "tribes", attempts have been made by many scholars to ascertain certain identifiable common features of a tribe or tribal community. Here are some of them "Tribe is a group of people who live in a particular place, speak the same language, and obey a chief or elders. Its members have a common way of life and are usually related, although some persons may be adopted as members, the tribe is one of the earliest forms of society. "Tribes is" a group of people … observing rules of social organization, and working together for a common purpose such as trade, agriculture, or warfare. Other typical characteristics include a common name, a contiguous territory, a relatively uniform culture or way of life, and a tradition of common descent." Dr. B D Sharma's list includes "endogamous organization with a simple social structure and self-contained economy, minimal contact with other groups, live in seclusion, are governed by their own social norms and largely manage their own affairs."

I concur with Shyama C. Tripura when he says: "The word 'tribal' denotes a socio-econmic concept and not an anthropological identity. The Nagas must learn from history that at a certain stage of socio-economic evolution a particular class or community of people are considered tribal but at a later stage these very tribal become a race or nation, as was the case with the early tribes if Israel, the Germanic tribes, and the tribes of Rome. The process of any tribe or a group of tribes becoming a nation as it is understood today depends on the level of social, political, cultural and economic development. Hence we Nagas need not be allergic to the label 'tribe' or tribal regardless of what the present dominant cultures think of it. we must think of it as something transitory. Like the great Germanic nations which were tribal in distant historical times, we also need not remain tribals forever. Without emotional integration, tribalism will continue to thrive, dividing and keeping the trials as tribals for years to come. Thus emotional integration is an essential factor in bringing the Nagas together. In addition, the paramount concern of the Nagas should be the development of their common culture, socio-economic status, and above all, their political rights so that they too may become truly a nation in the 21st century.

If the Nagas are tribals, then some of the characteristics already mentioned are true of the Naga tribes. Therefore, to me education for the Nagas ultimately means preserving and developing that which really counts in Naga traditional society. For lack of space, let me briefly mention two vital ingredients-culture and economy-which primarily make up the ethos of Naga society or any tribal society. As for the Nagas, education for development means education based on Naga culture and Naga economy.