The paper is an attempt to understand and analyse the status of universal primary education among tribals in Jharkhand and its challenges. Considering the low literacy among tribals and high drop out rates at elementary and higher levels, there is need of special focus on tribal's education, inclusive of context-specific traditional and innovative interventions. The paper suggests that to make a substantial inroad towards attaining the goal of universal primary education, it is imperative that all interventions should have community participation as a core strategy. In order to ensure universal education and sustainable improvement in the quality of education it is necessary to bring the community closer to the school system. The paper shows that education of tribals has not received whole hearted support of the state and focused effort in this area is still awaited. (Contains 4 tables, 1 figure, and 14 footnotes.)