DEMOCRACY AND EDUCATION IN NAMIBIA AND BEYOND
A CRITICAL APPRAISAL
Edited by Elizabeth Amukugo
ISBN 9789991642307
UNAM Press, July 2017
The Namibian constitution makes full provision for education as a fundamental human right and freedom. Three years into independence, as part of the government’s educational policy, the ‘Education for All Policy’ was launched as a stepping stone to free quality education. However, inequities have become widely pronounced within the Namibian educational system.
Democracy and Education in Namibia and beyond debates the education – democracy nexus in Namibia and the southern African context in general by introducing concepts and issues. It explores the meaning of the concept of democracy and its relationship to education and also looks at what democracy means for justice in the context of society.
The ten chapters in this collection interrogate the strengths and limitations of education as an instrument of social change and question whether or not the Namibian educational objectives and practices do develop and help to sustain a democratic culture in Namibia.
The authors in the collection have drawn material from their own teaching and research experience across educational and social science fields and present their findings in a pedagogical framework suitable as a challenging text for tertiary students. At a time when tertiary education is in crisis, especially in South Africa where strident calls for decolonisation and Africanisation are spreading like wildfire, this book gives scholarly insight into the history and social conditions that gave rise to our current predicament.
The editor, Elizabeth Amukugo (PhD, Lund) is Associate Professor in the Department of Educational Foundations and Management, Faculty of Education, at the University of Namibia.