Early Childhood Education for the San in Namibia: The Working Group of Indigenous Minorities Early Childhood Development Program

Abstract

The Working Group of Indigenous Minorities in Southern Africa (WIMSA) has been working to improve conditions for San communities since 1996. San communities in Namibia have an extremely high dropout rate compared to all other populations in the country, and one of WIMSA's most important areas of focus is education. Early Childhood Development (ECD) has been an important sub-focus because it is thought that children who attend preschool are more likely to complete their schooling. This article highlights the general problems San children face in school, and discusses WIMSA's ECD program, highlighting its objectives, some successes, and the challenges that it faces. Some important characteristics of this program include a strategy in which youth reach out to parents and communities, preschools built by the communities themselves, and the development of teachers from the community through teacher training. Ultimately, the goal is for the community to play a more active role in educational processes. Reaching this goal requires both encouraging more participation in formal education and recognizing the strengths of traditional education.

Notes

¹Many San live as farm workers and are extremely vulnerable to employers who underpay them or, in some cases, pay them only by allowing them to stay on their property. If workers complain, they are fired, and then have nowhere to go.

²For example, “mobile schools” for the pastoralist Himba communities have been successful, but no such effort exists for San communities.