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Diaspora, Indigenous, and MinorityEducation: Studies of Migration,Integration, Equity, and Cultural SurvivalPublication details, including instructions for authors andsubscription information:http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/hdim20

Early Childhood Education for the Sanin Namibia: The Working Group ofIndigenous Minorities Early ChildhoodDevelopment ProgramVictoria Haraseb aa Working Group of Indigenous Minorities in Southern Africa ,Windhoek, NamibiaPublished online: 13 Apr 2011.

To cite this article: Victoria Haraseb (2011) Early Childhood Education for the San in Namibia: TheWorking Group of Indigenous Minorities Early Childhood Development Program, Diaspora, Indigenous,and Minority Education: Studies of Migration, Integration, Equity, and Cultural Survival, 5:2, 135-141

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Diaspora, Indigenous, and Minority Education, 5: 135–141, 2011Copyright © Taylor & Francis Group, LLCISSN: 1559-5692 print / 1559-5706 onlineDOI: 10.1080/15595692.2011.559805

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

Childhood Development Program

Victoria Haraseb

Working Group of Indigenous Minorities in Southern AfricaWindhoek, Namibia

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

Namibia is home to approximately 30% of southern Africa’s Indigenous San people, the firstinhabitants of the African continent. San people comprise several distinct cultural and linguisticgroups, but share a common heritage and a common feature today of being among the poorest andmost marginalized ethnic groups of southern Africa. The country is mostly desert (the Namib)and semi-desert (the Kalahari); today, most San live in the part that is the Kalahari. SignificantSan populations are found in the far northeast (Caprivi), east (Omaheke and Otjonzondjupa),north (Kavango and Ohangwena), and north central (Kunene) regions of the country.

In 2005, the (former) Deputy Prime Minister of Namibia, Dr. Libertine Amathila, undertooka fact-finding mission into the living conditions of the San in the country and found that theywere economically marginalized and severely exploited. Dr. Amathila made a series of publicstatements to the media about the abhorrent conditions in which many San in Namibia live, andwas quoted as saying that some San still live as “slaves” to dominant ethnic groups in their area

Correspondence should be sent to Victoria Haraseb, Working Group of Indigenous Minorities in Southern Africa,P.O. Box 80733, Windhoek, Namibia, 9000. E-mail: victoria.haraseb@gmail.com

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(“San Communities Living in Slavery,” 2005; see also Dentlinger, 2005; Shigwedha, 2005).1

Her statements have had the effect of confirming to the public the need to address the problemsthat San communities face. Her office initiated the San Development Program (which primar-ily focuses on income-generation projects in San communities), signaling that the Namibiangovernment considers San issues a priority.

The Working Group of Indigenous Minorities in Southern Africa (WIMSA) has been workingto improve conditions for San communities in a variety of ways for 15 years. In addition to manyother areas of marginalization, San communities are at a serious disadvantage educationally, withan extremely high dropout rate compared to all other populations in the country (Suzman, 2001).Thus, WIMSA has education as one of its primary areas of focus. Early Childhood Development(ECD) has been an important sub-focus because it is believed that children who attend preschoolare more likely to complete their schooling. After giving a brief background on WIMSA, thisarticle highlights the general problems San children face in school. The main discussion of thearticle focuses on WIMSA’s ECD program, highlighting its objectives, some successes, and thechallenges that it faces.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON WIMSA

The WIMSA was established in 1996 as a regional organization working in Southern Africa,primarily in Namibia, Botswana, South Africa, and Angola. The objective of the organizationis to serve the San people, who are identified as an Indigenous people and who are recognizedwithin the country of Namibia as marginalized. WIMSA advocates for the rights of San people,and has an Advocacy and Policy Unit that addresses issues related to human rights and landinterests for the San.

WIMSA also has an Education Program, which focuses on promoting access to education atall levels, skills-building for youth through the Tertiary Students Scholarship program, and thepromotion of cultural identity and pride for the San people. The Education Program is also run-ning an ECD project, targeting areas of high San populations. WIMSA’s ECD program includesboth ECD centers (for children aged 0–4) and preschools for older children; sometimes, theseare combined into one center (this project has been transferred to the Namibian Support Unit ofWIMSA in June 2010, although the main focus of the project remains the same). This project isdescribed later, after a brief summary of the general educational issues that San face.

STATEMENT OF THE EDUCATIONAL PROBLEM FACED BY SAN COMMUNITIES

The government has done well in providing schools in many areas that cater for primary educa-tion up to Grade 10, and in some areas up to Grade 12. The government provides preschools insome areas, but the distribution is not even, so some communities are waiting for the governmentto approve their preschools (the government is giving first priority to rural and poor communi-ties). Despite these efforts, most San have not been reached by educational services provided by

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

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EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION FOR SAN IN NAMIBIA 137

the government. There are several challenges involved in reaching San communities, the majorityof whom live in remote areas with harsh environments and scarce resources.

For some San communities, particularly in the Tsumkwe, Otjiwarongo, and Okahandja dis-tricts, seasonal movement is a challenge. People often move around to take advantage of wildfoods and employment opportunities, both of which change seasonably, and also vary from areato area. Sometimes services are provided or schools are built in a particular area, but people do notstay consistently. Government workers often complain that parents take their children with themwhen they move. However, parents need to take advantage of limited economic opportunities, andthey do not want to leave their young children behind. Furthermore, often the activities practicedby the parents is a form of education—children learn about medicinal and edible plants, huntingtechniques, and other survival skills; and they learn traditional handicrafts. To provide effectiveeducation for these communities, this kind of education should be recognized as such, and effortsto improve access to formal education needs to be more sensitive to seasonal movements.2

In other areas, such as the Omaheke, many San people are working as laborers on farmsearning a very meager income—or, in some cases, none at all, as described earlier—and canhardly afford three meals per day. Children of parents on farms cannot access school, especiallywhen they are young, because schools are far away and San parents simply cannot afford thecost of transportation or the maintenance of the children if they stay in nearby towns. This isespecially true for preschools; even in the towns where preschools do exist, most are privatelyowned, and the cost is beyond reach for poor people.

In addition to the lack of school facilities in remote areas where many San live, there is alsoamong the San people a lack of trust of the education system. The use of foreign languages inschools as a medium of instruction has been a big problem for San learners. Teachers are almostalways from other communities and do not understand or appreciate the San learners’ culture,knowledge, and background. San children have shown poor adaptability when they go out oftheir communities away from their immediate families, and many simply cannot cope with thenew environment and the strange ways of the people in the communities they have to join. Inmany cases, they are bullied at school.

Lack of access to education, a high dropout rate, lack of proper shelter or primary health careservices, food scarcity, stigmatization, and a scattered population frequently on the move all makethe San a people who need special programs if San children are to have a learning environmentthat allows physical, cognitive, social, and emotional development in the world today. Ideally,this should begin in early childhood.

ECD IN NAMIBIA

ECD is placed under the Ministry of Gender Equality and Child Welfare, which is responsiblefor children in the age group of birth through 4 years. The Ministry of Education, however, isresponsible for pre-primary education, which includes children in the ages of 5 to 6 years. Thismeans that the education of very young children is split between two ministries. “Preschools”are attached to schools, which—as noted before—are not available to small communities in rural

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

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areas; and at 5 to 6 years of age, children are too young to go to boarding school—they needto be with their parents. Both ECD and pre-primary need to be made available to small, remotecommunities. This could be facilitated if both ECD and pre-primary were under one ministry—this has been discussed but, so far, has not happened.

WIMSA has taken the lead and begun to establish ECD centers for the San children, which arerun by the San communities themselves. The rest of this article primarily focuses on ECD—inparticular, the intervention work of WIMSA.

Justification for ECD Intervention

WIMSA’s wider education program primarily focuses on achievement at higher levels—notably,Grade 12 and higher education. WIMSA also recognizes the need to strengthen access to earlylearning, and has been involved in the development and opening of ECD centers and preschoolsfor San communities in five regions of the country (Omaheke, Kunene, Oshikoto, Caprivi, andOtjozondjupa). The fundamental justification for introducing preschools is the reasoning that ifyoung San learners become comfortable in preschool and early learning, their chances of successin primary school will be better. WIMSA recently commissioned an evaluation of their ECDprogram to find out if this is the case. The evaluation found that the following:

San children who have been to WIMSA supported ECD Centres appear to be starting school toa greater extent than was the case in the past, and once in school seem to be faring as well, andsometimes better, than other Namibian children. These successes can be lost if proper and sustainedattention and support is not given. (WIMSA, 2010)

The language of instruction in preschools is the mother tongue of its teachers. In the Sancommunity preschools supported by WIMSA, the teachers are trained local people from the Sancommunities. The teachers are of the same community as the children, speak their language, andpermanently live in that same village. The teachers are encouraged to draw upon the elders of thecommunity for storytelling and to try to involve them in general. Furthermore the preschool iswithin a short distance of the children’s own homes. This minimizes any gap between the home,the preschool, and the community. Hence, preschools can reinforce the best of San cultures andtraditions, and at the same time promote reading and writing in local dialects that are currentlyread and written by only a few.

Another important reason for engaging in these initiatives is community development. Unlikegovernment schools, which are “done to” communities, preschools are “done by” communities(Namibian Ministry, 1996) This is not to belittle the impact of government schools, which insome places has been positive. However, such schools are on a big scale, providing for hundredsof children and requiring infrastructure, money, equipment, and people far beyond the capacityof a local community to shape directly. By contrast, even small communities are able to grasp theconcept of a preschool and can imagine in advance where it should be, how it should look, howit will work, how it will benefit their children, and how as parents they can be involved. Becausea preschool is at the community’s own scale, its planning and execution become a shared projectof the community.

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WIMSA’s ECD Program

The ECD program came about first through the establishment of community youth groups, whodecided for themselves where to focus their activities—some concentrate on ECD, others onorphans, others on history, for example. ECD was considered by some youth groups to be veryimportant, and they decided to establish San preschools. The youth program itself has two maincomponents. The youth mobilizing and capacity-building program establishes youth groups withGrade-10 dropouts and those who did not meet the qualifications to enter into the university. Theyouth groups set up their activities, which included HIV and AIDS awareness, cultural activities,and the preschools. The youth are responsible, together with the communities, for building thepreschools and raising awareness among elders regarding the importance of education. WIMSAoffers members of the youth group opportunities for further training in ECD. These studentswere trained by the National Early Childhood Development NGO Association, using the formalcurriculum based on government standards.

In the student support program, WIMSA is tracking all Grades 10, 11, and 12 San students.Students are supported and encouraged to study hard in order to have the opportunity to furthertheir studies at a university or in other training programs. After completion, WIMSA assists thesestudents with accessing tertiary education. The goal is to get educated San young people who willsupport their communities in a variety of ways, including with ECD.

Overall Aims and Objectives of WIMSA’s ECD Program

The main goal of WIMSA’s ECD program is for San children to get preschool education andinstruction that uses their mother tongue as a first language of instruction, in learning centersmanaged by San communities, and using trained San teachers—and, in the process, to developstronger cultural identity and pride. An additional goal is to increase the number of San childrenproceeding through the next stages of learning (i.e., primary, secondary, and tertiary levels). Thismeans assisting with the development of preschools managed by the local community that do thefollowing:

• Provide mother-tongue instruction.• Promote cultural activities, like dances, to ensure effective early cognitive development

(dancing is an important part of the culture, and many messages are conveyed throughdance; thus, children learn through dancing play).

• Introduce, through games and appropriate dual-language instruction, the language ofinstruction used in the first year of formal education (as this is usually different from theirmother tongue).

• Provide a program of activities suitable for preschool children to develop emotionally,physically, socially, and mentally, and that ensures a confident start to formal education.

• Create opportunities for parents to take part in the program and encourage more activeparticipation in their children’s education.

• Provide opportunities for elders to play an active part in the children’s learning, particularlyencouraging a pride in cultural identity and heritage.

• Assist with the enrollment of all children in the first year of formal education.

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The WIMSA project, in partnership with the Ministry of Gender Equality and Child Welfareand the Ministry of Education, envisages introducing this kind of mother-tongue preschool edu-cation for as many young San children as possible in the five regions noted earlier. WIMSA’sapproach to ECD with a strategy to use youth to reach out to parents and community while cre-ating ECD centers for their young children has three main distinguishing features, two of whichare currently active. First, the communities themselves build the preschools with support fromthe government in the form of materials or food for work and some contributions from donors.Second, teachers from the communities themselves staff the preschools. This feature includes cre-ating a support mechanism by bringing expert qualified trainers into the community for extendedperiods. The trainers will work with qualified teachers to strengthen their skills and practices.These aim at improving teacher practice and making schools more child-friendly.

The third innovative aspect was that of linking preschools directly to the local primary school.The preschool and primary school teachers are encouraged to share resources and work closelytogether so that San primary school dropout is reduced. The use of mother-tongue language andits integration with initial learning of English should make success rates much higher. However,this approach required more support from WIMSA than the organization expected, or was ableto provide. It is hoped that this aspect can be renewed and further supported in the future.

In summary, the change we envisage is a San community that understands the benefits offormal education and that plays an active role in the change process. If successful, the Sancommunity will have changed: It will be speaking for itself, not any more a silent observerof education programs conceived and delivered by others. Addressing these issues for a group asmarginalized as the San is a long process and not always smooth, but it is important to continuesupport.

CONCLUSION

In general, San are considered to be the least-educated communities in Namibia. However, peo-ple often overlook the fact that San communities did have their own way of educating theirchildren, and this was collaborative and occurred during the process of hunting and gathering.For example, mothers taught their girls in the bush to differentiate between the poisonous plants,medicinal plants, and about different foods that can be gathered. Girls were also taught how tobehave when they have their first menstruation; therefore, a ceremony was arranged for this pur-pose. A similar process applied to boys; fathers and other men make a small bow and arrow forthe boys in order to teach them how to use it. The boys first tested the tools by shooting at smallreptiles, like lizards, then later a hare, until he is able to kill a kudu (a large antelope). Once a boywas able to kill bigger animals, he was regarded as a real man and was then in a position to finda wife (the boys were also taught about plants).

These skills and ways of educating have not died, but they are no longer the only means thatSan communities are using to survive. It is necessary for San children to also achieve in formaleducation. For this to happen, many things need to be in place. The formal schools need to beimproved, and need to be friendlier to San students in many ways. San communities must alsobe assisted financially and logistically for their children to attend schools. Children must becomeused to the environment of school, which is often much different from home life. WIMSA’sbelief is that if children can begin their school experience in a safe environment near their home,

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in their own language, and with their parents nearby, they will be more likely to understand whatschool is about and, thus, continue in later grades. This is the reasoning behind the ECD programdescribed in this article. Furthermore, we hope that through educating young San students, bothas ECD teachers and in other professions, we will be achieving what San communities need andthat these young people will be able to assist their own communities in many different ways.

REFERENCES

Dentlinger, L. 2005. Urgent Action Needed on San, Says Deputy PM. In The Namibian, 26 July 2005.Namibian Ministry of Gender Equality and Child Welfare. 1996. National Early Childhood Development Policy.

Windhoek.The Namibian (staff reporter). 2005. San Communities Living in Slavery. 01 January 2005.Shigwedha, A. 2005. San deserve their own land in communal areas: Amathila. . In The Namibian, 28 November 2005.Suzman, J. 2001. An Assessment of the Status of the San in Namibia. Vol 4: Regional Assessment of the Status of the San

in Southern Africa. Windhoek: Legal Assistance Center.Working Group of Indigenous Minorities in Southern Africa. (2010). WIMSA’s Bernard Van Leer Supported Early

Childhood Development (ECD) Programme Final Assessment, November 2010, Windhoek, Namibia.

Victoria Haraseb is an Indigenous Hei//om speaker from Namibia, and is the RegionalEducation Assistant for the Working Group of Indigenous Minorities in Southern Africa.She has been active in efforts to promote access to education for Indigenous children atall levels, skills-building for youth through the Tertiary Students Scholarship Program, andthe promotion of cultural identity and pride for the San people.

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