President Cyril Ramaphosa has called on teachers to join students and learners in the debate on the decolonisation of education.
Ramaphosa was speaking at the opening of the 10th Education International Africa Regional (EIAFR) conference on Tuesday at the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg.
The conference takes place every four years and hosting rotates among member organisations.
The theme for this year’s event is, “Standing Together for Resilient Education Systems in Times of Crisis”.
Debates are being held on current and future education systems, trade unions and other relevant issues in the region.
Delegates will receive reports, adopt policies and approve future programmes in line with the Education International (EI) constitution.
EI is a global union federation of teachers and education support personnel unions consisting of 383 member organisations in 178 countries and territories representing more than 32 million members globally.
The conference is set to formulate strategies to ensure equitable, inclusive, quality public education for all, despite the numerous challenges confronting the region, including Covid, Ebola, HIV/Aids, conflict and climate change.
EIAFR local affiliates include the South African Democratic Teachers’ Union, the National Professional Teachers’ Organisation of South Africa, the National Teachers’ Union, the Professional Educators Union and the Suid-Afrikaanse Onderwysersunie.
‘Decolonise’
Ramaphosa said many countries on the continent needed to deal with the impact of colonisation, which had plunged them into crisis.
“The impact of colonisation in many of our countries on our continent has a huge negative impact, and the whole process of decolonisation of education has become increasingly important,” Ramaphosa said.
He said the discussions at the conference focusing on tackling important issues such as racism, decolonising education, promoting democracy, human rights and trade union rights could not be more timely.
“The project of decolonising education in Africa is not just a matter of academic interest. In many ways, it is a pressing need that others will say is a life and death matter because education is so important in the lives of people around the world.”
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He said it had become more urgent that education be streamlined and cleansed of the colonial type of ideology that infected the education system.
“We must challenge colonial theories and practices to build resilient education systems that are centred on African perspectives and experiences.”
This, Ramaphosa said, required a shift from a Eurocentric worldview to embrace a more diverse and inclusive perspective.
However, he said, there was also a need to acknowledge and value the knowledge systems of all peoples and integrate them into the curricular and knowledge selection processes.
‘Collaborate’
He said labour movements, civil society organisations and non-government organisations operating in the education sphere must work together and collaborate to protect the space.
“Through such partnerships, we can prepare our learners and students to be informed citizens in democratic societies.”
The role of EI, he said, was vital as the organisation advocates for quality education.
“Your mission is to ensure inclusive, equitable learning opportunities for all and not just for some.”
During the apartheid years, he said, education opportunities were opened to some people only.
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“We now want to address that legacy and bury it so that education opportunities and access are open to all South Africans.”
The same, he said, applied on the continent.
“The disparities that exist in various parts of our continent as a result of poverty and inequality must disappear. Education must be for all and not for some.”
What was also needed, he said, were safe and conducive environments where the rights of all learners were respected and upheld.
“By improving access to education, we can alleviate a number of other challenges and crises that beset many of our learners.”
These, he said, included instability, criminal activities and poverty.
He said this was where working together to empower marginalised communities could help unlock their potential to contribute to the development of nations.
Ramaphosa said the themes of the conference resonated with various crises that people of the world had to face in recent times.
The one that stood out was Covid. He said there were a number of other regional crises, many of which were historical.
Ramaphosa said that in SA, the country started by having to unite and work together to face the educational crisis, which was created by the apartheid system.
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He said the crisis persisted largely because of the country’s past. Government, Ramaphosa said, was spending a lot of money on education.
Global crises
Ramaphosa said the world was currently faced with several crises, with wars raging in Ukraine and in the Middle East. This, he said, was destroying the lives of innocent civilians.
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“So these are crises that the education system has to respond to and crises that the education system needs to be resilient in terms of addressing. I’m glad that the deliberations today are going to be rooted in how we can make education resilient and able to withstand all these crises.”
Other crises, he said, included climate change and other incidents that disrupted people’s lives.
“So you couldn’t have chosen a better theme for your conference. We hope that the deliberations will come with a number of strategies and actions that will enable the nations of the world, particularly our own continent, to be able to navigate our way through all these crises.”
The conference ends on Thursday. DM