DOCUMENT OF UNESCO “EDUCATION AND CULTURE IN …

AFRICAN UNION

UNION AFRICAINE UNI?O AFRICANA

Addis Ababa, ETHIOPIA P. O. Box 3243 Telephone 251-1-517700 Cables: OAU, ADDIS ABABA

Conference of Ministers of Education of the African Union (COMEDAF II) 1st Ordinary Session 8-11 April 2005 Algiers, ALGERIA

AU/Educ/5(I)

DOCUMENT OF UNESCO "EDUCATION AND CULTURE IN AFRICA'S QUEST FOR

DEVELOPMENT"

04 March 2005

6th ORDINARY SESSION OF THE ASSEMBLY OF HEADS OF STATE AND OF GOVERNMENT OF THE AFRICAN UNION

UNESCO PRELIMINARY CONTRIBUTION

"EDUCATION AND CULTURE IN AFRICA'S QUEST FOR DEVELOPMENT"

UNESCO

AU/Educ/5(I) Page 1

EDUCATION AND CULTURE IN AFRICA'S QUEST FOR DEVELOPMENT

PRELIMINARY CONTRIBUTION

Introduction

1. The development of Africa is, and will continue to be very much dependent on its human development, which should be understood as including both the development of its human resources and an endogenous project for society that can respond to its deep-rooted material, intellectual, moral and spiritual aspirations. This project, which holds out hope for a restored, outward-looking African identity, bears little relation to that of an Africa seeking refuge in an idealized past: it is the project of an ambitious, emancipated Africa confident in its ability to envisage the paths to its renewal, which will come about through the restoration of vast opportunities for solidarity, exchanges and sharing, thus returning to its most authentic cultural traditions while placing Africa squarely in the mainstream of the emerging global knowledge society. These were the ideas of which, for one, Alpha Oumar Konar?, President of the Commission of the African Union, recently1 spoke.

2. The main purpose of human resources development ? of which education and culture are closely-linked, key components ? is to train individuals ? men and women ? to take a full part in the development process of their society while keeping alive essential values.

3. Education is a fundamental human right and the most powerful lever for the promotion of welfare, civic and social advancement, the progress of democracy and respect for human rights, the building of peace and the promotion of an environment that allows pluralism, knowledge ? including scientific and technological knowledge ? and cultural diversity to prosper. As such, it is a precondition for sustainable development, economic growth and poverty reduction.

4. Culture is what has shaped societies' and individuals' ways of life; while certainly rooted in ancestral values, it is also a source of dialogue,

1 Address by H.E. A-O. Konar? during his visit to UNESCO Headquarters on 28 May 2004.

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exchange, innovation and creativity, and the foundation stone of endogenous systems of solidarity, forms of expression and ways of transmitting knowledge that are as valid for meeting the challenges of tomorrow as for preserving traditions. As such, culture is therefore, in today's world, a means of achieving a more satisfactory intellectual, moral and spiritual existence, while having often unrecognized potential in terms of economic development and efforts to combat poverty.

5. Without being in any way a panacea, the interaction between culture and education ? and the many synergies it implies ? can become a major factor for widening the range of options open to all in the perspective of ensuring sustainable development in Africa in an age of globalization. This has been recognized by many African leaders. Within the NEPAD process, while it was agreed that the initial NEPAD action plan on education and human resources development (June 2002) would be reviewed before being submitted to Heads of State/Government, no visible engagement exists as yet with respect to the field of culture. African leaders' decision to consider the areas of education and culture together at the January 2006 Summit is thus an auspicious development, allowing thought to be given to the interactions between these two sectors. This paper seeks to stimulate such reflection, with a view to crafting a new agenda for both the education and culture sectors based on a more holistic, interdisciplinary approach that recognizes the mutual benefits of harnessing the added value of the education-culture interface.

Background

6. African societies from earliest times were socially organized, though far from flawless, structures of communities with shared cultural values and views. Each society developed belief systems, technology, forms of participatory governance and socio-economic activities appropriate to its geographical location and needs. The views and approaches underlying them were the object and subject of education.

7. Education was considered a shared social responsibility, implemented through various channels ? both formal and non-formal ? and by a number of actors, with women playing a major role, albeit unequally perceived or experienced. The family, the clan, the tribes, the elders, the peer groups, and the traditional religious structures all played their part in this collective effort.

8. The impact of the transatlantic, Indian Ocean and trans-Saharan slave routes, of the revealed faiths, and of Western colonization, on the organization of African societies and the development of their cultural

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and ethical values has been particularly strong. It has often led to a debasement of the cultural values of Africa, denying their countless influences notably on the cultures and civilizations of Europe, the Americas and the Caribbean, bringing cultural traditions, forms of ingenuity, technical and scientific knowledge, skills and spirituality that are now inseparable, for example, from American and Caribbean culture. Colonization also led to the emergence of nation states, which had the effect, inter alia, of dismembering existing, culturally distinct communities, separating education from society and thereby depriving education of its cultural bases, devaluing African indigenous knowledge and languages, and often devaluing Africa itself and its peoples as marginalized and incapable of empowerment.

A renewed focus

9. Colonization and its aftermath have led to a situation in which education has no longer been able to play one of its primary roles of social integration. The emphasis had shifted to education underlain by a foreign culture and the acquisition of the skills needed for paid employment, especially in the formal sector of the economy, although with a very limited number of opportunities. Post-colonial educational reforms in Africa were originally intended to right this wrong and to evolve national educational systems that would capitalize on cultural dimensions and use their core values as a solid stepping stone for opening up to a wider world, while adhering to their own distinct cultural identities. Pressures, both external and internal, for economics- and technology-driven development have tended to reduce the importance of cultural values in education and emphasize expansion to meet growing social demand, as well as quality, relevance, efficiency, and equity.

10. Concern for Africa's cultural regeneration has also been an integral aspect of post-independence nation-building on the continent, with a recognition of the need to harness the cultural resources of Africa to enrich the process of education, requiring the creation of an enabling environment in a number of ways. In recent times, the call for a much greater emphasis on the cultural dimension in all aspects of development has become increasingly vocal, particularly in situations of post-conflict.

11. To strengthen the social inclusion and participation of the majority of Africa's peoples in society's development and in Africa's inclusion in the wider world, as envisaged by NEPAD, is a challenge for both education and culture. To reap the assumed benefits of globalization, and to be a contributor to (and no longer a marginal beneficiary and consumer of) world progress, Africa needs its own critical mass of persons who have

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