Issues in African Education: Sociological Perspectives

337 Pages·2005·0.88 MB·English

by  Ali A. Abdi

ssues in frican ducation
I A E
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ssues in frican ducation
I A E
SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES
Edited by
Ali A. Abdi
and
Ailie Cleghorn
ISSUESINAFRICANEDUCATION
© Ali A.Abdi and Ailie Cleghorn,2005.
All rights reserved.No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any
manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief
quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.
First published in 2005 by
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN™
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and other countries.Palgrave is a registered trademark in the European
Union and other countries.
ISBN 1–4039–7069–6
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Issues in African education :sociological perspectives / edited by Ali A.
Abdi,Ailie Cleghorn.
p.cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 1–4039–7069–6
1.Education—Social aspects—Africa.I.Abdi,Ali A.,1955– II.Cleghorn,
Ailie,1940–
LC191.8.A4I77 2005
306.43(cid:2)096—dc22 2005046428
Design by Newgen Imaging Systems (P) Ltd.,Chennai,India.
First edition:November 2005
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Printed in the United States of America.
ontents
C
List of Tables and Figures vii
List of Contributors ix
Preface xiii
Acknowledgments xv
Part I Theoretical Foundations
1. Sociology of Education: Theoretical and Conceptual
Perspectives 3
Ali A. Abdi and Ailie Cleghorn
2. African Philosophies of Education: Counter-Colonial
Criticisms 25
Ali A. Abdi
3. National “Development” and African Universities:
A Theoretical and Sociopolitical Analysis 43
Korbla P. Puplampu
Part II Culture,Language,and the Curriculum
4. Reclaiming Our Memories: The Education Dilemma in
Postcolonial African School Curricula 65
Edward Shizha
5. Surveying Indigenous Knowledge, the Curriculum,
and Development in Africa: A Critical African Viewpoint 85
Nkosinathi Mkosi
6. Language Issues in African School Settings:
Problems and Prospects in Attaining Education For All 101
Ailie Cleghorn
7. Cultural Perspectives on Science and Technology Education 123
Meshach B.Ogunniyi
vi Contents
Part III Gender and Equity Issues in Education
8. Women’s Education and Social Development
in Africa 141
Benedicta Egbo
9. Achieving Gender Equity in Africa’s Institutions of
Tertiary Education: Beyond Access and Representation 159
Philomina Okeke-Ihejirika
10. Gender and Education in Sub-Saharan Africa: The
Women in Development (WID) Approach and its
Alternatives 175
Codou Diaw
11. Quandaries, Prospects, and Challenges of Nomadic
Educational Policy for Girls in Sub-Saharan–Africa 193
Lantana Usman
12. Narratives from Ghana: Exploring Issues of Difference
and Diversity in Education 219
George J. Sefa Dei and Alireza Asgharzadeh
Part IV Education and Change
13. Democratizing Education in Zambia: Sociohistorical
Analyses 241
Edward Shizha and Ali A. Abdi
14. At the Mercy of Informal Learning: Education and
Development in Stateless Somalia 259
Ali A. Abdi
15. Social Organization of Teacher Education in Africa:
A Kenyan Case Study 275
Njoki Wane
16. The Role of the School in Africa in the Twenty-First
Century: Coping with Forces of Change 297
Okwach Abagi
Index 317
ist of ables and igures
L T F
Tables
8.1 Gross enrollment ratio (%) at the primary, secondary,
and tertiary levels of education in selected countries
in Africa 142
9.1 Tertiary gross enrollment ratios (%) in selected African
countries, 1998–2001 165
9.2 Female academic staff in Africa’s tertiary institutions,
2000–2002 167
11.1 Nomadic Fulani girls’ economic mainstay 195
11.2 Enrollment of nomadic primary school students by
gender, 1990–1999 200
11.3 Existing types of nomadic classroom structures 201
11.4 Effect of herding on children’s schooling 201
11.5 Time children attend school 202
13.1 Admission to grade 1, 1990–1996 249
15.1 Number of primary teachers by qualification and sex for
the selected years, 1997–1999 284
16.1 HIV/AIDS statistics and features by region,
December 1999 302
Figures
6.1 “Whose culture, whose literacy?” 116
9.1 Rates of female enrollment in tertiary education,
1980–1996 164
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ist of ontributors
L C
Okwach Abagi obtained his PhD from McGill University, his B.Ed.
and M.A. from the University of Nairobi. He is the Director of OWN
and Associates Center for Research and Development in Nairobi which
has offered technical assistance in Eastern and Southern African regions
for various organizations including UNIFEM, UNESCO, UNICEF,
UNDP, CARE—Kenya, Action AID, CARE—Sudan/Somalia, Inter-
University Council of East Africa (IUCEA) and the Commonwealth
Secretariat.
Ali A. Abdi is Associate Professor in the Department of Educational
Policy Studies at the University of Alberta, Canada. He received his
PhD from McGill University. His teaching areas include comparative
and international education, sociology of education, and cultural stud-
ies in education. He is currently conducting a major research project on
citizenship education and social development in sub-Saharan Africa
with a focus on Zambia. His articles have appeared in such journals as
Comparative Education, Journal of Postcolonial Education,
International Education Journal, Horn of Africa Journal, and Western
Journal of Black Studies. He is also the author of Culture, Education
and Development in South Africa, and coauthor (with Ratna Ghosh) of
Education and the Politics of Difference.
Alireza Asgharzadeh is a PhD candidate in the Department of
Sociology and Equity Studies, Ontario Institute for Studies in
Education of the University of Toronto. His areas of concentration and
research include: sociolinguistics, social inequality, and sociology of
education.
Ailie Cleghornis Associate Professor in the Department of Education
at Concordia University in Montreal. Her PhD from McGill University
is in the Comparative Sociology of Education. Her qualitative studies in
East and southern African primary schools have focused on language
issues in the teaching of science and mathematics. Lately her research
has included teachers’ conceptions of early childhood in societies
undergoing social change. Her articles appear in such journals as the