State schools still segregated in Namibia
‘This is our school’, a pupil at the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) school in Gibeon, Namaland, told members of a British church delegation to Namibia. The visitors were shown school buildings erected by the children’s parents themselves, and alongside, a co-operative shop, a weaving shed, a motor repair workshop and other self-help projects. ‘Gibeon exemplifies the problems of those who are trying to develop themselves while South Africa still controls the country’, the delegation commented, ‘The school buildings are better than some team members have seen in independent Africa’ (‘Namibia – A Nation Wronged’, Report of a Visit to Namibia by a Delegation sent by the British Council of Churches at the Invitation of the Council of Churches in Namibia, 16-28 November 1981).
Another visitor to the Gibeon self-help school described the arid, rock-strewn land as 'so barren that the word "lunar" springs to mind'. He commented that its principal, Pastor Hendrik Witbooi, 'teaches a version of history in which his ancestor is not presented as the frontier bandit he is in the South African syllabus still used in other Namibian schools'. Pastor Witbooi's great-grandfather led the last Nama uprising against the German colonists, and wrote to the then chief of the Herero, urging that the two peoples stand together against the invaders. 'In his light, I have to follow the same procedures', his great-grandson explained ('Inside Namibia – A Journey through South Africa's disputed Territory', by Joseph Lelyveld, New York Times Magazine 1.8.82).
Such pioneering efforts by Namibians to develop new forms of education not based on apartheid principles run the risk of incurring the wrath of the South African government and the Democratic Turnhalle Alliance. The area around Gibeon is being consolidated as a Nama 'homeland' under the terms of the 1964 Odendaal Plan. White farms have been bought up, white farmers are moving elsewhere, and Nama families have been moved into the area from the Warmbad region to the south. Support for SWAPO is strong, and in 1976 the people refused to participate in the Turnhalle Constitutional Conference. Pastor Hendrik Witbooi, who was elected as 'Captain' or chief by his people, has a long history of political opposition to apartheid and publicly joined SWAPO in 1976. He was detained in 1978 under Proclamation AG 26 when he was serving as a national executive member of SWAPO and as its secretary for Education and Culture, and again in 1979 (FOCUS 17 p.11, 21 p.6).
In 1976, Pastor Witbooi was sacked by the South African government from his post as principal of the local church secondary school when its teachers, together with colleagues from other schools in Namaland, went on strike for equal pay and better facilities. He was also threatened with withdrawal of his Captaincy and monthly salary if he failed to co-operate with official Turnhalle policies. He refused, and according to the British Council of Churches delegation, 'with the support of their parents 500 out of the 600 pupils left with him'. The parents then decided to build their own 'private' school. It opened in March 1979 with 150 children, under the Directorship of Pastor Witbooi and using English as a teaching medium. The children pay fees, and help has come from overseas and the Council of Churches in Namibia, particularly to rewrite the syllabuses for history and geography (BCC Report op. cit.).
OFFICIAL POLICY
Official South African and DTA publicity materials claim that under the interim constitution (AG 8, also known as South Africa's 'internal settlement' for Namibia), 'education in Namibia has taken tremendous strides forward. No longer are there different standards in education. Each child is given the opportunities to prove him or herself' ('Face of Namibia', published by the SWA/Namibia Information Service, Windhoek).
Such statements gloss over the fact that even under the 'internal settlement' (which has allegedly meant that apartheid has been 'abolished' in Namibia) it is still official policy to segregate government schools on a racial basis. Under the interim constitution, responsibility for education, like that for health, housing, welfare and a number of other matters, is delegated to the 'second tier' Representative Authorities that have been set up to manage the affairs of Namibia's various ethnic or 'population groups' (a total of 11, although in practice no Representative Authority has been established for the Bushmen). (see 'The Constitutional Fraud; IDAF Briefing Paper No 2 July 1981'). This means, in theory, that there are a total of 11 parallel education authorities in the territory, plus a central Department of National Education. The last was set up in 1978 by the 'internal government' to take responsibility for overall education policy and finance, and for higher and further education. The school system under the internal government is described as one of 'differentiated education' — a South African term derived from the apartheid premise that 'differentiation' is distinct from, and need not imply 'discrimination'.
The inefficient, cumbersome and confusing educational arrangements which have resulted barely succeed in concealing the full extent of the racial discrimination that continues to flourish. The overwhelming majority of schools in Namibia remain racially segregated, with wide discrepancies in resource allocation and the standard of facilities between black and white children and students. Facilities for many black school students in the north, moreover, are deteriorating as schools close down because of the war, civilian teachers are replaced by South African Defence Force (SADF) personnel, and travel and communications become more difficult and dangerous.
EDUCATIONAL CONTENT
Although Namibian schools now officially share a common national curriculum, teaching in practice continues to emphasise tribal 'identity' and culture, and to inculcate concepts of inherent superiority and inferiority. Black children do not begin to learn English or Afrikaans until the age of 10, putting them at an immediate disadvantage when it comes to entering secondary school. The emphasis on tribal identity and segregation, combined with the disparities in resource allocation and facilities, put black children at an overwhelming disadvantage calculated to remain with them throughout their adult lives.
A Canadian anthropologist conducting research in the black township of Katutura, for example, told the Namibia Education Forum that 'the primary schools in Katutura have no good books, no libraries. The children see themselves as ugly, poor, stupid, and as a result, are distrustful'. She said that the children mostly read Afrikaans picture books. Literature, and philosophy and journalism in Katutura were all noticeable by their absence (WA 1.3.82).
Another recent report, on the activities of the Ekongoro Youth Movement in Kavango illustrates the regime's continuing emphasis on 'tribal culture'. All the school pupils in the Kavango 'homeland' automatically belong to the Ekongoro Youth Movement, which organised and financed by the Kavango Government Education Department and is intended to supplement academic education by providing activities to foster an awareness of traditional culture' (WA 20.7.82).
According to Elrie Pretorius, the Kavango Government's Youth and Cultural Organisation (whose own tribal identity was not specified) 'the youth are encouraged to regard themselves as part of one Kavango nation, but are also encouraged to maintain their tribal links. We also try to encourage a feeling of being part of the Namibian nation'. The Movement has it main youth camp just outside the provincial centre of Rundu (also a major South African military base), with five subsidiary camps for each of the five component Kavango tribes. The curriculum includes song and dance, sports, handicrafts, veld knowledge and nature conservation, plus 'parade ground drill', firefighting, 'communism', civic affairs and Namibia's system of government (WA ibid).
Militarism is clearly making inroads into school curricula as the war intensifies. A teacher who attended a training course for 100 Ovambo teachers, supposedly organised by the Department of National Education, discovered that it was actually arranged and controlled by the army. The teachers were accommodated in army tents in a forest area near Oshivello and required to do physical training and take part in political simulation games in which individual teachers took the parts of the UN, the DTA, SWAPO, etc (WO 9.1.82).
The extension of the South African army's 'hearts and minds' programme into the schools has in fact been a source of great resentment for a number of years. In addition to protests by teachers, students and parents, military personnel seconded to schools have been the targets for guerilla attacks.
