With the fall of apartheid in South Africa, expectations were high for the enfranchisement of the acutely underdeveloped majority in South Africa. But problems abound, and this educational study looks critically at the educational situation and puts forth a number of proposals that could produce better results in contemporary South Africa. Abdi urges that beyond the celebratory platforms of the political triumph over apartheid, there must be effective and culturally inclusive programs of education for the development of the highly disenfranchsed majority in South Africa. Deliberate programs of colonialism and apartheid in South Africa resulted in inferior education, cultural marginalization, political oppression, economic exploitation and resulting underdevelopment in the lives of the disenfranchised majority. In addition to historical and contemporary analysis, this study looks at the possibilities of formulating and implementing new programs of education and development that could effectively deal with such current problems as chronic unemployment, skyrocketing crime rates, stagnating learning systems, and the continuing formations of a huge underclass that may be losing its stake in the promised post-apartheid project.

This book features incisive qualitative understandings of key dimensions of the socio-educational pathways and experiences of black students at Stellenbosch University.

The lived experiences of students? educational practices are analysed and explained in terms of the book?s plea for the recognition of the ?multi-dimentionality? of students as educational beings with unexplored cultural wealth and hidden capitals. The book presents an argument that student lives are entangled in complex social-spatial relations and processes that extend across family, neighbourhood and peer associations, which are largely misrecognised in educational policy and practice. The book is relevant to understanding the role of policy, curriculum and pedagogy in addressing the educational performance of working-class youth.

This book focuses on education policy framework for educating marginalized children in sub-Saharan Africa. It uses “marginality” as a critical discourse to highlight the complicated ways education policy making in sub-Saharan Africa have constructed and perpetuated marginality in the region since Africa’s encounters with Europe. The book is organized around two parts, each of which discusses a specific dimension of the marginality and education policy nexus. Part I focuses on theorizations of marginality and education. The theoretical framework on marginality and education outlines the definitional and conceptual backgrounds on marginality – the complicated ways policies of the Christian missionaries, colonial governments and postcolonial governments constructed and perpetuated marginality in the region. Part II focuses on addressing the issue of marginality from theory to practice. These chapters highlight the ways policies shaped the educational development, schooling processes, and educational outcomes of selected marginalized communities and groups. Attention is given to schooling in rural communities, the complexities of girls’ education in rural contexts, education of Zongo Muslim communities, violence in school in rural contexts, and education collaboration in rural traditional communities. The book argues that education policies in sub-Saharan Africa fail to address the educational needs of marginalized children because current policy frameworks ae not based on examination of colonial policies which created the existing marginality. In order to implement policies that address policy gaps and meet the educational needs of marginalized children, strong synergies are necessary between education policy makers, other education stakeholders, and marginalized communities.

The alienating nature of the dominant curriculum in African schools and universities is an issue which simmered just below the surface in the 2015 student protests that swept through the South African higher education sector. The collection of essays found in this timely publication, offers compelling arguments for the deliberate embrace of the African culture to advance African knowledge and enhance African lives. It proposes fresh perspectives on what shape and form a decolonised curriculum should take on.