The San people were the original inhabitants of southern Africa but today they have been reduced to a minority group of about 100,000, mainly in the Kalahari Desert and other parts of Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe.  

The San were hunter-gatherers and have inhabited the region for about 30,000 years but their modern social development has been constrained by lack of formal education. Beautiful rock paintings and other artefacts found in the region’s caves and mountains, illustrate their historic lifestyle. 

Recent studies have shown that San populations have special problems with formal education and are in need of a specific, focused curriculum that would consider their identity, language and culture. 

Policy-makers, educationists, academics and NGO representatives met in May for the first ever Regional San Education Conference held in Okahandja, Namibia to address these problems by increased communication among those involved in San education initiatives, and to design a regional plan of action. 

The conference was organized by the Working Group of Indigenous Minorities in Southern Africa (WIMSA) and drew participants from South Africa, Botswana and Namibia.  

 “Research has demonstrated the need to develop a special strategy and special curriculum and special approaches to facilitate the successful transition of the San child to formal education without eroding the traditional San community values and without compromising the San’s dignity and self esteem,” said Namibia’s Deputy Minister of Higher Education, Buddy Wentworth.  

San are one of the few indigenous peoples of the world who are still in close contact with their traditional culture, values and way of life, although there is limited understanding of this among mainstream educators. 

The region, “... must be cognizant of the variety of cultures which make up our societies and those differences should be recognized and respected and that if they are ignored by the national education system, no real educational progress will result for groups so ignored and at the end of the day, national development will be impaired,” Wentworth said. 

David Naude, chairperson of WIMSA, who is a San concurred: “We aspire particularly to be taught in our mother tongues … at least in the first few years of schooling.”   

Naude emphasized that instructions in the mother tongue would assist his people to catch up with other populations.   

Across southern Africa, San children go to schools away from their communities. Currently there are only two areas where they have access to formal education in their mother tongue, but only for the first three years in school. These are Nyae Nyae and Gqaina schools, both in Namibia. 

There are pre-schools in the Ghanzi district of Botswana that offer education in local languages but this system is not carried forward to primary school level. 

The need to make the educational environment friendly to San children and their families is essential. There must be parallel efforts towards the development of alternative education projects that are built upon the culture and skills of the community, concluded the conference. 

Concern was expressed that many San languages particularly !Ui and Taa languages in the south, have virtually disappeared over the last century. And the reason the hunter-gatherer societies are in danger of extinction is related to land loss, displacement and poverty. 

San groups are heavily exploited because of interest in their culture and stature. Governments, the media and public were urged to stop projecting stereotypes of San peoples, portraying them as speaking one language and living in a homogeneous manner. 

Participants looked at alphabet development and the importance of writing to promote language usage, unite and empower the marginalized. This requires a clear plan by those developing the orthographies and educational materials, they noted.  

It was agreed that language recording through books, newsletters, school materials, tapes and CDs covering all types of traditional knowledge should have a useful function, such as teaching new skills, securing rights and promoting self-respect. 

The conference unanimously resolved that a regional task force on San education be put in place to serve as a networking, lobbying and resource body for scattered San education initiatives across the region. (SARDC)

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