Educare means to lead out. Without it you will be parochial and possibly xenophobic. With it you will be transformed into a neo-liberal free marketeer. There is the possibility of being transformed into a mixed economy social democrat but this is less common. Whatever the preference might be - education cannot make it happen alone.
The photo shows an African primary school. It is in a clearing that must be swept regularly – do the kids do the sweeping or do parents do it for free or does the school employ gardeners?
There are two blocks of three classrooms. The walls are wattle and daub. The older building on the left has a thatched roof while the newer one on the right has a tin roof. This is low level technology and the community might have erected the buildings themselves. The older building needs repair. There are hopefully enough pit latrines for all the kids - and a safe water supply - associated with a kitchen. Depending on locations there may also be teacher houses used as an incentive to attract better quality teachers.
There are about 50 kids in the circle - both sexes. There does not appear to be a wide age range suggesting that they represent only one class. They do not have school uniforms and they all appear to be barefooted. In a free market system what level of school fees might be set? What are the effective measures for parents to judge comparative advantage between schools?
In my time and in several different countries I have been involved with curriculum development, initial and in-service teacher training, materials production, examinations, school inspection, and support services dealing with leadership, management and administration (LMA) at school and central and local government level.
There are no easy answers. There is need for joined up thinking. Formal education alone cannot swing the national culture from neo-liberal to social democratic.
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