San or Saan peoples are members of various Khoesan-speaking indigenous hunter-gatherer groups representing the first nation of Southern Africa. In Namibia, many San people are poor, do not own property, and live on the margins of society. They are often subjected to discrimination. Their traditional lifestyle does not accommodate school-based education.
Published in Chapter:
Building Peaceful Inclusive Schools for Inclusive Education: Is Namibia on the Transformation Path?
Cynthy K. Haihambo (University of Namibia, Namibia) and Hilda N. Shiimi (Ministry of Education, Arts, and Culture, Namibia)
Copyright: © 2019
|Pages: 20
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-5225-7476-7.ch014
Abstract
Namibia is home to a diverse population in terms of race, ethnicity, socio-cultural status, culture, language, religion, abilities, and tradition. Before independence, race was the main variable in determining the quality of education one would receive. Upon independence, Namibians where determined to do away with all forms of inequality in education by adopting the Education for All philosophy. Namibia is signatory to various international conventions including the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Salamanca Declaration. The findings suggest that, even though school principals and teachers seemingly support inclusion, it could be deduced that they either have a limited understanding and far-fetched understanding of what inclusive education really means.