«education, violence AND CONFLICTS IN AFRICA»
International Colloquium, Kinshasa, March 2006
Jointly organised by the FASAF and ROCARE networks
Justification and definition of problém
Since independence, and particularly since the 1990’s, few African countries have escaped the experience of violence, an armed conflict or a war. This situation has greatly contributed to weakening and even compromising the process of development on the African continent, and this is why it calls for the attention of researchers in all fields.
In the field of education, and particularly of schooling, interest from civil society and political decision-makers, notably international organisations, has steadily increased towards the links between education and violence/wars. The Jomtien World Conference in 1990 on Education for All (EFA) recommended taking into account, among other things, those who are «outcasts» from the educational system following conflicts and wars. These outcasts, that is to say refugees and persons displaced by wars, the populations subject to military occupation, and the victims of natural calamities, should benefit from special schooling programmes.
After Jomtien, violence and wars broke out or were intensified in a number of countries throughout the world, of which most were in sub-Saharan Africa. The most dramatic cases are: Angola, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Rwanda, Burundi, DRCongo, Congo, Somalia, Soudan, Côte-d’Ivoire. The Amman mid-decade world meeting on EFA drew lessons from this and emphasised “education in emergency situations.”[1] The World Forum on Education held in Dakar in 2000 even considered education in emergency and crisis situations to be a challenge for the century.[2] Indeed it was noted that the links between education and outbreaks of violence/wars are more complex than it had appeared, and need to be better defined.
Before outbreaks, and even outside conflict situations, the question of forms of violence in the school setting and/or those facing school-age children, whether or not they are in school, is posed more generally. These forms are multiple: recourse to physical violence by teachers (use of the “stick”…); sexual harrassment and abuse of young girls; negative attitudes by teachers or even the content of certain negative teaching concerning some elements of the population (the problem of the representation of the “Other”, the “Foreigner” etc.) There is the further problem of exploitation and even trafficking of children of school age for their labour.
On the basis of these observations, the questions raised by the theme of «education, violence and conflict» can be approached through three sub-themes: before, during and after conflict.
First, schools can be a catalyst for violence and conflict situations because they prepare intellectuals’ access to economic, political and ideological power, with some of them even becoming associated “warlords”. This is aggravated by the fact that African schools have not succeeded in preventing violence/wars through construction of national identities, transmission of a culture of tolerance and democracy. In addition, schools themselves are a bastion of sporadic violence between students, between students and teachers, and between students and the police of the reigning power which too easily resorts to armed repression. These outbreaks of violence are certainly the result of frustrations experienced within schools, but without doubt they are also the outward signs of the failure of schools to develop a culture of peace among learners, through school curricula and teachers’ behaviour. Finally, schools “generate” a fair proportion of youth who are potentially or effectively a danger to society: the “outcasts” of the system following poor school results, difficulty of access to the job market; it is this that some people consider to represent a “time bomb”.
It is the immediate effects of violence/wars that have attracted most attention. They are considered to be one of the barriers to EFA. But, there too, we only have a few case studies (Rwanda, Sierra-Leone) as illustrations. These effects are: destruction of school infrastructure; displacement and killing of teachers and pupils/students and by mobilisation of teachers and perhaps children into armies, by withdrawal from schools, innovations made to education systems: “schools in a suitcase” in Rwanda, the so-called mobile school, education centres in camps, etc. Attention should be given to the gender dimension of these effects as girls are more often victims than boys, particularly concerning withdrawal from school.
As for the post-conflict aspect, this is a matter of making instruction (1) a healing mechanism for psychological trauma experienced by children in general, and in particular child-soldiers, displaced children, orphaned children, street children, and (2) a national reconciliation mechanism through school programmes which give pride of place to prevention and conflict management, to giving back hope, a sense of dignity, stability, peace.
ObjectiVES of the colloquIUM
The colloquium proposes to bring together researchers, education planners, managers of education systems and system stakeholders (teachers, parents, pupils) to reflect on the situation of the questions raised above. More specifically, the following issues will be considered:
- giving researchers the opportunity to conduct methodological reflections on the nature and types of data analysis needed to shed light on this set of problems;
- enabling researchers to exchange knowledge relating to several countries on the continent that are affected by these issues;
- proposing directions for more penetrating research on the issue.
COLLOQUIUM SUB-thèmes
Sub-theme I: Violence at school
-Relations between teachers and pupils, between pupils/students, and between pupils and students;
-Insecurity affecting girl students and women teachers (harassment and sexual violence);
-Symbolic or sociological violence.
Sub-theme II: The school as a catalyst of violence, war and peace
-Inequalities in access to school (primary, secondary and higher education) as a result of political favouritism, poverty, etc.;
-Failure at school and the frustration of “forgotten candidates», particularly in urban settings;
-Ill-adapted curricula;
-Attitudes and perceptions concerning the Other, foreigners, etc.;
-The role of the intellectual elite regarding conflict situations;
-School as a catalyst for peace, citizenship and good governance.
Sub-theme III: Immediate effects of wars/violence on education
- Destruction and military occupation of school infrastructure;
-Displacements and teacher mortality/morbidity;
-Mortality and morbidity of pupils and other children of school age;
-Family dislocation and non-enrolment of children in school;
-Mortality of parents and non-enrolment of children in school;
-Mobilisation of pupils/students in armies;
-Insecurity and non-enrolment or withdrawal of children from school, particularly girls;
-Adaptation of education systems to the context of violence/war;
-Schooling in refugee camps.
Sub-theme IV: Schools in the post-conflict situation
-Contribution to healing psychological trauma;
-School curricula and prevention of conflict;
-National reconciliation and reconstruction.
Nature of expected communications
The communications that are hoped for should be based on conceptual and methodological reflection, the results of analysis of primary quantitative and qualitative data, or on analysis of secondary data..
Researchers in all subjects, interested in the issues raised above, are invited to participate in this colloquium.
CalendAr
By June15 2005: send outlines of papers, of one page maximum (set of problems, methodology, principal results – if already available), to the following addresses: (Tècle-Mireille Massouka) ; ;
Miscellaneous
The colloquium will be bilingual, in French and English.
* Family and Schooling in Africa network is one of the research networks of the Union for African Population Studies (UAPS), also supported by CEPED. It currently concerns ten country-teams and searchers of the North. Its coordination is assumed by the Unité d’Enseignement et de Recherche en Démographie (UERD) of the University of Ouagadougou. Contacts: ;
* The Educational Research Network for West And Central Africa – ERNWACA – was founded in 1989 in Freetown. The headquarters is in Bamako, Mali. It is a professional Association with legal statute. There are 250 researchers and national coordination in 13 countries in West and Central Africa. For more information:
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[1] See: Final report and case studies from the workshop on «Destruction and reconstruction of education in disturbed societies», Unesco, 15-16 Mai 1997, Geneva.
[2] Unesco (2001) World Forum on Education, Dakar, Senegal 26-28 April 2000: Education For All – Balance sheet up to 2000.