The choice of the language of instruction in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is a fundamental educational issue with ramifications for educational access and effectiveness and ultimately national development. Indigenous SSA languages have suffered devaluation in colonial and post-colonial SSA education, and this devaluation alienates the majority of SSA…

The United Nation's Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD) is past its halfway milestone; yet, its overall impact on educational thinking and practice remains unclear in most places and regions of the world. While several efforts and programs are currently in place to promote and affirm the role of education in the global quest for…

The main hypothesis here is that the notion of economic and social development has been misconceived by most stakeholders in matters of development. This misconception is the main cause of underdevelopment in Kenya, which leads to all the reasons most authors and commentators have given to explain Kenya's situation. Therefore, it is only possible…

Learning is an unending, abstract and invisible process that permeates everyone's life, whether young or old, rich or poor, educated or illiterate. Learning is also an embodiment of education which transcends the four walls of the classroom. Therefore, education is an added knowledge to one's existing knowledge which is expected to lead to…

In this article, the author expresses her view on how urban agriculture can be a source of hope among people particularly the uneducated and undereducated ones. The author shares that urban agriculture is a brilliant answer to the difficulties in these times of crisis. One of its most relevant elements is its impact in education: it allows people…

In our knowledge-based world, the societies that prosper are the ones that generate knowledge--through research, through the interwoven relationship between the academe and funded research bodies and with industry. They are the new "centre". It is strange indeed to think of the countries of the Arab Gulf States as the…

The liberation of Africa and its peoples from centuries of racially discriminatory colonial rule and domination has far reaching implications for educational thought and practice. The transformation of educational discourse in Africa requires a philosophical framework that respects diversity, acknowledges lived experience and challenges the…

Some 133 million young people (half of Africa's young) are illiterate; many have few or no skills. Such figures tell their own story: African youth need vocational training. This brief reports that technical and vocational systems in Africa are poorly funded and managed, and advocates for the integration of skill-development strategies into…

This paper highlights some tensions regarding lifelong learning discourses for countries which are listed in the lower part of international development indexes. Such countries are often referred to collectively as the "South", though this represents a political focus rather than geographical accuracy and usually represents those…

Poverty in Africa is related to numerous factors: history of slavery, colonial and neocolonial rule, political and economic dependence, foreign debt, government corruption, high illiteracy, gender insensitivity, civil wars that create refugees, and unemployment. Solutions must take into account the political, economic, and social factors that…

This article aims to make a critical analysis of the African attempts at vocationalizing the school curriculum, looking at certain major issues with the views of one prominent critic, Philip Foster, in mind. (Author/CT)

Examines the structure, role, and needs of Africa's national and intracontinental transportation system. Characteristics of rail, water, road, and air transportation are examined. The conclusion is that high investment in transportation systems is essential to the development process. (Author/KC)

In developing countries, older women are seldom part of the development agenda in spite of the fact that they are major supporters of emerging social orders and contributors to the stability of relationships. The well-being of older women must be recognized as a political question. (JOW)

This book represents a synthesis of current knowledge about the physical, cognitive and social development of young children who live in the developing countries of Africa, Asia, Latin-America, and Oceania. The book develops five major themes: (1) It views child development in a comparative fashion, examining universal sequences in development as…

This article reviews some work that illustrates the problem of developing managers in developing nations and draws on experience gained from discussing these issues with African managers, students, and academics in order to consider an alternative way of approaching development in Africa. (Author/CT)