Owners of Learning

This book describes the Nyae Nyae Village Schools, an innovative and unique mother-tongue education initiative set in north-eastern Namibia. Inspired by the optimism of Independence, the project was designed in close consultation with the Ju|�hoansi community in the early 1990s. Drawing upon their traditional knowledge transmission strategies, and initiated in a supportive political environment, the project exemplified �best practice.� During the following two decades, the Village Schools have transitioned from a donor-supported �project� to government schools, and have received much attention and support from donors, civil society organisations, researchers, and others.�However, the students still do not seem to succeed in the mainstream schools. Why is this? Based on long-term field-work in the region, including interviews with Nyae Nyae residents over several years and work with involved organisations, the book addresses this question. Contextualising the Village Schools within post-Independence Namibia, southern African history and the global indigenous rights movement, it examines the enormous paradoxes that schooling presents for the Nyae Nyae community. �Owners of Learning� is the English translation of the Ju|�hoansi word for �teacher� and it serves to highlight a fundamental question � to whom does education belong?