Experts discuss approaches to education among nomads

Education experts and consultants at a meeting this week heard that educating nomadic communities is one of the more challenging and urgent issues in achieving Education for All (EFA) and Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Attending the one-day meeting held at the Commonwealth Secretariat’s headquarters in London, UK on 26 September 2007,  about 30 officials reviewed some of the approaches to educating nomadic and pastoralist communities  in the  Commonwealth and in the Horn of Africa.

Florence Malinga, an education adviser at the Secretariat said there is need for “the formulation of holistic policies and strategies, such as affirmative action and quota systems, which specifically target increased access to education for nomadic groups in countries that do not yet have them.”

“We are embarking on a variety of initiatives to support these nomadic communities. The secretariat is going to devise programmes for Asia and Africa to assist the governments to get nomads back into education” she added.

The meeting which is a preamble to a set of programmes to be launched by the Secretariat also focussed on barriers to improving access to education; teacher qualifications; promoting mobile schools;  and fine-tuning the national curriculum to better suit the needs of nomadic and pastoralist communities.

Giving his personal experience from the nomadic community, Ali Ismail Mohamed, a co-ordinator at the Pastoral and Environmental Network in the Horn of Africa (PENHA) explained that nomads and pastoralist faced difficulties to access good education due to cultural set ups and lack of schooling facilities.

“Curriculum have no clear aims and objectives, there are no suitable teaching methods,  children have to walk long distances to go to school and teacher trainers have little knowledge of the needs of pastoralists or nomads,” Mohammed said.

“Being a nomad or a pastoralist is difficult because no one understands us. Policy decisions makers should include these communities. By assuming we are lazy, ignorant and lack family bearings, is a gross injustice towards our communities. We want the best for our children- both economically and socially,” he added.

Fatimah Kelleher, a programme officer at the Secretariat said that “nomadic communities have a right to education. It is important to explore suitable models of education delivery in order to promote access and retention, while respecting the richness of nomadic cultures across the Commonwealth.”

She noted that the highest population of the mobile groups globally is mostly concentrated in Commonwealth South Asia.

The United Nations Education Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) estimates that nomads constitute about 6 per cent of the African population.

The meeting was co-organised by the Commonwealth Secretariat, Council for Education in the Commonwealth and PENHA.

Key Links:

• Millennium Development Goals
• Education Section