Second WIMSA International Conference on

San Languages in Education

Penduka Training Centre, Katutura, Namibia

31 August to 2 September 2004

Thirty San language experts, including school teachers, lexicographers,

development facilitators and language activists gathered at the Penduka Training
Centre outside Windhoek to describe and analyse the current situation of San
children’s marginalisation from formal schooling including high drop out rates at
Primary School. Participants focussed on the effects of non-San Medium of
Instruction (MOI) and the possibility and consequences of introducing mother
tongue / first language instruction in all levels of schooling.

Penduka 2 follows a previous successful conference held by the Working Group

of Indigenous Minorities in Southern Africa (WIMSA) in April 2001, where San
language activists resolved a number of issues about language standardisation
and orthographic conventions for their phonetically highly complex languages
(See Penduka Declaration – 2001). San languages come from three different
language families, each distinguished by tremendous phonetic variation and the
distinctive click sounds that have been adopted by some neighbouring languages
such as Xhosa and Zulu.

The activists present at Penduka 2 were speakers of Ju|’hoansi and !Xun (Ju
languages), Naro, Khwedam, ||Anikhwedam, Khoekhoegowab and Hai||om
(Khoe languages), and youth working with N|u speaking elders (an endangered
!Ui-Taa language). Delegates participated from Botswana, Namibia and South
Africa.

Each language community prepared its own case study describing the current
situation of language in education as well as looking at existing Early Childhood
Development (ECD) opportunities, identifying problems and constraints, and
giving examples of successful educational interventions.

Overall, the conference affirmed the long standing international principle,

endorsed by UNESCO and numerous African educational forums, that a child
needs to enter school using his / her first language and then through an additive
approach, bring in other languages required for wider communication. The
conclusion of the three day workshop highlighted that the use of Media of
Instruction (MOI) that are unfamiliar to children, coupled with a sometimes hostile
school environment, enduring stereotypes about San people, and the notable
lack of parental involvement in schooling, combine to create substantial pressure
on San children to lose confidence and drop out of school at an early age.

1
Moreover, the conference recognised that the hunting and gathering heritage of
San peoples means that their elders have highly sophisticated environmental
knowledge that could be tapped to promote science and other learning at schools
(notably anatomy, biology, botany, zoology, medicine, aerodynamics, as well as
human sciences, including the sociology of conflict management). The exclusion
of San elders and their knowledge from formal schooling further undermines San
children, but also demonstrates a substantial waste of intangible heritage and
culture that could benefit the entire education system.

The delegates presented their case studies and then proceeded to do logical
framework analyses on key problems. Each exercise involved building a logical
problem tree of cause and effect to understand root causes and long term
consequences of current negative conditions:
1. Why do San children drop out of formal schooling?
2. Why are San parents not active in supporting their children in formal
schooling?
3. What are the causes and effects of not bringing San traditional knowledge
systems into schooling?

These problem trees are provided in the accompanying report. Delegates

acknowledged that many of the problems they experience are typical of
marginalised communities all over the world. Some of their specific needs arise
from the complexity of their languages which require extra attention to
orthographic standardisation and literacy training. It was also noted that San
knowledge systems are unique in Southern Africa and are potentially an
important resource at all levels of education.

Delegates affirmed that national unity is built on the acceptance and affirmation
of our cultural and linguistic diversity. Africa has one third of the world’s
languages and has used this as a resource up until colonial times. Democracy in
Africa means unity in our diversity; sharing the good aspects of our cultures and
rectifying discriminatory practices. Participants expressed their pride that this
forum has been expanding to include more and more language communities.

From the UNESCO Website:

Based upon the principles stated in the UNESCO Universal Declaration on

Cultural Diversity, adopted by the General Conference of UNESCO at its
31st session (2 November 2001), the Organisation has committed itself to
supporting Member States wishing to encourage linguistic diversity while
respecting the mother tongue at all levels of education, wherever possible,
to promote through education an awareness of the positive value of
cultural diversity and to make full use of culturally appropriate methods of
communication and transmission of knowledge. The quest for quality
education today is inextricably bound up with the processes and impact of
globalisation.

Below is the Declaration compiled by the delegates at the conference.

2
 PENDUKA 2

DECLARATION ON SAN LANGUAGES IN EDUCATION

The main findings of the Penduka 2 conference (31 August – 2 September 2004) can be
summarised as follows:

Challenges facing San in Education

1. San children and parents are alienated by the current language policies and
practices of schools in the region
2. Exclusion of traditional knowledge further alienates San people from schools but
also contributes substantially to language loss and cultural decline, which in turn
aggravates poverty
3. San languages and knowledge systems are an important resource for education,
both for San children and the nation as a whole
4. Namibia and South Africa both provide constitutional and policy frameworks for
the use of San languages in schools, yet more attention is needed to ensure
adequate practices in classrooms, sufficient teacher training, ongoing materials
development, and attention to standardisation of orthographies
5. The Republic of Botswana has not followed up on its 1994 policy statement that it
can implement a 3rd mother tongue into classrooms. This would be of great
benefit to San children.
6. A number of San languages in Botswana have still not be described scientifically
or had standard orthographies developed
7. Ministries of Education have an important role to play in ensuring good
communication between parents and the school system (knowing your rights,
your role as a parent in supporting children at school, how to deal with teachers
who do not respect diversity, how to communicate with teachers who cannot
speak community languages)
8. School Governing Bodies / Parent Teacher Associations are the most important
interface between parents and the school; these need to be fully competent in
the language of the community
9. San parents currently feel disempowered because they have not been through
the education system, many cannot read and write, they struggle to communicate
with teachers, they see their children experiencing discrimination and bullying,
they require facilitation to create a home-school partnership
10. Poverty continues to weigh heavily on San communities and retards their
opportunities for further education and training, and the development of
community generated educational materials

Solutions and Actions

The conference participants identified the following strategies for addressing the
challenges facing their communities:
1. San school leavers are an important resource to help bridge the communication
gap between parents and schools
2. San Language Committees have an important role to play in standardising,
developing and promoting their languages
3. Case studies are important tools to help both the community and education
policy makers reflect on current problems, set benchmarks, and look for
improvements in the coming years
3
 4. The San need to actively educate policy makers about their cultures, languages,
customs and traditional knowledge systems
5. It is up to San communities and organisations to promote policy dialogue in each
country
6. San language communities can build alliances with other marginalised languages
groups to help promote good multilingual policies and practices
7. San communities and organisations should take the initiative to pilot new
language in education projects, both at ECD and other levels of education
8. San language specialists should promote solutions that are good for the whole
country, sharing the rich San intellectual and cultural heritage with others
9. San youth and development workers are challenged to dialogue with and
mobilise community leaders, parents, politicians, NGOs, other development
workers, Village Development Councils, Communal Property Associations, San
organisations, school leavers, learners, teachers, PTAs / SGBs to recognise the
value of San languages and knowledge system

RECOMMENDATIONS
With respect, the Conference participants made the following recommendations to
governments in the region:

Republic of Namibia:

We recognise and praise Namibia for its multilingual policy. Namibia was the first country
in the region to introduce a San language into formal schooling. We now recommend the
recognition of Khwedam as a Namibian language, equal in rights with all other national
languages.

Khwedam has been standardised through joint university and community efforts. We
now look forward to joining other Namibians in having our language used in schools and
public spaces.

Republic of Botswana:

We ask the Government of Botswana to recognise the presence of San and other
languages in the Republic. We note that Botswana is the only country in the SADC
region that has not adopted a multilingual language in education policy.

We believe that mother tongue instruction helps build a well educated society, a point
that has affirmed by UNESCO, the Organisation of African Unity, the African Union, and
numerous African educational forums over the last six decades. We encourage the
Government of Botswana to follow up on its 1994 policy statement that there can be a
3rd medium of mother tongue instruction in Botswanan schools.

Republic of South Africa:

We note with pride the inclusion of San and Khoe languages in Section 6 of the South
African Constitution. We also note the slow progress in the implementation of San
languages in formal schooling. We call on South Africa to co-ordinate language in
education efforts between the Department of National Education and the Northern Cape
Department of Education. We call on the Department of Arts and Culture at National
level to articulate a clear policy on San and Khoe languages, specifically addressing the
4
issues of vulnerable traditional knowledge and the safe-guarding of endangered
languages, such as N|u.