Dakar Stimulus Paper

Achievements of African Learning Cities: The Senegalese example

Education systems are generally influenced and modeled by various factors that finally shape their content and specificity.  They are very often earmarked by their countries’s historical background, cultural values and levels of economic and social development…

Among all these influences, Culture seems to be the most determinant and decisive factor that finally models and gives to education systems their souls and their life. Education and culture are then closely linked to one another.

The Senegalese present cultural heritage is made up of a mixture of three distinct influences:

• The Negro-African civilization that is characterized by an endogenous culture and a multi diversity of National languages spoken throughout the country alongside French which is the sole official language of the country.
• The Arabo-islamic civilization that dates from the 9 th century and characterized by the presence and influence of the Arabic language, the Islamic religion and the Holy Koran.
• The European influence (with the French colonial presence for over three centuries) which brought to the country: the French Language, Christianity, the Bible but also its current administrative, juridical and political policies and practices.

The French aimed during their colonial presence in this country, to assimilate the Senegalese people in the French society. The ultimate goal of French assimilation policy was the political, social and cultural integration of the Senegalese people into the French Nation. This was to be done through education which was assigned the role of familiarizing Senegalese students with the French way of life. In those days, Education was viewed as a first step towards integrating Senegalese students in the French economic, social and moral order. As Africans, we used to learn from French texts books. We studied central heating, we wrote essays on winter and learnt how cherries were harvested. The hidden curriculum was so strong that at a time I believed that my ancestors were not African but ‘Les Gaulois’ i.e, the first inhabitants of France and I believed quite surprisingly that they were tall blue eyed white people. It is because of this situation that Mumford claimed that “the then Senegalese students were French in all except in the color of their skin.” (1)

But over the years the French realized that it was impossible to assimilate all the time an entire people. They tried other theories that proved that the assimilation approach has failed.

The present day ‘Homo-senegalensis’, is made up with all these three permanently interacting cultural influences. Traditional Africa prior to any colonial intervention had its own education systems that used to serve distinct purposes:

1. Meet the individual learning needs in order to help him cope with daily life such as: survival, socialization, production, family life, parenting, child bearing, defense, leadership etc…
2. Transmit the cultural heritage from one generation to the other.

These traditional education systems used various and diversified sources and means of teaching such as: observation, play, folktales, communal ceremonies and dances, instruction, apprenticeship... Students were always gathered in various age learning groups. So they used to learn and practice their apprenticeship together, play together and sleep together…

We now understand why the French assimilation policy has failed. It aimed, obviously, to wipeout the African culture which survived over the times as expressed in the following famous Fulani song: “They (The French) cut the Tree (African Culture understood), it regenerated. They cut it again, it again regenerated! They forgot its roots were firmly attached to the African soil” (2)

The current Senegalese Non Formal Education System seems to be built on these basic traditional and cultural standards.

As it uses some aspects of these cultural standards that have survived over the times, including  the case of the traditional social stratification that used to range people into various age groups, into various social groups in the form of: Associations (age groups, village, district associations….), female groups, youth associations, religious associations ….etc…

It is in these diverse and dynamic social groupings that now constitute well organized civil society organizations where citizens meet, discuss exchange and find solutions to their own problems. In these groupings people learn from one another, individuals are teaching groups and vice versa.

It becomes very easy, therefore,  to circulate a message, promote an idea and organize people via these various social groups that are present, effective and active throughout the whole country. Educators, social activists and politicians all know how to use these socio-cultural settings in order to better circulate or promote their own ideas and messages.

In this framework some lessons were learnt and also some success stories were reached and recorded in various fields such as the promotion of peoples’ basic Human Rights (as in the case of the societal plea against Girl- child early marriages and Female genital cuttings), and good governance and democracy…

I.  Achievements in the field of Human rights:

Many Senegalese social groups such as the Fulani, Mandingo, Soninke ethnic groups were practicing over the centuries these old and odd devil practices such as Girl-child early marriages and female genital cuttings that constitute real breaches to people’s basic human rights; they violate their physical integrity  and put their health in jeopardy.

The then socialist government enacted a law in 1999, forbidding such deeds. Authors of such practices could hence be severely fined or jailed by virtue of law.  In reality the law proved its inefficacy and inefficiency to stop such evil practices.

What worked instead, were various Empowerment Adult Educational Programmes that were organized and launched by various civil society organizations such as the Americano-Senegalese NGO, Tostan.

In these programmes participants learn about human rights, critical thinking and problem solving methods, hygiene and health. The methodology they use is generally based on oral tradition methods such as: dialogue, theater, poetry, songs and dance. The aim is to extend life saving messages to all members of the community, particularly women.

As a consequence, many significant changes have now taken place in many Senegalese communities as they have started clean-ups, women’s savings groups for economic improvement, health associations that work on providing basic health care and various social movements to end female genital cuttings (FGCs) and early/ forced marriages as well as domestic violence against women and any form of gender discrimination

As an oil stain effect, many communities in the country as well as those in some neighboring countries such as Guinea Bissau have publically declared their abandonment of female genital cuttings practices. Almost at the same time Senegalese teachers in the Southern regions particularly, started a peaceful revolt in the form of strike protesting against girl child early marriages that are frequent in those regions.

Peoples’ and communities’ attitudes are now changing greatly towards these social diseases because of the educational and sociological empowerment programmes above rather than the fear or punishment stemming from the force of the law.

 

II. Achievements in the field of Democracy and Governance

Social movements that lead to change generally stem within these associations, inner circles and districts social movements for the true and real advancement of the population. Take for example the protests that followed the recent energy crisis in Senegal.

The Senegalese energy company SENELEC has no other combustible beside fuel to keep its electricity plants functioning. Senegal, being a non oil-producing country, had frequent shortage of oil causing several hours of electricity cut offs in the country as a whole.

To stop this situation, Senegalese citizens of all conditions organized meetings of protests here and there to show their discontent in the form of marches, processions that are recognized as legal dispositions under the current Senegalese constitution. These marches were revealed to be ineffective since they were immediately dispersed by police using teargas.

Then protesters changed their strategy. They started with night district protests in every geographical area of the city where they burned tyres and openly voiced  their grievances against the electricity company and the government, causing serious damages to people’s security as well as to the national economy.

These protests culminated on March 19th, 2011 when a group of rap musicians known as ‘Mouvement y’en a marre’ (we’re fed-up Movement) organized a mass protest meeting at the ‘Place de l’indépendance’ in Dakar which was attended by thousands of Senegalese people of all conditions that came out to show their discontent towards the way the country is governed. People were fed-up by the ongoing and unpunished corruption practices, electricity cut-offs, rampant poverty etc…

Electricity cut offs are now really diminishing. The basic principle of the Senegalese peoples’ revolt is to stop them once for good.

Surely Senegalese people are aware of the paramount importance of ballot boxes in a democracy. They are the one that ousted in 2000 the socialist regime that has governed for more than 40 years the country. Recently they defeated Karim Wade (the son of the ruling president) in local elections. His father wanted him to take over when he retires or leaves power. However, the people reminded them that this country is not a Monarchy but a democratically elected republic. Consequently, power devolution operates only throughout the ballot box and not elsewhere.

Beyond political ties and/or rivalries what seems important to all people in this country is our common sense of sharing one country and one nation that we have inherited from our past and that we must keep in good conditions for future generations to come.

On the light of the recent troubles happening in the Arab world President Wade of Senegal made a well known statement saying that unlike the Senegalese, Tunisian people were not used to democracy. He went on to say that Tunisians ‘open their mouths only when they are in front of their dentist’. Otherwise their mouths are always closed.

 

III.  Is Dakar comparable to Dar?

In a recent contribution to the PASCAL International Exchange, the Dar Esl Salam Stimulus Paper, Abel Ishumi and Mpoki Mwaikokeshya raised some key developmental issues facing their capital city, Dar Es Salam. Among these we can easily quote: unemployment, poverty, poor housing, economic disparity and poor urban transport, traffic congestion and invaded public open spaces...

If some of the problems they have raised are common for many developing countries, I personally find some issues they raised as somehow out of date or irrelevant for a big and modern city like Dakar, the capital city of Senegal.

Dakar and Dar Es Salam seem at the first glance to be opposed from one another by their geographical position. During the early years of independence however, Dar and Dakar shared the same socialist vision as the sole and only viable economic development model for the Africa region. While Senghor was rethinking socialism on African terms Mwalimu Julius. Nyerere was structuring and strengthening his then new Ujaama socialist development model for Tanzania.

But as time went on, Dakar has experienced a new approach built on the ashes of the then socialist experiment. This new model was forged during the late eighties on the basis of the World Bank and IMF Structural Adjustment Programmes which have killed the socialist state and constructed in place a new liberalized and market economic state.

I am not saying that socialism is better than liberal capitalism or the contrary. None of them is purely African in its essence. Although I reckon that socialism is somehow very close to the African communal and tribal life. From another angle, I also reckon that many African socialist states de-regulated and distorted their economies and markets in the sense that they were too much involved in their economies as they used to subsidise them and fix their market prices artificially. On the other hand savage liberalism has also proved its own bad deeds and effects on the Africa region and its people.

The Structural Adjustment Programmes brought in more financing that permitted the construction of new buildings and cities, new roads, high ways and toll-roads but also the building of new urban transport systems and the diversification and liberalization in the import of public transport buses (from emerging countries such as India or China rather exclusively from France’s Renault industrial car Plants). All this has eased the transport system in the country as a whole and Dakar in particular so much so that traffic congestion is now a bad memory in Senegal.

The South -South cooperation between Senegal and other former third world countries which were until recently non aligned, developing and poor countries is  in itself exemplary. It is of a horizontal type of cooperation and not vertical as in the case of the cooperation with many western countries seems to be.

India, for example, shared the same history with most of African countries until only few decades ago. Until very recently India was a non-aligned and a developing country. Now it has become a real beacon and emerging country so much so that its rapid development constitutes a real global benchmark in the world economy. India and African countries have had the same history since they were all former European colonies and they all suffered a lot from this colonial domination.  Over the centuries many Indians used to come to Africa to live and work in. trade relations and contacts between the two peoples were created a long time ago.

Mahatma Gandhi, known as the father of the modern Indian Nation, came to South Africa for the first time in 1893 as a young lawyer. He lived and worked there until 1914. These 20 years in South Africa have proved to be among the most creative years of the life of Gandhi. It was during those years that Mahatma (The Great Soul) conceived and nurtured his nonviolence policy, i.e his passive resistance and non cooperative philosophy to combat social injustice and the unjust and non-adapted economic policies imposed on India by the then British authorities .His life and philosophy have influenced the political and social ethos of many third world countries and African countries in particular.

This is why the cooperation between India and African countries such as Senegal is exemplary and is of mutual benefit interests for both parties. Because of this diversified and fruitful cooperation, Dakar the Senegalese capital city which is now a big modern city with more than 2 million people living in it, has a fluid traffic and diversified public transport facilities. Beside the old seven tons Renault public transport buses we have now brand new Indian (Tata Motors Industry) and Chinese (from Jiangsu cars factory) buses running throughout the city, non stop all day long. These new means of transport are putting into connection several districts that were not originally connected by the ancient transport system. Nowadays public transport is connecting several poor districts and rich residential areas of the city.

New and strong contacts are now being established between haves and have not, between rich and poor inhabitants of the same city. Wealthy people from residential areas go to the local suburban market (Marché Syndicat) to buy exotic fruits and some other goods to retail. While poor working people from the Greater Dakar such as watchmen, maids, drivers,often go to these areas to find jobs and new opportunities.

In this context, big and beautiful houses are now flourishing everywhere in Dakar (particularly in new residential areas such as the Corniche, VDN, Almadies) since 2000, the year of our peaceful political alternance or political peaceful change (or Sopi in Wolof language) that brought to power the current liberal regime.  The great sense of democracy and good governance of the Senegalese people particularly at the decentralized level has played a great role in this political change and success story.

The challenges this country is facing now are comparable to those that might be found in some highly developed countries, including poverty (to be eradicated or ended), corruption, money laundering, and drug trafficking.

True, the living conditions of ordinary Senegalese people particularly in Dakar are still harsh: poverty is still rampant and unemployment is hitting urban youth severely but luckily statistics show that several social indicators are improving and that traditional social safety nets (such as the Senegalese Teranga or hospitality and kind heartedness) are still effective and are functioning very well throughout the country so much so that no one is not reported to be dying because of hunger or carelessness.

Questions:

• Are these Senegalese learning cities experiments likely to continue in the years or decades to come?
• Are our social safety nets long lasting tools to keep the Senegalese social equilibrium well alive and efficient for the future?
• Are we to lose our own cultural and civilization values as we deeply enter in the global world?
• Senegal is one of the rare African countries (if not the sole) that has never experienced a coup d’état or any religious/ethnic conflict in its soil. Will that socio-political exceptional situation continue in the future?
• Shall we resist as a country or as a Nation in front of all these serious challenges?

 

Footnotes:

        (1) Mumford, head of the Colonial Department at the Education Institute of London University,1935.

        (2) Baaba Maal, a Senegalese singer and musician.

 

 

---

 

Lamine Kane

Lamine Kane was born in Senegal and educated in Senegal and England befire working as a Research Fellow in social anthropology in Brussels in Belgium. He returned to Senegal where he has worked for almost 30 years in adult education in one context or another. He now lives in Dakar and works in teacher education and adult learning.