1.7 Overview of the education systems of the four SADC countries, with a specific focus
1.7.4 Education in Lesotho
Historically Lesotho has been a patriarchal society (Morojele, 2013), prioritising men and characteristics associated with the masculine (Walby, 1990). This led to the subordination of women in Lesotho society and subordination within public spheres such as public employment could be seen right up until the 1960s. Women in Lesotho have historically occupied different roles to men, which have included largely domestic roles, such as child bearer and carer of children and elders, generally taking care of household chores and supporting men. The men in the household go out to work.
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Furthermore, women have historically not been as educated as men have; these subordinated and marginalised women even further, thus limiting the world of paid employment for them (Morojele, 2013). ‘Honour’ is extremely important to men (Syngellakis & Lazaridis, 1995, pp.
96-97), and intertwined with symbolic, social and moral values. Men's ability to earn money and feed the family is central to their masculine identity, and in turn to the prosperity of the family. This notion of ‘honour’ is extended to the family and domestic life. The woman of the household and her sexual conduct represent the ‘honour’ of the household, which must be protected. Women must conduct themselves in ways, which do not bring shame upon the family and, by extension, their husbands. Therefore, women are seen as needing protecting, and the home is a place of protection and security.
The end of British colonial rule in 1966 provided an impetus for curriculum reform in Lesotho (Raselimo & Mahao, 2015). In 1977, 11 years after independence, Lesotho began a flurry of lipitso (public gatherings) with a view to soliciting input towards designing a curriculum that would respond to the needs of the young nation. One of its main objectives was to improve gender inequalities (Ministry of Education and Training, Lesotho, 2001) arousing from the pervasive patriarchal ideologies in Lesotho schools and communities. In 1971, the Minister of Education had announced the Education Policy for Development in response to perceived limitations of the colonial education system. Running from October 1977 to March 1978, there was a series of 51 such gatherings across the country (Mosisili, 1981).
Following this consultation process a National Education Dialogue was held in 1978. The purpose of the gatherings, in part, was to relate education planning to overall National Development Plans and inform subsequent policy reforms with regard to gender equity and social justice. This policy recognised the central role of education in achieving economic growth and gender parity. The report of a task force was presented and adopted in 1982 as a policy document guiding education reform processes up to the year 2000.
The document’s policy statements for secondary education emphasised the need for inclusion of more practical subjects, with the purpose of enhancing gender equity in school materials and preparing learners for a meaningful life in a changing society. Following the education for development policy, a number of reforms were introduced in Lesotho’s education system to ensure gender equity.
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The World Conference on Education for All (EFA) held in Jomtien, Thailand in 1990, sparked off a new impetus (Morojele, 2013). The Amman Mid-Decade Review of EFA in 1996 reaffirmed commitment to the Jomtien resolutions. May 1999 saw declaration of the MDGs, which, among others, aimed to enhance access to formal education (Mundy, 2006). The MDGs set targets to ensure that by 2015 children everywhere – boys and girls alike – would be able to complete a full course of schooling (Bruns, Rakotomalala & Mingat, 2003). MDG 3 specifically refers to the empowerment and promotion of equality between males and females (African Union, African Development Bank & Economic Commission for Africa, 2008).
Improvement of gender equality also features significantly in Lesotho’s education sector strategic plan 2005–2015 (Ministry of Education and Training, Lesotho, 2005), although expressed in terms of gender parity rather than equality.
However, representations of women (and girls) and minorities in school learning materials, including textbooks, will remain constrained by the myths and stereotypes infused in Basotho culture, language and discourse, which continue to depict females in menial and subservient terms (Morojele, 2013). In its report to the UN on progress towards meeting MDG 3, which focuses on gender equality, the Lesotho Government reported facing serious gender-based cultural and legal constraints that militate against women and girls and sexual minorities (Government of Lesotho, 2014).
Dominant discourses are mainly reflected in school materials, which socialise and pressure girls and boys to perform gender in conformity to what is contrived to be a ‘normal’ state of affairs. In other words, a ‘normal’ way of being a boy or girl is promoted, thereby increasing the likelihood that existing gendered power inequalities will continue unabated (Morojele, 2013, p. 3). This is similar to Bourdieu and Wacquant’s (1999, p. 127) statement:
Social reality exists, so to speak, twice, in things and minds, in fields and in habitus, outside and inside agents. And when habitus encounters a social world of which it is the product, it finds itself ‘as a fish in water’, it does not feel the weight of the water and takes the world about itself for granted.
The ‘fish in water’ metaphor reflects the embeddedness of humans in their social world. It also reflects how textbooks are intricately entangled in gender discourses to a point where learners might become uncritical of the prevalent inequitable gender relations, and see patriarchal reflections as normal. Against the background of pervasive patriarchal power in Lesotho, producing textbooks that reflect gender equity may prove futile if not supported by wider
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society and teachers’ intentions. There is a need not only to help professional educators understand the source of bias in textbooks used to educate children, but to empower them in class. Educators need the skills necessary to make a conscious effort to deal with textbook bias in terms of language use and selection of images (Zeece, 1997)
All four of these SADC countries have long histories of patriarchy. Men have always dominated and had control over women in both the private and public sphere. Men are still denoted as more important and worthy in all four, even though they all have new governments which intend to address gender equity in society and in education.
With regard to school textbook publication, the State is responsible for selection in all four countries (Eric, 2011). The textbooks that are endorsed by the State need to interpret and present knowledge in accordance with the contents and concepts listed in the prescribed curriculum of the country. The Department of Education in the selected countries scrutinizes the textbooks through a screening and quality assurance process (Eric, 2011). The Department than recommends changes to be made where necessary to ensure that textbooks cover the curriculum. The Department of Education across the four countries also has the power to veto sections in a textbook that do not fit the educational ideology promoted by the curriculum.