Guinea-Bissau: Reinventing Education

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SCHOOLOF THEOLOGY

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DOCUMENT

IDAC a

1.

BETWEEN

Zee LIFE 3.

ENTHUSIASM

IN THE

EDUCATION

AND

APREHENSION

PLURAL

TODAY

5

N h owe

9

le ieoi

17

Two

3.2.

Why literacy

aby

systems

contradictory

3.1.

avd

22

on. 4


oe

OF A SOCIETY

4A, OUTLINE

PAIGC:

4.1.

The

4,2.

Improving

Cultural everyday

fact

and

cultural

30

factor

ie

life

Ft

5. REINVENTING EDUCATION LE eee Se PT 6,

DITERACY:

INSTRUMENT

AND

REQUIREMENT

NOTES

Pie

47

CHANGE

tay

28 55

van

CREDITS

PART

OF

2

cartoon-strip:

SOME

QUESTIONS

ON EDUCATION

IN GUINEA-BISSAU

.

55

}

|9q .GWS GBS Lal

ib favo (steal_

Cah Be Mint

e

pe

wm (vintg_- Bye, af compadey ee

Cee

ye?

NT

yer ew be

NSee y e

e

pea ee

a

a

ee

" One verty,

of

the

its

most

striking

destitution.

A

characteristic seemingly

bad.

of

our

country

situation,

in

is

its

reality

po-

good.

f

For

poverty

blank is

the

sheet, most

pushes

one

everything new

or

the

to

change,

is most

to

possible; beautiful.

action,

to

one

write

i

can

revolution. and

draw

Ona all

that

BETWEEN ENTHUSIASM AND APREHENSION

During the spring of 1975, the IDAC office in Geneva received a letter from Mario Cabral, Minister of Education for the Re-

public

of

Guinea-Bissau.

The

letter invited Paulo Freire and the IDAC team to visit Guinea and participate in the development of the national adult literacy program.

Caught between enthusiasm and apprehension, we said yes. First of all, there was the enthusiasm of being confronted with GuineaBissau, a nation quite unlike

others World.

of Africa

or

the

Third

Guinea-Bissau. In spite of the haughty and contemptuous silence

in which

the

metropolitan

countries wrap everything that takes place outside their boundaries, we already knew a bit:

800,000

inhabitants

in

an

1

area

smaller than Switzerland, a sort of enclave on the African West Coast between Senegal and GuineaConakry, a peasant people who spent fifteen years struggling in a war of national liberation. Forty-eight years of Portuguese fascism had made forgotten lands not only of "metropolitan" Portugal, but also of its "overseas

territories".

For

many

in

the

Western World these "Portuguese colonies" only appeared on the pages of history on April 25, 1974. While hearing about the overthrow of fascism in Portugal by a movement of young army officers, a poorly informed public opinion also learned that very soon Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, and perhaps even Angola, would be "liberated" and granted their independence. Actually,.not very Many people were aware that

5

contrary

to

appearances,

it

really the long struggle African people which had about Among

was

of the brought

the liberation of Portugal. those people in struggle,

the Guineans were the most successful in bringing the Portuguese army to its knees. Over long years they fought to demonstrate in practice the absurdity of the colonial war and the backwardness of the fascist regime. The everyday heroism of the Guinean people was at the root of the

young

political

too

get

out

finally getting Behind stood

(African

dence

plants, the Guinean peasants fought, produced, and educated themselves, creating, even during their struggle, institutions

which

pointed

to

a new

society.

for

the

tions.

people

Party

stores"

PAIGC,

of :a .lost

process

In order

war,

they

understood the need rid of fascism. this

"people's

the

slow

awareness.

a Party,

and

from springing up all over the countryside in the liberated areas. While the Portuguese tried to kill and destroy everything, people, animals, and

And we also knew that even the brutal murder of Amilcar Cabral by agents of Portuguese colonialism in January of 1973, failed to stop the progress of the liberation struggle which culminated in the September 1973 declaration of independence of the State of Guinea-Bissau, almost immediately recognized by more than 80 na-

officers'

of

stations,

of Guinea

of

in struggle Indepen-

and Cape Verde).

Behind the party, which was at the beginning only a small hand-

We

ful of people, stands Amilcar Cabral. We shall come back to this people, this party, this

of course, but they were like echoes from far away, hardly heard in the noise of solemn de-

man, which all melted into one so as to give birth to a new rea-

lity:

Guinea-Bissau,

and independent

(1).

liberated

were

bates

aware

of our

a party,

learned to bardments,

and

a man

who

confront napalm bomforced uprooting of

the civilian population, torture, terror, and indiscriminate agression against the people. The storm of blind and hopeless violence proved unable to prevent

6@]|Open-air

schools,

mobile

medical

all

world.

And

sudden

awareness

when

march

it

and

the

of

our with

Guinean

facts,

of the

our Western of the

is perhaps

confronted

of

these

societies

Northern Hemisphere, Civilization, center

information A people,

of

our

the lack

of

"smallness" the

long

people,

that

tempered our enthusiasm with apprehension. What could we actually bring to these people

who had performed so many incredible feats ? Could we possibly meet their expectations ? ©

We, at IDAC, had always criticized the arrogance of the interwith

armed

who,

expert

|national

his or her know-how and techniques, is ready to "help Others". And then our apprehenSion betrayed us. We felt insecure in so far as we had no answers or ready-made solutions But, on the other hand, why should we have answers to ques-

we

that

tions

did

not

yet

know?

SO we decidéd to tell the Guinean Government, in all honesty, how happy we were to receive

Mery

invitation

,-but that,

given

our lack of information about their reality, we should prefer not to intervene immediately in

the

field.

We

therefore

asked

them about the possibility of a fist visit tor acquainting ourselves with Guinea-Bissau, its people and its leaders. At the

end

of

this

exchange

and

first

ideas

then,

visit

and

we

could

observations

together

with

them,

work out a long-term program of collaboration in the light of their needs and our abilities.

The Guineans accepted this approach, understanding that we had no intention of arriving with miracle solutions, but that neither would we come as empty-

handed

tourists

glimpse

We

would

an

greedy

exotic

bring

to

reality.

with

us

to

Guinea-

Bissau

learned

lessons

and

which

we

experiences

had

which

we had accumulated in other socio-historical contexts,

Strengthened by our feeling of political solidarity with them, and this was translated sincere desire to offer tools to the service of who lived and worked in Bissau.

into our our those Guinea-

4 a

:

a

ae &,aes ee

Ms ”ees

eine ha

.

ee

se

: hate iene erpoMnT a? 7Lee |

“

Al

See

be

ame

ey

, eA +43 5

‘i

So we left the Western way or Geneva Airport,

World by a perfect

jimage of Switzerland - small, clean, functional, discreetly tasteful after the fashion of the

Veuyetich sNothing here challen-— jges the imagination, everything is in its place, well signposted, PtChereyis' no danger of.¢rror, no chance of getting lost. Through its doors and hallways pass the world's

most

impressive

fortunes,

and their passage must be smooth. Everything must take place in comfort and order,

|granted Jorder

taken

for

as though comfort and

were

in

the

essential

nature

the West displays itself not

|in the unbridled and lunatic {luxury of America, but rather in jits Swiss attire, well-behaved, |careful, and successful. So from

here we left the Western World, |taking with us not just images: a

|

nn pears

het (aketens’ 7), nae 1

ee

Can Sees ee

hidden behind eee glass,

well-dressed

chairs

which fit

p

seem always to be tir perftectiona®

by a profound Bente eS ntae

cease, for ee Laz

- and conte practically a pote ru tpe ls)

he

| fo ec gee y ee ate

and the ee sere :

=

|Here

j

ry

th

Le

already lost and gone forever. Those are the sentiments which every

City-dweller

less

intimately.

also

knew

bably

them.

this

knows

more

Obviously, And

feeling

it

of

was

Cabral

basis or

we pro-

partici-

fustion,

it was

perhaps

all

which made us apprehensive we asked ourselves what we offer to Guinea-Bissau.

this when could

characterizes

"advanced"

in-

dustrialized society. Yet, in this small country the simple and the complex seem to intermingle. The lives of 90 %-of the population revolve around a piece of fertile land where the Main crop is rice. Agriculture is not just the foundation of Guinean economy, it is the entire Guinean economy. Cabral had alWays said: Without agriculture, no

food,

no

commerce,

On the face of it, reality would seem simple.

iol

no

language

clothing to tural tools

from

the

the

common

culture

and

ci-

to

religion,

from

diet, from agriculto marriage rules,

division

of

labour

to

the distribution of wealth. Thus, we find the Balante people, for example, who are major rice producers, living without state or

hierarchy

Our first impressions on arriving in Guinea-Bissau a few hours later were impressions of finding ourselves far away, somewhere almost on the other side of the world from the West and all that

upon

vilization, diversity is flagrant in» all “areas? =" rom, skam color to the shapes of houses,

from

pating, not in a triumphant civiLization bute in a cristae civile~ zation, jammed in a one-way street, gnawed by doubts and con-

said,

of African

in

a horizontal

and

ega

litarian society where each family works the land which has always been the village's communal property. Such a society coexists with other ethnic organizations such as that of the Fulas with a well-defined hierarchy, based on the authority of the chiefs who live off of the work. of the peasants and women. Then there is the religious diversity, where Moslems and Animists coexist with a few Christians. More than twenty "ethnic" languages are to be found, and yet another lingua franca is being developed, Creole, a sort of Africanized Portuguese enriched with contributions from regional languages.

industry.

therefore, to be very

But this population of 800,000 inhabitants is made up of more than twenty different "peoples" Or “ethnic groups.. Again, as

the

It is on the basis of such a complex reality, with all its richness and its shortcomings, that the PAIGC together with the people, is building a nation.

The Guinean people. At contact with them, one

first is struck

Ried ile by the warmth of their. human. aug _|war.

And

yet,

of oppr |lationships. They call each other | tt ose years ABUL }comrade, and, on their lips, the © | fighting is |) word does not sound quaint, like : a kind of Sir or Madame of revo| lutionary language, but more like a living expression of friendship and real solidarity which is surely a heritage from the time of the struggle for liberation. Today the war is over,

|ministers missars

-who are called Com-

of State

installed,

- have been

a government

is in

|place, but people still continue to live "convivially", to use a | word which sets the West dreaming. Calling each other comrade does

not just mean belonging to the same

party.

Above

all

Reestaccs For the ou

it means

nally answered the

that people are long-time | friends,

together

that

they have

fought

and that today they are

violence yee their | in he reeuetneni a

confronting new tasks together. | The leaders are neither experts | nor professionals who stay enclosed in their assigned jobs,

Jueeneireministry,

nizer ane eats

or in-an in-

| know why they do things - which "competent" technocrats and mahave

often

At first sight,

forgotten.

one would never

say that they were

just coming

| out of a long, hard, and eet De

|

in ind

nized h

[Rae

of v

ae 4 ee

stitution. They may not all possess sophisticated technical know-how or super-specializations, they may not always have the answer to every question, but they do have a visceral, daily, and practical knowledge of their country and its people. They nagers

le

SE

pe

the

invader,

the

colonizer.

group

of

puppets,

learned

through their participation the liberation struggle how Sharing a few everyday experiences with today's Guineans, we get the

impression

that,

for

them,

violence was less a psychological phenomenon than a necessary, unavoidable political Portuguese invaders

fact. broke

The up the

order of things and planted destruction. So they had to be confronted and wiped out. Maybe the Portuguese were not even worth the Guinean's hate, only their contempt. The Guineans were humilated, beaten, oppressed for centuries. That is hard to bees, Obviously, ~butsit is not Surprising. That is what the

"Tugas" come

(the

for,

and

Portuguese), the

Guineans

had

return

cover

never deceived by the pretended Portuguese role of ‘bringing civilization and progress. The Opposing camps were well defined: they, the colonizers; we, the colonized. Such a real and present enemy had to be dealt with and defeated by all possible means. That was all. Violence was directly linked to the colo-

people

and

re-

identity

and

digni-

fusion - much

with the of which

in

PAIGC.(

the

rent side

common people took place with-

1t

16°

rather

cure

to hear about fusions in= political parties, but’ the

PAIGC is not the kind of party that we are used to in the West. It has not become an institution

so

abstract

and

hierarchical

that it has practically no more link with its own members. It is not a rigid structure, bureaucratic and intangible. The PAIGC

rather

the

instrument

effect

putting

a common

sciousness:

and

expression

for

guide

will

and

“Strength,

of

the

and

the

into

con-

“Light,

people".

"Our

party, our leaders", say the people, and the leaders speak

"our

people,

our

of

land".

sary for as long as the occupation, lasted, but it did not take root.in the people's spirits.

In this common effort, this life lived in» thes plural, in. this sense of belonging, lies probably the greatest and most original power of the Guinean people. Yesterday, the liberation struggle.

Bad

Today,

nizer's

presence

memories

and

remain,

was

but

neces-

not

bit-

terness.

the In

national

building

from

12

the

ty. We shall come back to this process of the intellectuals

is

were

to

their

in to

of

reconstruction,

a

exploitation

these

common

society

and

free

domination.

tasks,

under-

Even the Guinean intellectuals, the African petite bourgeoisie,

taken by the people and the party, started yesterday, continued to-

those trained schools to be

day, there a constant

in the a well

Portuguese manipulated

is a link, reference,

a a

presence, face

known

by all:

that

Cabral. Many | have a story

of Amilcar

knew him. Almost all of personal experien-

ce to tell about him. He is people's hero and founder of

the

We

In

September,

after

his

1973,

murder,

seven in

a

months

clearing

in the forest at the moment of the declaration of the independent

was

state

of

Amilcar

Guinea-Bissau,

Cabral

who

it

first

spoke. And his people wept when they heard the tape recording of his last speech. At another time, during a particularly difficult moment in the war when the Portuguese had stepped up their terrorist bombings, there was a

party

meeting

suddenly

party the

up

leaders,

brother

today

in which

stood

and

(among

of

a peasant told

of

the

them,

Amilcar,

President

the

who

Luis, is

Republic),

that they must not weaken, that they must continue to fight. At the end of his speech, the young

peasant

added,

"Cabral

alive. It is he because I don't

Seek

Cabral

is

who just know how

still spoke, to

cea.76

does

indeed

live

in

the

memory of his people, and his example is a constant guide to them. The multitude of stories about him make it hard to distinguish between history and le-

gend. counts and

That is

hardly that

continued

the

the

fusion

between

Party

old and new, which Guinea-

everyone.

of

friend

a

nation,

seals

and People, between young and old, from Bissau was born.

matters. life,

existence

What death,

of

Cabral

were

PAIGC

during

also

told

that

headquarters

the

long

at

years

liberation,

Cabral

habit

morning

every

was

in

the

Conakry,

of war in

for

the

before

be-

ginning his work, of visiting the school which was operated there by the party. He would stay for

a while watching play and talking

the children with them. "The

children", he would the flowers and the

our

fight..".

say, “are reason for

Children

represented

the future, and Cabral came there to find strength for continuing the struggle. One might remember here a line from Lenin in which he said, "If man were completely deprived of the possibility of dreaming, if he could not and then outstrip the present and picture in his mind the finished product of his work, Ido not know what motive there could be for such vast and exhausting

efforts.

For

Cabral

jaetne)OVno

GE

the Guinean children meant the anticipation, the dream already being realized, of a better world. "Our struggle," he said, "was

always

made

of

Today,

the

best

impossible

of

Guinea-Bissau is children. During village

who

told

elders,

dreams".

everything

reserved for a meeting of we

us about

met

his

an

old

faith

in

the man

in a

3

future which would also be his in so far as his children or his children's children could benefit

from

the

fruits

Past

and

future,

of

the

old

struggle.

and

new,

be-

longing and the continuity. Today the entire nation, people and leaders, with the party forming the

link

between

them,

and

with

Cabral's example alive in everyOne's memory, are all mobilized for the realization of a common program. That program the Guineans put into a simple formula: To improve the people's daily life. Such a simple and beautiful program

ficult

is,

and

of

course,

full

of

also

dif-

obstacles.

How do you convert the heroism of war-time into the peaceful heroism of fulfilling everyday tasks ? Now that the Portuguese

are gone, not that there is no more visible enemy, how do you keep weariness from setting in How

do

you

keep

from eroding rit ? How do

the you

collective spimaintain the

commitment and passion time of struggle ?

Improving life is a

of

the

the people's daily formula which demands

more

definition.

tion

will

choices

?

individualism

be

which

made

And

that

through

Guineans

defini-

the

are

called upon to make at every ment . We shall come back to question again.

mothis

EDUCATION

TODAY

perspective

Pecountry with 90% adult illeteracy. It goes without saying that

such

within

a context

a mass

tal

of

lite-

racy campaign raises a mountain of questions which are unanswerable ititeracy is not seen in ‘the

TWO When

the

entered

Bissau,

-

the

was

duced

by the

system

we of

felt

understand

Guinea-Bissau's at

to-

Because

immediately

clearly

totality

the

the

the

edutime

3.1

the colonial in ‘centrated

the

intro-

Portuguese

to

nation's

effort.

cational situation Or independence.

during

condomination, the urban centers

controlled and alien, autho-

which they had modelled on an ritarian

school,

caricature

exists

systems:

There

this,

need

nation's capital, in September 1974 and took control of the whole country, they found themselves confronted with the co-existence of two completely contradictory educational

the

SYSTEMS

CONTRADICTORY PAIGC

of

educational

-

of

a

sort

of

as

it

school

in Portugal; —

There was the system, or we should say, the educational

2

process being built from the grass roots in the liberated areas of the country where the school was integrated with pro-

ductive

labour

and

community

life.

To grasp the structural contradictions of the two educational programs, we need to take a look backwards and try to understand

the

genesis,

organization,

jectives of education.

the

two

and

concepts

ob-

scood

as

the

of

in

so-

skills and social values, was already present, of course, as it is inmvany society. By participating in the life of the family group and community, by work in the fields, by hearing the elders Speak, and by taking part in collective

ceremonies,

the

children

and young people acquired, over the years, the knowledge necessary for their integration into their society. They learned the techniques of production and they interiorized the values which were necessary for communal life and

for

the

There

group's

were

Masters

no

and

survival.

established

no

special

where

the

transmission

1ig| ledge

was

to

take

place.

school-

places of

place

in area was

hot "educated" during certain hours of the day which had been set aside for that purpose. One learned from life and experience, and the experience of life was synonymous with working, being with others, reproducing the society.

beyond

domination,

acquiring

take

certain

"traditional" African sothere was no school as we Education,

not

under-

colonial

today.

did

a separated and specialized of human activity. A person

This spontaneous daily education was directly plugged into the social reality. The acquired knowledge, however, was not cumulative, and the opening towards the outside world, the world

called Ciety, it

Education

his” or her work, also an educator.

of

Before

know

the example of each adult was

know-

Through

the

community

group, was some major

from down ce), be

and

the

weak. Except during crises, (threats

the outside or the breakof the environmental balanwhen the society needed to

restructed

vive,

the

Simply

with

conserving social

in

order

learning what

and

to

process

was

sur-

dealt

useful

reproducing

for

the

fabric,

Obviously, when colonialism arrived with its pre-arranged

destiny

of

slavery

and

domestica-

tion for the African man and woman, it was a rupture in the traditional social balance 2). No more learning could take place related to work and life, for work and life had been taken over and appropriated by an out-

Side

enforced

power.

Forced

labour

became

a constraint

imposed on a majority of the colonized population, and the development of a colonial state demanded larger and larger numbers of local cadres for making the colonial administration function and for playing the role of intermediary between whites and "natives". These people had to be trained, educated, helped to The Portuguese were "assimilate". going to offer this small minority — ono, "not a new life in*their colonies, but a borrowed life, a side-lines of the the on life game, a caricature of a life. And so an institution came into being in Africa which was itself a caricature

of

an

external

the side-lines of nizer's school.

life:

model,

the

on

colo-

It was a school with no other goal than teaching the Africans how to be more useful to the Portuguese. The colonial army invaded the land and brutalized the physical body while the colonial school, tamed its functional counterpart, the minds and domesticated the

soul.

For

submission

Portuguese,

therefore,

"educate" meant "de-Africanize". Too bad if that led to creating torn and divided human beings, white skins, black uprooted pedagogy ian ritar masks. An autho

the

colo-

success which was, by definition, individualistic. The content of the

teaching

reality

of

was

the

the

foreign

metropolis,

for

Africa had no history. “Africe began to exist for the colonizers only when they discovered itsoThus "inthe 1970s "inthe high school of Bissau, the wives of Portuguese officers still taught the young Guineans about the adventures of Portuguese navigators who had brought God and civilization to the savage peoples of three continents.

The

Guinean

ponse

of

to

people's

the

full

Portuguese

domestication

was

the

res-

program

libera-

tion movement which gave birth to a new educational reality. From the very outset of the the children were struggle, brought together around a member of the PAIGC in a forest clearing, protected from the sun and the Portuguese bombers by branches of In the liberated areas the trees. of the country a new "school" came into being. Very naturally, just because of the immediate situation,

the

to

nizers, and Africans learned how to imitate the Portuguese as the only criterion for success, a

the

first

lesson

con-

sisted of learning how to identify the noise of Portuguese planes so as to escape their rain of

death.

The

learning

process

tried

to

re-

\9

discover

what

had

been

spontaneity

and

tion,

positive

in the experience of the tional" African society.

"tradiThe

informality

of

struggle

of which

at was

part. So as to win the war and lay the cornerstone of an independent state, the young had to

traditional education was revalorized. So was a return to

learn to move progressively yond the particularities of

learning from the experience of the elders. Above all, learning was done through practice. The

separate ethnic group and the limits of each specific region. Education then, was contributing decisively to the creation of a truly national culture rooted in the positive aspects of the dif-

very fact Shortages brought

tionship One

hand

that there were great of material resources

about

a

between and

munity tasks the resident

necessary

learning

production

rela-

on

and

the com-

on the other. So, schools organized

in by

study was directly the party, linked to productive work and the students fully participated in the management of the school and its material upkeep. Through

these

practical

experiments

of

in-

tegrating education with work and the with political participation, liberation movement sought to develop among the students a new mentality stripped of the negative aspects and prejudices of the traditional society - such as, the inferior position for example, of women in the social structure or the sense of powerlessness against natural phenomena.

Such much

an educational process is more dynamic and open to the

outside

world

than

was

the

tradi-

tional learning process. Education no longer attempted to reproduce a situation of ‘equilibrium or stagnation. Quite to the contrary, it tried to rely upon and stimu20| late the whole process of libera-

ferent,

traditional

beeach

cultuxessuie

was also, however, aiming to incorporate and adapt for the nation's needs, the tools of a universal scientific knowledge.

A new educational system - both the product of the liberation struggle and a stimulus to that struggle - was spreading throughout the country's liberated areas. But, in Aprilsao74 ie could be found co-existing with the old Portuguese system which had been established in the urban centers still controlled by the colonialists.

Such was the contradictory educational situation which the PAIGC found on its hands when the Portuguese left in September 1974. As the Guineans told us, when they found themselves confronted with the completely inadequate colonial school, there was a great temptation to take the radical step of simply closing down the whole colonial educational

system.

But

what

alternative

could

| they offer

?

The very nature of the educational| gank | system in the liberated areas thes! made for a gradual development, : going hand

in hand with the prog-

act E ress of the liberation struggle | had which reality European and | material and counting on human and | = material the of resources liberated by the fight- | been the core

ing. Under these conditions, how

could

such a system suddenly

be

| made to serve a whole nation ? The curriculum,

and

text books,

teachers of the Portuguese | schools were clearly unsuitable in the new reality of indepen-

dence. But how could they be completely poaa usted so as to j)meet the new nation's needs ? Where could one find material and to the texts which corresponded

needs of the new programs

| how could

one

prepare,

? And,

from one

| day to the next, teachers who would replace the foreign professors )

formerly taught. At the ees

| courses

were introduced,a special effort |

being made in the direction cof

concrete political experience | This was for a new consciousness. the through example, for | done, creation of student committees ei responsible for runr a : the school.

o 1974-1075 During the the PAIGC

| operatingt | Portuguese had 1 ssentia. in

All these immediate problems were complicated yet further by the

tyne:

| almost total lack of material re-

sources, by the need for building | menta out of nothing a national Ministry | estab

of Education,

and,

even more

im-

Mi

portantly, by the need to answer the huge new growth of demands So | €or admission to the schools. weight as not to sink under the | of so many problems, the only realistic move - which the go-

| vernment decided to make as an

| emergency action - was to take ~ over the schools which the Portu

in ‘political education

|

,

:

‘on this init. al over-view of the We

an educational

situation at

‘the time of independence permits

| us now to consider more

fully the|

| question of the place of literacy

Vin Guinea-Bissau.

32

eecnce: during the war of liberaa:

genes first attempt | at literacy aa hearteee en

|

jvthespeople were, iiAlitepeates= about 90% of the adult popula-

tion; the Party has taken politi-= cal decision) tos tages ines | problem, which was seen as one

of the principal

left-overs

colonial domination, people themselves

and the

of

- especially

in areas near the urban centers were impatient to acquire the tools of reading, writing, and mathematics.

-

The first months of 1975 saw the | beginning of a systematic lite| racy campaign in the region of | Bissau, both within

| People's Army)

FARP

(the

and in certain

neighborhoods of the capital. The first results of this program

will help us see more tee pare

ee ca =e the obstacles

of

literacy

The

work.

within

work

the

advanced

army

rapidly and well; the attempt among the civilians proved a semifailure. The members of FARP learned quickly and, in the process, Many prepared themselves to literacy in their turn, become, prothe thus ensuring workers,

dynamism

gram's

continual

and

growth. On the other hand, among the progress was the civilians, groups finally some much slower, How even abandoning their efforts. concan we account for such a trast between the two different ? Why success in one situations lock in the other ? dead context,

We feel that the answer to these questions is to be found in an analysis of the special position of the armed forces in Guinea today and the perspective which literacy work takes on in such a

Actually,

context.

made

is

nean

army

most were

part, of involved

They struggle. colonial army,

today's for

up,

Gui-

young peasants who in the liberation

yvorced

themselves

helped

by,

from

the di-

their

they On the contrary, origins. proin ipated partic ually contin being and g, helpin tasks, duction

Precisely

the

village

because

their

of

communities.

the

great

liberation

richness

of

struggle

experience,

they

are

same time, will prepare them for — accomplishing the new tasks of national

whole

The

reconstruction.

of

concept

ty is being

national

redefined

securi-

in Guinea-

Bissau, and that means overcoming the traditional idea of an army

made

up of

tain

number

specialists

in warfare

living apart from the rest of the society. The PAIGC must, of continue training a cercourse,

of

its

to

members

carry out military techniques and strategies, but the core of the idea of national defense is seen during as the ability to mobilize, is any crisis, everyone who capable of carrying arms so that

any

outside

threat

would

be met

This means, by a mass resistance. the army although that simply, not be so need it is large today, in order for the nation to be

protected,

the

fought against but they never

day open and receptive to a process such as learning to read and write. For in such a process they are offered the tools which will let them bring to maturity their past experience and, at the

tor

The demobilization of part of the army, however, will have to be

planned

in such

a way

as

to

en-

sure that the political consciousness achieved during the independence struggle is not lost. The PAIGC counts heavily on this political reservoir - made up of soldiers who will have been demobilized - to give impetus to the process of transforming economic in the and social structures

A Pe

a EEE

ae

cially MSY

:

.

“concrete diana Piece real prob1Alems. Learning a linguistic

- | code, then, goes together with developing a political awareness | and receiving a technical prepa|

ration for accomplishing

im-

| mediate tasks. In contrast

Seecenit, the re-examination

_and theoretical elaboration of all the political and cultural experience which the freedom

fighters accumulated

Sega

mae sf oh _

|

during

Sees Struggle.

ta To assist their political dei velopment and technical at training for new tasks, either | inside the army or, for those

to be demobilized, when they

|

e-enter the rae setting.

to this

integrated

approach to literacy work, the | attempts made in the neighbor| hoods of the city of Bissau had only a perspective of isolated effort,..a sort of end in gtseite Lacking relationship to a larger processin which the group could examine its own situation and explore possibilities for improving daily existence through collective action, literacy was reduced to a formal effort in which each person, for his or her own ends, tried to learn reading and writing. The motivation was individualistic and utilitarian: Let's learn to read and write because that opens the way to a better job, especially in public administration.

However,

since such future com-

pensation as social and economic advancement - by no means certain.

| in Guinea-Bissau

today - could

come only at the end of the

learning process,

learning became

| tiresome, abstract and dry. When _the content of the literacy program is no longer related

| PF aeceys, ome

os

to

eae, to fall intogage mechanical

A {

She tg

he

,

ae - e

eee ten,

|memorizing.

eoter or later

habe &

i"

oe ich ig i hoi

i

one isel| come atact! of evel yday '

exhausted by this effort which

One |seems useless and senseless.

ieeeto be related direct. ing that makes

|e

ends up being no longer interested,| and it is easy to quit the group.

The failureof these

carey ; ws Bie) . ‘ i ‘—-t8 ”

first at-

©

tempts among the civilian popula-

tion of Bissau is therefore highily instructive. It reminds us ~ |that literacy work has meaning only where it is simultaneously a

factor in, and a consequence of, a process of transformation of

them. i

| se eo | Such an analysis leads us, be

ae ae |

the group's daily life and social Meality. If that is the case in

| fore considering the generaliza- abel | tion of literacy work throu el oe.

the urban setting, where from the |beginning a motivation clearly lexists - even if expressed in

| the country, to reflect on certon Paget oy \atain basic eee ef it a} |

|does one imagine a literacy program in a rural setting, among peasants who are still nga

|

| individualistic

terms - how then

marked by an oral oes

As a matter of fact, the systema-_ tic failure of massive literacy |campaigns in other African count-

ries confirms

that if literacy

work is only an isolated effort, an end in itself, the result,

| after a certain period of time, will almost certainly

bea

falling back into illiteracy. If

peasants have no obvious need in | their everyday experience to _|

| fed ie theseand8

read

and write,

forget whatever | learned.

they invariably

they may have

©

| oe

|

cbjectles co

as just-a first step ? And how can the continuation of this process of cultural development be related to redefining the whole educational system,

including

the

role

education

and

the

of

formal

school

Thus, by examining questions literacy we are compelled to

?

of

examine the whole educational program. And looking at education as a whole means re-examining the programs of social development

to which must

26

literacy

contribute.

and

education

|

Can one speak of a well-defined jsocial program or development

jmodel in the setting of Guinea-

/Bissau's present historical sijtuation ? What precisely is jthat historical situation ? It seems to us that the country is j}going through a period of tran}Ssition,

that

it is between

two

stages. When independence was won a period ended in which all energies had been channelled into the political-military meetuggle of driving out the colonizer. A new period has just begun in which the liberation

movement,

jitself

now in power,

facing

a new and

finds

dif-

ferent challenge, that of builas a new society.

|As we already said, getting organized and struggling to throw Jout the colonialists is, finally, }a clear and simple goal, es-

|peciallyif (as was ase the

case with the PAIGC) , this goal it

_is seen as directly related to bettering the everyday life of the OREN Lol The creation of | "people's stores" where bpaaencee

could sell their goods

structures, the peed

schools and medical erage were concrete accomplishment

changed the quality of aise ‘in

i i

the country's liberated areas. | On the other hand, ‘buildi igvas! Slieenn

| society where there is no ex- oels _ploitation of man by man,

| ake

| GossPon aee

hat.

|

social program toWonPedsa |day, we will have to go back |

CS

,

go Ge

eh Re ee

ar cae Bes

Sema

and look at the way educa-

tion ai culture were understood

| during the liberation struggle.

‘Moreover, one must see how the | liberation movement itself was | brought into being by the Guinean

| cultural reality and how, in

tks

turn,

Gee

it transformed

and enriched

that reality.

T AND CULTURAL FACTOR nothing other than

441

the culture

| of the dominated people. Accor| ding to him,

the rural masses,

subjected to political domination| and economic exploitation,

ve

“discovered in their

own

re-

culture

live understood as way of life, fer sans of producing, values, and

oases - the only force capable

| of preserving their identity.

ie pacerne snag persecuted, humi-

ik:

, betrayed by certain

eae

ees

|

€

ger= uneasy the

foreign

in-

vader, forced to seek ingen

the Ee

the ERE

ee the

minds of generations of uic-\ tims of oppression - thanks to the liberation struggle, od ture weathered

every storm to

emerge with all its vigour gniract,."

| then, little eece le

|For the founder of the PAIGC, the people, then, make up the "only real entity which is able to preserve and create culture - to _ make history". Nevertheless, this transition from cultural resistance

| struggle

to new

forms

(political,

of

economic,

military) can only be understood |}if we also take into account the |}role played by the urban Seale

| result of exper

ne

hone of the pioneer some! of these Guineans feel a need to.

| break down the duality and mar-~_ ginalization which they exe

perience. discover

In the attempt to

an identity

re

| again their dignity, esata _again to their

own people. And Anc

in coming back to the peasant

| Masses they become conscious of | resistance and spirit of rebel-

| This native petite bour eoisie, | born with the development of t colonial state, trained in the school

and de-Afri-

| lion. When this search for iden— | tity and new dignity is ex-_

sense

‘the colonialist's

of racial

tended

into concrete acts of

| identifying with the hopes of

Ganized,) tried at first to be| come European at any price. | Through imitation of the whites, they sought approval and acceptance. But acceptance never came. The colonial system was 160) rigid);

|

|

|

the Tniletieeseen teres ey people suffer and they see their —

bourgeoisie.

Portuguese

Hi

wee

superiority too

deep to allow concessions being made to the "assimilated". The result of such rejection was the coming into being of divided men ©

| and women - black skins, white

| masks, no longer Africans yet oe | able to become Europeans.

_the masses sph an

occurs that synthesis

there

of the i

“tellectual and the masses. from eelone

tite pele ose

a

PSE AP

becoming in=

tegrated in their country and

the

sere ae eee bee

_ |

conscious effort of mobilization

|and organization for an all-out ‘| ees aaPennes nae colonizer. 4 Be

-| has ‘the liberation

struggle can

| be seen in and of itself as a

“yeu tur: ashy a cultural fact, my extent that it develops _ ties expresses, as far as possible, | the people's long process of re-

ry sistance against colonial rule.

aa as the liberation movement | continues to grow, as Cabral ex| plains, an interaction between

eu

ee,

_ |

a hi

are and struggle begins to

e eeture,

fhe foundation and

inspiration of the struggle,

ara be influenced py ths

/ liberation movement , who Cae from the abe oe Beat ici Cea Boner thecaret

eter

etc,

|

Thaeentee Ie demands the mobilization and organization of a significant majority of the Boba aLaRe political and

moral unity among all social categories,

the

eradication

of the remains

progressive

the refusal

of social

of

a tribal and feudal mentality, and re-

ligious rules and taboos incompatible with the rational

and national nature of the liberation movement. The dynamics of the struggle also demand the practice of democracy, criticism and self-criticism,

a growing share of responsibility on the part of the population in the management of their life, the spread. of teracy, the Creation of

|

1i-

schools and health services, | the training of qualitifed per-|

sonnel drawn from among the peasants and workers,

other measures a real

forced

and many —

which add up to

march by society

along the road of cultural

progress".

ae other words,

the whole

| by which the traditional

process

society

| is made more dynamic as a result eration

movement

| Cabral to believe that the

leads

. ie atestia y sian a not

| It should be pointed out that the text of Cabral's which we have just not gram the

quoted, written in 1972, is a theoretical thesis, a proto be put into practice. On contrary, it faithfully des-

| cribes

|

an historial experience.

In Guinea-Bissau, the PAIGC and |}the liberation struggle which it initiated

| the great

people.

Still

were

ee

in the process of the Le

| struggle and enriching | culture,

while

rican

also LeraS

| new dimension- the national

1

a

This party which grew out | consciousness.

in the attempt to grasp the

examine in greater detail the values and choices which the liberation movement

leet 5 cagee

| values or beliefs which con-

positive

developed during

elements

tional" African

of "tradi-

society, all the

while attacking its backward or “negative aspects. A critical em-

,

was put on overcoming

| d

| such aspects of the feadit ional Masia society as the marginalization | : |} of women,

lessness

the

feeling

of

power-_

and paralysis when con-—

fronted with natural phenomena,

| the submission to the often

_ apt

oes }

#e

:

Ley

| eee ieee SeplOTeaeicae asule

the struggle. As for values, the | PAIGC tried to re-emphasize the

3 a

cat

| in transforming those en Snaatee ine

of the

main drive of the PAIGC educational program, let us now try to

phasis

AEN

| searchof a new one - succeeded

the great teachers,

educators

OEaaa Abst

identity and the intellectuals in)

| the improvem a ofee:

condi-

| tions; especially ‘tn the rural | areas where most of the people

live. Without, of course,

_| ignoring the country's | certain industries,

need for

a clear prio-

| rity is being given to deve-

| loping agriculture in the country side as the only way of reaching | real progress rather than merely | the sham one reflected in the

distorting mirror of city deve-

ee

s =

ete naeeare stipe eae

h are of interest to the

munity, these are the social istics which can be found in the le area Oe aedome

| lopment.

It is also

clear

that

| this real development can only

| come after a conscious attempt to |

make the best of the resources | which the country does have - specifically a fertile earth | and men and women used to working | it well. The choice) of mama. ose |} centric development favoring | agriculture and relying upon the | | creative initiative and conscious | | participation of the people thus | appears to be the cniy cne | capable of dealing with the lack

of material resources without | causing internal unbalance and inequalities and recreating a situation

of dependence

| outside world.

on the

*

tye

|Having defined these basic social values and fundamental choices

of development, sume

we can now

the analysis

re-

of the role

jeducation -.and especially

lite-

|xacy - can play in achieving these objectives.

Before ever,

speaking of literacy, let

us

examine

the

how-

larger

visaged ? It is not possible to re Janswer with a y e s or ano. |First of all because, as we we have

in Chapter

“tional system which was inhe-

| rited from the Portuguese o

without doubt neeof cont | dictions with the basic goa

|context of the educational sysjtem as a whole. Does GuineaBissau's present educational | System favor or hinder the development of a society such as the liberation movement en-

seen above

in harmony with the basic goals” 12

| of the liberation movement, for. eee grew directly out of it the struggle. But, the educa-

3, there >

continue to exist two educa|tional "systems" which have |completely different goals. One |of these "systems", the one

_ |which was being ay | the liberated areas, is «

heat’ re

aw?

ts

ae. as success in passing examinations) move on to se-

condary education, are immediately seen as privileged. aad

a

Considering themselves to be different from and better than the majority of the po-

te

they expect to be

pulation,

rewarded for their educational | success by getting better jobs.in: the capitals

Bee

ean. a Rees percen-

ge, (10 to’ 15, %) of the’ students

ho begin primary school are able

ES. enter the secondary school. | spite Of ee St

In

aa the

| The results of this process which leads to the selection of a mi| \ nority and the exclusion majority

only

bring

of the about

re-establishment of a CLASS STRUCTURE,

6lite

[neue SE aeerace: on mass a pear Eto ooh tow eea

can

the

the rise of a new

within the country.

For the

wholeof the educational system is designed in terms this small minority which succeeds in reaching “higher levels" in edu-Cation, to the detrimenesotacuinterests of the overwhelming

Majority

“the: vast majority of students

os are eee -reach the

level Chin must return Coal it to

| excluded

which

(5).

is progressively

| At the same time, these schools | in Africa which follow European

| models are isolated institutions | closed

in on themselves

and se-

| parated from community and so| cial life. Above all, they have | absolutely

no contact

with the

| reality of | the peasant world. schools, prac] | tically always located in the towns,

the students do nothing

‘but studs

/> as though

that were

| in itself a specialized field -

ia

| always: EEE

ceeds and more

distance

between

the peasant nothing but

success

for

themselves

and

majority who do work. Individual

the

students

therefore

means getting further and further away from their origins - the village community - and being gradually integrated in a different urban world, that of purely intellectual work.

This school which is separated from the life of the people and from productive activity, also reinforces the idea that learning and knowledge can only be transmitted by those who have had an advanced formal education - the teachers. And this knowledge, acquired only at school, becomes necessarily book-centered and abstract. It is no longer based on lived experience but on second-hand experience. This idea of teaching as the act of handing over a package of knowledge leads, an Africa, to a distrust of the wisdom and experience of the elders who, in turn, begin to consider themselves ignorant and useless.

Finally, to this inventory of errors and mistakes, we can add that the divorce between study

and work which the colonial school represents in a poor

Afri-

can

country

the

best

of

that

elements

of

some

the

nation's

youth are excluded from productive work during the whole of their education. Since they accomplish nothing which is soCially useful, the subsistence of those who study in the schools must be shouldered by the rest of the population, which means

especially

to

And

peasants.

the

compound the injustice, we see that it is the peasant child who is the most disadvantaged by the schools selection mechanism. in so far as the Actually, teaching is abstract, formalized and cut off from practice, the children of the petite bourgeoi-

sie

in

the

(who

cities

have

raaccess to books, newspapers, dio, and cinema), enter the race with a distinct advantage over less in touch country children, with the communications media and with formal cultural events.

In From the moment when formal school education becomes the only acceptable kind, degrees and academic diplomas become the sole passport for better jobs at higher Salaries. Practical experience is pushed into the background and considered less important than the degrees earned or the number of years spent in school.

means

short,

this

educational

tem inherited

from

leads,

to

creation

elite,

nourished

the

on

sys-

colonialism

of

a

new

individualism

and, moreover, quite poorly prepared! froma, technicalsor pres fessional point of view, to respond to the country's real problems and needs. For the agronomists, engineers and doctors who come out of these Western schools

39

7

ep ekeaeae ee >.

f

Ee

A

Oe

“a

wee

-

na “4

eae

o

ak

oe

z ;

i

try like Guinea-Bissau, Jina country

it is absurd that primary

| teaching continues to be a kind |of antechamber on the way to

something that the majority of | students will never reach. If

iste

the country agrees to make a gi| gantic effort to give basic

making the ~ about vateresources. Finally,

| schooling to 80,000 children,

Se ag ioe: education ire

-

aeway ‘prepared | to serve

ae

make up a complete training pro-

ase a eee Ttis

cess. Its objectives cannot be simply to get children ready for

“to s

nt

passing an exam which is necessa-_ | rily selective. It must prepare

seekir ioe by es | which Set lete Phede pacsecn*: re the

| the students

the industri-

eas

2

way

in the best possible

for the type of life

that

| vast majority of them will in the nation's

sGLOn. (TD

}

bui

ing all they need

\

_

lead a happy

communities|

and

to know to useful

social

life within the framework of a society which is agrarian but

pa eee

liberated from all relationships

|ternative, they are forced to

[continue coexisting with that tem for yet a eS a a

|

learn during their basic school-

- into this (Sth

ited |result of [esa the lack of [i a

rural

the

lead

| and villages. Every boy and girl to must have the opportunity

lear understanding of the basic istortions

must

| then the sduceeian received

+

of exploitation and domination. \\To. take 'Nyerere‘s expression, | the purpose Is not to) proyideran inferior education but a different

education, whose object will be _

to develop j}and values {can return contribute

knowledge, skills, with which the student | — to the community and _ to its continual bet|

terment.

nth

ees

re, by extension

j liberated

areas, the schools must

hacenwas Siccacy haces

of

:

in the|

| cease to be closed institutions

|

|

=.

isolated

ment.

0)

lees

Mh ape ieee

oc

/:

from the social environ-

Students and teachers must ©

be able

to participate

in village

community life, taking responsibility for work (including produc tion) and by encouraging, in turn, the community

jlearning

participation

present, always takes place | Side Guinea-Bissau, will have

| to be more closely related to

in the

_

| the rural setting and to pro-

process.

|

ductive labour. The ideal would

) seem to be that during the : whole course of studies , the | students could combine theoreti- | cal learwith niprati ngcal work.|

Even if primary teaching is gradually redefined so that all Guineans will receive basic schooling, there is still a thorny problem to be faced, that of rapidly training the specialized cadres which the jcountry needs (especia inlly agriculture, health, economic planning, etc.) which impliesa spe-

cialized

| Such implanting of the school

in the village community would

| ensure, among other things,

that whatever was learned could

be immediately tested through

application to the concrete

education without pro-

problems of the rural world.

moting the reappearance of a privileged élite. In other words, how }Can basic education, open to all, |}be combined with a longer, more systematic training available only

to a small minority

n study betweehip | This relations

-and work could then contribute not just to training technical

| cadres in skills which are

| really applicable to the count| ry's needs, but also to de~

? And how

| veloping a new spiritof res-

should that minority be choosen, how should the training be structured to make sure that the ‘students are not cut off from the rest of the population and that their knowledge is directly related to the nation's reality and

| ponsibility and service to the

| community among the students.

needs ?

Perhaps the answers to these |}questions can be found by direct

| applicationof one of the PAIGC's | fundamental

who know

principles:

"those

more bear a special

ponsibility for putting that

res-

-|knowledge at the service of the

_ |community". In order that this

=2 ms

Pie

\ Gus

.

|

| ©

£65

‘ee

© icc cuenee

the first

lesson of the school in the

liberated

areas:

re

teaching ceases to be purely theoretical, the urban students' advantage at the start tends to be

reduced. Even more significant, in so far as study is associated with work and community life, children from the peasant milieu will feel much more at ease and therefore can give creative

free rein to capacities.

their

This structural reorientation of the school and education is, of course, not easy to put into practice, and it raises a number of real problems. It cannot be done in a matter of months, nor perhaps, even of years. But, in Guinea-Bissau, in spite of the weight of the colonial heritage

and

the

shortage

of material

re-

sources, it is already in progress. To mention but one example, during our second visit to the country: in February 1976, the

first

attempts

at

linking

study

to labor were being worked out in the hope of breaking the isolation in which the high school students of Bissau lived. It is expected that the results of these first pilot projects will lead to a more generalized system.

|}Having acquired a better understanding of the whole situation of education in Guinea-Bissau today j}and having extracted of the liberation movement's practice the basic values and choices for | building a new society, we should }like,

now,

to end

this

document

|by returning againto the specific question of literacy. /"On a blank fepeees Se ie ae is ‘possible; you can write or draw what is the most new and the most beautiful?)

If this

quote,

|more

so

in relation

to

tional

system. On the other hand,|

the magnitude of the task is | enormous, both from the point of © view of the number of illetrates| (= 90% of the nation's adult bare, pulation), and from that of the. | continuation and cco Bee lite|

racy: ORS

sate | Si very size of the task | | conclufirst a with us leaves egei aSSronenataooeeerana at +

with

which we began this first report ~ Won our work, is true for the

|whole of Guinea-Bissau,

no colonial heritage that weighs|

| so heavilyvon thé Larger) educa>ey

| onc

| trap it is even literacy.

read

and

remains

to be done. Such a situa-

tion offers both advantages and | difficulties. On the one hand,

| in itself.

|

work in the field of literacy fer aie

so to speak, BPR for there is

SO

wr:

For almost everything here still | effort,a

e

ae

anend

:

hee

|eee

| — ee

1

oa Oe

Gee

i

ba my ee

|

| in two directions: ee

towards

present

the group's

social

past

practice,

we are about

to noe jour third

| 4 or oi ear and we ue omaaa iene have

Pes

towards

the future,

en-

under-

couraging a critical standing; -

and

stimulat-

ing the group to conscious

and creative involvement in bettering the reality around

them. erence, =Oe Leet

_

-

approa-

|ches which will have to be

_

|tested in practice. These ap-

|proaches will have to grow out

_ [of the work already going on in

_ |Guinea-Bissau itself and from

| |the discussion around the reHite iz

enee 2 ieee: literacy

1 mobilizatic Reha the Sana ee anew ‘so-

ye

,

Clearly,

the meaning

| content of such group

and the

involve-

ment for transforming reality | must relate to and harmonize | with the basic choices and spe-

cific programs of economic de-

| velopment and social organization as defined the Government.

by the Party

The first attempts attempts

| literacy work in the rural

and

at

| areasof the country will probab-

ly begin within the next few

months. The immediate fore us, therefore,

tasks be-

consist

in

trying to get the work already | begun in the neighborhoods of

Bissau (which we considered in Chapter 3), out of the present

‘deadlock and, secouaiya in | planning the launching of these | pilot projects in the countryside.

And,

a choice must

be made

| to determine which rural regions

| offer the most favourable condi-

eae eee to the pro: project beinune. | carried out and eR:d also c |

tions for beginning the work.

tribute to the. political mobili- | | zation of the community, en-

it seems, to us that priority areas in the countyside must be chosen '| | jin the light of political and technical considerations. Any given | | population will be more motivated for the literacy programif it has |

enthusiastically the

liberation

participated

struggle

in

mulated the rich cultural and develop.

if

and po-

However,

the

of the

past

Literacy work could also go | which the community takes res-

the

literacy

cam-

and provide

an

opening towards the future, mentioned above, the chosen must

be

in process

| ponsibility

fin the

| health,

whether

producing

| work and preparing them for the | concrete tasks to be accomp= lished in thefram

| Pan ee|

to read

in traditional

ways.

©

On

the other hand, literacy can take }on much more meaning if it is related to new production tech|niques being introduced in a par|ticular

area

or the

creation

new production units, for example,

OF

such as,

agricultural

coopewithin

ratives.

In other words,

process,

literacy could a

the context of a transformation

tate the peasant's

cquisi t

new technical understan

it could be related to

area, playing the double role | of motivating the population ae [oe to assume responsibility mks

of experiencing

learning

|

orto Gli. areaof public

the launching of a health or hygiene SOME DC acre, a chosen

as region

and write corresponds to a real |need for the peasant in a rural larea who continues living and

for certain basic

| community services. For example.

'a socio-economic transformation. This point seems extremely imPontantato us, Or it is ‘questionjable

che: out-

| hand in hand with a process by

|paign is to go beyond a celebra|}tion

out and oe Sipe side.

|criterion of political receptivity growing out of the richness of a group's past experience is not Surricient.

than being simply pas neficiaries" of a plan worked:

and accu-

[litical experience which the program would hope to bring up to |date

abling the peasant to take charge of the process of cha ie rather :

©

ce ;

a ry4S ag

V

7

>;

re Arty Le a

ae

r

Ebene te che PAIGC certainly

did not have as strong an educational impact as the struggle it-

| self. It would seem that this |historical example demonstrates

| very clearly that a people's | total existential experience

can

| become a fundamental source of indamer

y / process aes es Ps EEN in| _

|only to the extent that it | succeeds in systematizing the ge-

-people concerned as its raw |material, that would oa gohan a

| neral experience being lived and brought to life by the people's

adual redefinition of ‘the whole

-|sascatsonan process, aimed at St genuinely

adapting it to the

ah nation! Ss interests and needs. Teh

| complementary role, and even then

© a continuing education, using the life and social practice of | major contribution to the

7

' knowledge. Within such a con‘text, the school can play only a

|

|

social practice. De

ik

These remarks which we can already deduce

from the historical

perience

of Guinea-Bissau,

ex-

can

7

serve as a source of serious

Hetae areidgievonted with ques-

reflection

sctelnte for which no one has yet {found answers. This isperhaps Ki

al, for we are trying |

for anyone working

the area of education in other

| socio-cultural contexts.

in

They

lead back to primary questions

concerning the very nature of education, which educators, unfortunately, too often forgetin the maze of their techniques and materials which reduce education to only one of its aspects - and not

| the most important one: that of | technical and professional Pecan tn:

OLIVEIRA Rosiska DARCY DE

Miguel DARCY DE OLIVETRA Geneva, Spring

19 7 6

The text of this document, written by two members of the IDAC staff - Rosiska Darcy de Oliveira and Miguel Darcy de Oliveira - is based on the work of a team composed of Guinean comrades and other

members Freire,

Claudius

IDAC

The

of

IDAC

Elza

Ceccon

in the

involved

Freire,

and

involvement

José

Marcos

program,

Oeuvray,

Arruda.

Guinea-Bissau

in

Paulo

Giséle

Barbosa,

was

made

possible financially by a grant from the CommisParticipation in Developsion of the Churches' (CCPD) of the World Coundil of Churches. We ment wish

to

them

thank

for

their

interest

and

their

support.

We

have

also

appreciated

with the World Education.

Council

of

a close

collaboration

Churches'

office

of

BI

NOTES

(1)

The PAIGC, as its name indicates, has always felt that the people of Guinea-Bissau and the Cape Verde Islands, having experienced the same colonial domination and having struggled together within the same liberation movement, are part of one united political and socio-cultural structure. If, for the moment, Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde are two separate independent nations, the PAIGC is the fundamental political force both on the continent and in the islands.

Even though there is no pre-established timetable, the gradual unification of the two peoples is already in process. As for this present document, we center our attention specifically on Guinea-Bissau, which we know better. The situation

time

as

later

(2)

in

Cape

recently

reports

on

Verde,

as

which

February

the

we

visited

1976,

development

will

of

our

for

be

the

first

discussed

in

work.

A basic resource for an analysis of the colonial domination and the liberation struggle in Guinea-Bissau are the numerous writings of Amilcar Cabral. The most complete publication of his writings is a two volume work in French, pub-

lished

by Maspero

in

1975,

L‘arme

de

pratique révolutionnaire. Perhaps in English is Cabral's Revolution

Monthly

Review

Press,

1969.

la

théorie

one of the in Guinea,

A good

analysis

and

La

best available New York,

of

the

PAIGC's

role in the birth of the independent state of Guinea-Bissau is the work of a Swedish writer, Lars Rudebeck, GuineaBissau: A Study of Political Mobilization, (The Scandinavian Institute of African Studies, Uppsala, 1974). We should also like to mention the work of Basil Davidson, The Liberation

guin

(3)

52

of

Guinea

African

This text is 12, The Role The document

French,

-

Aspects

Library,

of

an

African

Revolution

(Pen-

1969.

reproduced in UNESCO Document SHC-72/CONF. 6/ of Culture in the Struggle of Independence. is a mimeographed English translation from the

prepared

by UNESCO

in 1972.

(4)

In

this

analysis

of

distortions

in

the

educational

inherited from colonialism, we drew from the sident Julius Nyerere of Tanzania, Education

Reliance.

This

essay

is

writings, Freedom and Univ. Press, 1973. (5)

According

to

Erick

Guinée-Bissau"

reproduced

Socialism,

Pessiot's

printed

in

in the

February

this inverse pyramid of primary Guinea-Bissau is represented by the year 1974 :

1975

and the

by

pre-school

2 aa Soe

of

orade

students

3,700 a

ee

ce a 3,000

year

2,000

second

i third ~

1,400 600

fourth

meee eth

300

6 sixth

350

x

80

seventh

CREDITS

Paris,

education in figures for

10,500 6,500

fourth

TT

en

25500

Chae

first

his

28,500

second

CI

IRFED,

secondary following

of

Oxford

d'Education

Number

atest

collection

Dar-es-Salaam,

"Problémes

system

work of Prefor Self-

Michael

Ruetz

I DAC

Koen

4

Ove

4e7 4,

2460

8

Miiteury

Uliano

Cover,

sor

Infomation

Lucas

Wessing/CIDAC

Lb,

2t,

ico

16

Doma

Ss

eam

es ‘

hed

eal

Just before IDAC's second trip to Guinea-Bissau, aA February 1976, one oF the members of the team - Claudius Ceccon - put eee her an educational material which could be used u in t rainning literacy Ho

program

instructors.

visual program cussion around

;

nay

cuit

Guinea-Bissau

It consists

of an audio-

which attempts to introduce a disthe whole problemof education in

BEES

today.

: NN

‘ ev Shand an audio-visual

Y

form for

Boat ae also to show, through a pr

the flexibility of this means of c it one is able to present in conden which are apparently complex and st sion around them. The first version was changed and enriched in Guinea-! to reactions received

from

its

pres

during our stay in Guinea-Bissau, a

ganized in which the Guineans themse

ducing their own audio-visual

materi

learning to make use of this new wo:

What

we present

here

in the

form

made by the Guineans

themselves

| u accordi: ion.

after

shop was began

y

pro-

|

rapidly

tool.

n

the original

ma-

lifferent - eel the staff of the Ministry of Fh rove &Ed ro