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Ibadan Journal of Peace & Development Vol. 2 No. 2June2013 pp. 190-208 How Can Revisiting the Cabral-Freire Collaboration in -Bissau Help Bridge Transnational Educational Encounters?

Brandon D. Lundy*

Abstract Because he shared a similar worldview with Amilcar Cabral, the scholar-revolutionary and architect of Lusophone West African independence, in 1975 Brazilian educator Paulo Freire was invited to develop an adult literacy campaign for the population of newly-independent Guinea-Bissau. Freire's critical discourse about the best way to achieve educational reform in the country emerged from an engagement with on-the-ground counterparts who would work to turn his ideas into practical and workable solutions, with little success. This dialogic encounter is documented in a series of letters written between Freire; Mario Cabral, the Commissioner of State and Culture; and members of the adult literacy team in Guinea-Bissau. These letters were subsequently published as a collection. With Cabral's assassination just months before the country achieved independence from Portugal, workable nationalist education reforms never truly materialised. Today, only about half of the populace of Guinea-Bissau is literate. Sporadic and insufficient payments to the country's civil servants and poor infrastructure perpetuate impotent learning environments. This paper revisits Paulo Freire's critical approach to as well as the writings of Amilcar Cabral to determine if the work begun by these two men can be reconstituted as an action plan able to address the critical deprivations of the current educational system in the country.

Introduction "The school in the country'" was one of the projects about which Mario Cabral spoke to us . . . Thus experiments were hegun in 1975 which would later be extended in 1976, to integrate productive labor with the normal school activities... In a certain moment it becomes true that one no longer studies in order to work nor does one work in order to study; one studies in the process of working. There comes about, thus, a true unity between practice and theory (Freire, 1978:20- 21).

This chapter elaborates a specific cultural context - Guinea-Bissau - in order to revisit a

defunct exploration into a radical approach to learning illustrated in this opening quote. It is * Department of Geograpf^& Anthropology, Social Scietice Building (SO), Suite 4042, Kennesas State Unhersify 1000 Chastain Road, Kennesaw, GA 30144-5591

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How Can Revisiting the Cabral-Freire Collaboration in Guinea-Bissau Help Bridge . . 191 a call for action to revise a fragile educational system, something the Brazilian educator and free-thinker Paulo Freire attempted to work through more than 35 years ago on behalf of the unifying the heterogeneous people of Guinea- newly independent PAIGC (The African Party Bissau. for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde; Under the leadership of agronomist, social PartidoAfricano da Independence da Guine e Cabo theorist, and revolutionary Amilcar Cabral, the Verde) government (1978). This chapter shines a independent nation-state of Guinea-Bissau was light on the critical pedagogy of Freire as a realised in 1974 after a 13-year armed struggle to potential avenue to revisit praxis in an extricate their Portuguese colonisers. This educational setting, one that privileges both movement sent out a call to arms on 3 August, cultural specificities and human universals. 1961, just two years after the catalysing Pidjiguiti The country of Guinea-Bissau in West Africa is massacre where the Portuguese police and a former Portuguese colony. Guinea-Bissau military opened fire on a port strike killing more shares national borders with Senegal's than 50 dock and harbor workers (Chabal, Casamance to the north and Guinea to 2003:54-60). This unified, transnational its east. With a population of approximately 1.5 independence movement by the PIAGC million inhabitants divided between multiple operated in both Cape Verde and Guinea-Bissau, and overlapping cultural identities (Havik, although the bulk of the fighting was done in 2004:86-147), over the years this country has the latter. In a last ditch effort to quell the served as both a refuge (Gail.'ard, 2000; Rodney, rebellion, the Portuguese secret police, planned 1970) and a prison (Einarsdottir, 2004; Forrest, the assassination of Cabral, which was later 2003) for the people residing there in large part carried out by a turncoat PAIGC naval officer in due to periods of social upheaval, political front of the party headquarters in Conakry on 20 dysfunction, and economic scarcity at both the January, 1973 (Chabal, 2003:132-143). The national and regional levels. Kambano, a student murder proved largely ineffective in slowing the training to be a teacher in the capital city of revolution, however, since the independence Bissau, once told me, "The land here is sweet. If movement already controlled much of the we (Gumeans) had the appropriate technology country and had a strong leadership firmly in and infrastructure, no one would want to place helping direct the transition to statehood. emigrate. We would not have to look outside Eight months after Cabral's death, the Popular the country for assistance or employment" National Assembly (ANP) declared (interview 7/22/2010). In a heroic attempt to independence on 24 September, 1973. seek indigenous solutions to their global Throughout the movement, Cabral was a strong exploitation of their population and naturally advocate of the revolutionary power of rich territory, a political movement was initiated education. In a 1968 interview, he explained: in the 1950s aimed at The difficulties of our struggle were mainly those inherent in our situation as an underdeveloped - practically non-developed - people whose history was held back by

colonialist and imperialist domination. A

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192 Brandon D. Luiidv people that started with nothing, a people with a 99% illiteracy rate - you have already seen the mission school designed to achieve Portuguese effort that we have to make now to teach our citizenship, or assimilado status; and (3) a people 10 read and write, to create schools - a revolutionary bush school that primarily focused people that had only 14 -trained men - on an agenda of nationalisation. A fourth this people was surely going to have difficulties informal type of education also existed in the in carrying out its armed struggle ... It is a context of Guinea-Bissau that had formalised struggle for schools, for hospitals, so that aspects such as ethnic, religious, and medicinal children won't suffer. That is our struggle . . . rituals and initiation ceremonies (fandado). These And, if you had the opportunity to speak to the traditional forms of education were children, you would see that even our conservative, largely serving to "maintain and schoolchildren are already politically and reproduce the social fabric" (Harasim, 1983:92) patriotically aware and desire the independence and have been adequately treated elsewhere of our country. They have an awareness of (Baum, 1999; de Jong, 2007; Hawthorne, 2003; mutual understanding, of national unity and of Linares, 1992; van der Drift, 2002). On the other unity on the African continent [1969b:143, 145- hand, manifestations of formal education in 146]. Guinea-Bissau had other and often competing The PAIGC leadership continued agendas. Cabral's commitment to education and enlisted First, while conducting ten months ot the Brazilian exile, educator, and radical thinker ethnographic fieldwork over three years (2007, Paulo Freire to help them develop an adult 2010, and 2011) among the Islamic Nalu ethnic literacy program in 1975. From the outset, Freire advocated for collaborative or "authentic help" group of southwestern Guinea-Bissau, I learned (1978:8). He participated in the program from that their Islamisation was largely .1 byproduct May 1975 to October 1976. Although he of educational valuation and political attempted to understand the national reality by realignment. The Nalti were slowly converted to visiting the country several times and reading Islam as a result of secondary contact with the works of the nation's architect, Amilcar expanding Islamic empires, particularly as the Cabral, the task would prove to be powerful Mandmka kingdom of Kaabu was insurmountable in the face of grinding poverty, a largely uneducated population, little usable dismantled by a Fula-\zAjihad of the infrastructure, political disagreements over the Confederation of Futa Jallon, The decisive country's direction, and a tripartite educational victory at Kansala in 1867 was short lived, soon legacy. erupting into civil war between freeborn Fulas and former Fula slaves throughout Forrea ("free in Guinea-Bissau land" in Mandinka, a Bcafada/Nalu territory in Upon independence, Cabral's Guinea-Bissau 1 was left with three different fornidlised the southwestern corner of Guinea-Bissau) and educational institutions; (l) child tahbc, or Gabu from 1878 to 1890. Writing in 1879, students of Isnm; (2) an urban coloni.il or Berenger-Feraud commented on the animosity felt by the Nalu toward the Fula: "They hate the Foulahs, who impose too strict ot A sobriety on them or,

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How Can Revisiting the Cabral-Freire Collaboration in Guinea-Bissau Help Bridge . 193 perhaps, become their masters and make them their slaves" (1973 [1879]:334, translation mine). Many of the ethnic groups found in Guinea- Bissau today migrated to the inhospitable refuge on the littoral in the marshiest zones mangroves and forests of the littoral from the dispersed between Tombali and Cacine" interior to escape slavery and warfare (Gaillard, (Hanquez Passavant, 2000:395, translation 2000). The Nalu eventually established a peace mine). At about the same time, a second group treaty with the Futa Jallon under the guidance of Nalu refugees entered the area by crossing the of Nalu King Dinah Salifou piallo, 1977). Cacine River. They also claimed this same territory and probably brought with them the With a treaty achieved, Fula Imams would still Susu language. A third family arrived later, demand that the Nalu send their children to before conversion to Islam took place. them to be educated, sometimes by force. This political upheaval was "fully exploited by Therefore, it was through the enticement of the Portuguese, who, having defined the borders literacy that Islam penetrated much of the of their colony of Guine Portuguesa [present day region. Berenger-Feraud noted this phenomenon Guinea-Bissau] in 1886, were desperate to as well when he wrote, "The schools at Timbo demonstrate Pax Lusitania" (Lobban and are very well attended. Much of the Nalou Mendy, 1997:179). Already, by the 1850s, the nation sends their children to it. The masters are Nalu of Quitafme were signing treaties with Arab; they teach the children basic reading and both the French and Portuguese. By 1891, the writing through the Koran" (1973 [1879]: 324).2 Nalu of the Nunez River region were under the In my research village, I learned that Nalu direct administration of the French while it took conversion to Islam largely occurred between longer for a clear colonial hegemony to emerge in 1910 and 1915. southern Guinea-Bissau. The Nalu had little Using Theirno Diallo's (1977:92-93) chronology direct contact with Europeans until the mid- as a guide, I am able to partially corroborate my nineteenth century when their coastal lands informants oral histories about their origins, became a point of contention between the displacement, and subsequent conversion to French and Portuguese until 1906 when Cacine Islam. A group of Nalu was displaced around went to the Portuguese and the Nunez region 1725 as the Fula Empire gained strength. By was conceded to the French (Hanquez 1754, the Nalu probably reached the coast near Passavant, 2000:386). the Nunez River bringing with them very little Finally, according to the oldest living person in except animal skins with water and rice seed my research village, in 1939 he had entered the (Fields, 1999:95). It may have been as late as forest alongside 29 other youths to be 1820 or 1850, however, before the research circumcised and initiated over a seven year village was founded. As battles Increased between the Fula and those Nalii residing in period when he was eleven. At that time, the Forrea, many Nalu were either killed or forced to Portuguese were already installed at Cacine; flee "taking and, according to this elder, some Nalu had already begun practicing Islam by this time. The Portuguese had also set up A missionary school

in Cacine, which then gave

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194 Brandon D. Lundy the Nalu an option for where to send their children to be educated. By the 1960s, less than 4 percent of the "While paying lip service to a civilising mission population of Portuguese Guinea was enrolled in their African colonies, Lars Rudebeck found in primary school with an illiteracy rate of more that only $0.36 per capita was spent on than 95 percent in the colony. Between 1962 and education by the Portuguese administration in 1973, an average of 25,336 primary school pupils Guinea-Bissau, the lowest on the continent and 1,829 secondary school pupils were (1974:36).4 The little education taking place in educated per year, with average class sizes of 67 West Africa was cautiously brought about to students per teacher in primary school and 21 develop good workers and low level students per teacher in secondary school administrators "without running the risk of (Lobban and Mendy, 1997:155). "The level of creating critical and thinking people" (Harasim, adult literacy in the 1970's was twenty-five 1983:96). According to Eduardo de Sousa percent for men but only thirteen percent for Ferreira, "Education was never allowed to get women" (Lobban and Mendy, 1997:155). beyond a very low minimum level, so as not to The Portuguese government under the fascist endanger acquired privileges; a very limited Estado Novo of Antonio de Oliveira Salazar African elite was educated for one purpose only: invested little in its African colonies in terms of to support Portuguese hegemony and act as an infrastructure or to promote their ideology intermediary between the colonial machinery oiassimilafao (assimilation).3 Patrick Chabal and the African population" (1974:55; cited in, (2003:16-17) showed that in the 1950 colonial Harasim, 1983:94). census, there were only 1,478 assimilados in Amilcar Cabral himself noted that there were Portuguese Guinea from a total population of only 43 Catholic mission schools operating in 502,457, which was only 0.39%, the lowest in all Portuguese Guinea by 1962 serving a population of Portugal's African colonies. Rather than of 800 students (1979:25). In addition, there investment in education and socialisation, the were no and only one secondary Portuguese ruled through force and violence. In more than five centuries, Guinea-Bissau school. Cabral along with his few colleagues had remained one of Portugal's "least penetrated and to go to Portugal for post-secondary education, least developed" African colonies (Harasim, which is where he and several other expatriate 1983:82). "The colonial administrative structure Africans from Portuguese colonies began to did not serve as an integrative or modernising develop a philosophy of "re-Africanisation" (a force in Guinea-Bissau. In fact, until 1879 the consciousness of alienation and assertion of Portuguese Crown administered Cape Verde African self-identity) to counter the colonial and mainland Guinea as one entity, with the seat of power and consequent state infrastructure attempts at "de-Africanisation" (Chabal, located in Cape Verde" (Harasim, 1983:85). 2003:42) in which "culture belonged only to the colonisers" (Freire, 1978:14). "The colonial myth that *the Africans in their [Portuguese] colonies would rather be Portuguese than free' eventually forced the nationalists [such as

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Cabral] to launch wars of national liberation" (Chabal, 2003:17). It was this critical and nationalist consciousness that Cabral wanted to help the proletariat and rural masses realise. The The educational needs of the independence nationalist education system in Guinea-Bissau movement, materials and training facilities, were focused on ideology and practicality. It was a largely supplied by thirteen donors with, for driving force in PAIGC's campaign for state example, the Soviet Union providing 700 formation. Cabral realised, "The people do not scholarships to train personnel outside the fight for ideas or anything that is simply in men's country. A national curriculum was designed by heads. They accept the sacrifices required by the three PAIGC leaders including the eventual first struggle in order to be able to live better and in president of Guinea-Bissau, Luis Cabral5 (1974- peace. They want to guarantee the future and 1980). Syllabi for five primary school years were progress for their children" (1969a:23; cited in, created including subjects like: conversational Chabal, 2003:66). In the Major Program of the Creole, Portuguese language, math, art, physical PAIGC put forward in 1963, five initiatives were education, and civics, which was "designed to highlighted concerning education: instill nationalist fervour in first-year children" (1) education reform including the expansion and eventually covered in-depth study of the of secondary, post-secondary, scientific, and PAIGC (Dhada, 1993:98). "To minimise brain technical capacity was needed; drain, an advanced course on the history of the (2) free and universal education along with the PAIGC in the context of world politics was eradication of illiteracy was a must; introduced, as was a new interdisciplinary (3) dismantling of the colonial educational course, nationalist themes in the performing, system had to take place to break free from dramatic, and visual arts" (Dhada, 1993:105; see Portuguese hegemony; also, Rudebeck, 1974). Throughout the liberated (4) writing and preserving indigenous and education system, socialist language was Creole languages as well as protecting and employed to help promote a nationalist promoting national literature and arts was consciousness; however, a political strategy of critical for educational advancement; and non-alignment was maintained throughout the (5) striking a balance between preserving movement to ensure international support from tradition and modernising was the only way to both the East and the West. achieve mass acceptance of the latter through Attempts were made to create a universal and culturally accepted mechanisms (Harasim, comprehensive educational system during the 1983:111). struggle for independence. Eventually, however,

what emerged was a two-tier system, one for the

civilian public sector that was severely underfunded and understaffed, and a second set of boarding schools that catered to the needs of the liberation movement. At the same time, PAIGC school administrators were coping with decreasing enrollment due to parents' refusal to

let their children leave home

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196 Brandon D. Lundy because of intensified bombings after 1966 compounded by a need for agricultural labor. To overcome parental resistance, the PAIGC The very process of education was itself helping leaders established a string of coaxers who went to develop a new society. The students were to villages near day primary schools with a view being prepared for a future that did not yet exist, to overcoming resistance - or what the party and in this way were themselves molding the called "detrimental traditions." Where resistance future. Their education was an insurance that was strongest, coaxers were empowered to let the revolutionary direction of the society into the villagers know that parents could no longer which they would pass would be carried refuse to send their children to school. "The men forward. "Our type of education," said Cabral, and women who refused to send their children "has to be conditioned in each phase of the to school are enemies of our struggle," said struggle by the life and the history we Cabral (Dhada, 1993:108-109). experience at a given moment" (Urdang, While the ideal educational system was 1979:171). universal, practical, and nationalistic, what Similarly, Freire notes, ""To the extent that we really emerged were PAIGC boarding schools become capable of transforming the world, of that "helped breed and perpetuate a new proto- naming our own surroundings, of apprehending, military class - a class that subsequently came to of making sense of things, of deciding, of dominate postcolonial independence politics" choosing, of valuing, and finally, of etbicising the (Dhada, 1993:112). Between 1965 and 1972, world, our mobility within it and through PAIGC was only able to educate a yearly average history necessarily comes to involve dreams of 10,989 students, about a quarter of which toward whose realisation we struggle" (2004:6- were female (Urdang, 1979:175). Finally, no adult 7). He advocates for what he calls a "counter- education and literacy took place during the hegemonic" approach in the classroom through liberation struggle largely due to inadequate the establishment of a dialogic relationship capacity (Harasim, 1983:117), After between students and teachers. Freire tied the independence, Paulo Freire was contacted by educational system to forms of domination Mario Cabral, the Commissioner of State found in all societies by helping to expose the Education and Culture, to help resolve this political nature of such an institution. oversight. Freire's post-colonial contributions to Herein lies the potential significance for a Guinea-Bissau's educational system will be Freirean revision to education in the Bissau- explored next. Guinean context. The teacher becomes Education Encounters: Freire and Guinea- Bissau responsible for giving primacy to experiences in Writing about the vision for Guinea-Bissau at order to address "issues of critical democracy" the start of the new nation, journalist Stephanie (Freire and Macedo, 1995:377). The space in Urdang suggested, which the dialogue plays out is a key component in the learning process and may foster what Ibrahim Abdullah refers to as "remaking from

below" (2006:101). It is necessary for the

educator to help the student become more critically engaged with the world

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How Can Revisiting the Cabral-Freire Collaboration in Guinea-Bissau Help Bridge . . 197 around them. In other words, "The educator who dares to teach has 10 stimulate the learners to live a critically conscious presence in the pedagogical and historical process" (Freire and desire to acquire literacy; develop an educational Macedo, 1995:379). The education must take infrastructure; train competent teachers; provide place through dialogue, according to Freire, the necessary resources to support these because the process of knowing emerges only endeavors; and politically develop, support and through the dialectical interplay between the maintain a long-term literacy campaign social act of learning and through individualistic (Harasim 1983). Between 1976 and 1980, when understanding. "The sharing of experiences must Harasim's evaluation took place, these social, always be understood within a social praxis that economic, and political prerequisites did not entails both reflection and political action" exist in Guinea-Bissau. (Freire and Macedo, 1995:380). Freire tells us, "I Freire himself recognised the pitfalls of what he do not think that anyone can seriously engage in was invited to do. Reflecting two decades later, a search for new knowledge without using his or Freire recalls, "The challenge for me in Africa, as her point of view and historical location as a I pointed out in Letters t& Guinea-Bissau: Pedagogy point of departure" (Freire and Macedo, in Process, was to be cautious always and aware of 1995:385). It is tasked to the teacher to provide my role as an outsider who had been invited to the necessary critical tools to help properly provide some help with the transformation of facilitate each student's engagement "so they can the inherited colonial educational structure" read the word as well as the world" (Freire and (Freire and Macedo 1995:399). He continued, "I Macedo, 1995:388). always stressed the importance of a thorough In my opinion, this is precisely why Freire's analysis of culture in the development of a involvement in the adult literacy campaign in liberatory educational plan. In fact, the Guinea-Bissau initially failed. Linda M. Harasim, importance of culture was not my idea, since in her 1983 doctoral thesis, Literacy and National their leader Amilcar Cabral understood Reconstruction in Guinea-Bissau: A Critique of the extremely well the role of culture in the struggle Freirean Literacy Campaign, notes how shared for liberation" (Freire and Macedo, 1995:399). ideological congruencies attracted the PAIGC- Freire, along with his French counterpart Pierre led Guinean government to pursue the Freirean Bourdieu, viewed culture6 as something more method. And, although Freire recognised the than a reproduction of social or national high levels of political literacy of the Bissau- character and heritage (Bourdieu and Passeron, Gumean people, and worked hard to not simply 1977). "Liberation begins with the recognition transport a one-size-fits-all literacy model, his approach was still largely shaped in a Brazilian that knowledge at its root, is ideological and context that assumed particular social relations political, inextricably tied to human interests and motivations: a and norms" (Giroux, 1979:261). Cracks in the ideological superstructure allow "the reality of social organisation - and the bones of authority [to be] exposed in the glare" (Colls, 1976:77) of

dominant cultural contradictions (Giroux, 1979:264).

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198 Brandon D. Lundy

Amilcar Cabral worked within this cultural reality of Guinea-Bissau in order to maximise efficiency and a nationalist sentimentality rarely in session; teachers lacked proper without denying unique cultural practices and training, materials, or funds; and the students activities among disparate groups. Cabral's were more often used for their collective labor. I multicultural approach sought unity in will further discuss the success or failure of diversity. As such, Cabral is a prime example of a these community-based schools later in the radical educator in a Freirean sense, who used chapter. "the cultural capital - language and life style of the The fact that Freire attempted to develop an oppressed - in an effort to promote among them adult literacy campaign within the context of an interest and critical reading of reality on both Guinea-Bissau from the outside and that it the local and larger levels" (Giroux, 1979:265, largely failed even though he was using a emphasis mine). As further support of this need Freirean method that had been demonstrated to to recognise the power of cultural capital from be successful in a Brazilian context, while an indigenous perspective, Ngugi wa Thiong'o Cabral, using a similar critical discourse, had also writes extensively about the hegemonic use resounding success in raising critical of language and how the oppressed must go consciousness of the people, is the most about "decolonising the mind" (1986), while important aspect of this chapter. So what is the further elaboration on his literary approach to difference? I believe the answer is an innate use language acquisition and use is not possible in of cultural capital of the oppressed. This the space allowed. statement is empirically supported by Holger Cabral's emic knowledge and socialist-leaning Daun's study (1997). revisions to civil society contributed Daun (1997) systematically demonstrates the significantly to Guinea-Bissau's social order. The problems with Guinea-Bissau's primary leadership of the independence movement education system by presenting the findings inspired a revolutionary ideology among its from a large survey conducted in the spring of citizenry as can be seen in their collective 1987 of more than 2,400 students from 24 lower actions (Forrest, 1992; Galli and Jones, 1987) and mutual respect (Davidson, 2002; Pattee, 1973). primary schools in western Guinea-Bissau along For example, in my own research village and with their 125 teachers. To start, it was throughout the country, primary school determined that the least successful students, students attended community elementary based on pass and drop-out rates, were rural schools with the administration and teachers Balanta girls whose primary form of coming directly from the village itself. In theory, communication was their own ethnic language these community schools embrace the use of cultural capital and seem to be an ideal way of (Ahlenhed, el al. 1991). Next, culturally-oriented educating their youth with limited resources; in factors for the teacher were found to be practice, however, the school was important in determining the success rates of students includingthe teacher's gender, identity, religious participation, and participation in local activities, which supports the argument

presented thus far (Daun, 1993, 1997; Daun and

Gomes, 1993).

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One quarter of the study's teachers had only (Nybo, 2008). lower primary education. At the same time, the According to Daun's research, in rural areas teachers were frequently transferred from one where ethnic languages are privileged, the only school to another as a deliberate attempt on the other significant factor in determining pupil part of the Ministry of Education to prevent success is equipment in the classroom. In tribalism. In so doing, many of the teachers had addition, young teachers with higher levels of no family and local support system. Since training tend to perform poorly in these types of salaries were often several months late, the rural settings where a majority of the country's largest preoccupation with the teachers was children reside. Additional problems include: trying to support their families. "Teaching (1) opposition of school and community activities were only a second or a third priority" agendas, (Daun, 1997:60; Cissoko and Daun, 1989). As (2) failures of modernisa-tion within the political and economic stability within the country to provide professional outlets for country has only devolved since Daun's study educated youths, with a civil war (1998-1999), several high profile (3) revival of local cultures taking them out of political assassinations, and accusations of school for longer and longer periods of time to military involvement in drug trafficking, this complete rites of passage and work in the concern over livelihood on the pan of the agricultural fields, and teachers has only increased to the detriment of (4) the misconceptions about students and the learning experience in the classroom (IRIN, teachers abilities to adequately communicate. 2008b, 2008c, 2009). In order for improvements to be made, new Daun's study shows that the primary factor in teachers must: higher pass rates and lower drop-out rates is the (1) be trained to adapt to local culture, common use of a similar language between the (2) be provided enough economic compensation student and the teacher, in this case, either to concentrate on pedagogy, and Portuguese, or more commonly, Creole. "The (3) understand and adapt to the linguistic classification is not intended to mean that the setting in which Portuguese is spoken by less language use per se is decisive, but rather that than one percent of the enrolled students and differences in the use of Creole is an indication "Creole is linked not only to communication also of other socio-cultural and economic needs but also to socio-economic position of differences (in cultural capital, pupils" (Daun, 1997:69). BourdieuandPasseron, 1977)" paun, 1997:67, Now I will return TO mv own research site emphasis mine). Mossa Keita, a teacher trained by UNICEF in 2006 explains, "the big challenge here is language, because each student has a mother tongue. When they come here [to Mossa's school], they must learn Portuguese because it is our official language"

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200 Brandon D. Lundy to discuss some more localised supports for and impediments to a successful formal schooling environment. For example, the Associa$ao Desenvolvimento Ensino Communitario (Association for Community Education Development; ADEC), built community-run primary schools female literacy rates in the village even though throughout the region with funding for an equal number are identifying as "student" can construction materials, textbooks, desks, and be explained by the fact that: chalkboards supported by UNICEF. In order for (1) equal schooling of males and females this program to be initiated, the community had among the Nalu is a fairly recent phenomenon, to commit to enrolling both boys and girls. and Based on the 2000 census data, gender disparity (2) men are remaining in school longer (in remains high when it comes to education in fact, the average is 5 years for males compared to Guinea-Bissau. For example, 41.9 percent of only 2 years for females or 4 years for males and males attended primary school or higher while 3 years for females when factoring in Balanta only 36 percent of eligible girls did. These students as well). disparities were even more pronounced in rural In addition, of the ten teachers (6 Nalu, 4 (26.4%/18.7%) and poor (25.7%/13.5%) Balanta) currently residing in the research communities, both of which would describe the village, all of them are males. research community under consideration. And Next, these types of community schools are also yet, Nalu boys and girls in the village were being attempting to remedy the lack of funding for educated at similar rates by 2007. Of the 134 teachers by both selecting the teachers from Nalu (66 males, 68 females), 63 (31 males, 32 within the local communities and paying their females) classified themselves as "student" when salaries directly from the school fees provided by asked about their profession. In addition, 73 the students. This however, leads to several percent of Nalu males in the village classified problems. First, the school fees are too low to themselves as literate (i.e., able to read and write support the teacher's livelihood full-time and are a simple phrase) while only 49 percent of Nalu often too high for the poorer community women considered themselves literate. This can members to afford. This situation means that the be compared to an overall literacy rate for males school administrators and instructors must in the village at 52 percent and for females at continue to concentrate on economics over 30% when also factoring in the 542 Balanta. The education. Second, because they come from the overall literacy rate for the residents of the community in which they work, a degree of village was 41 percent, which is actually lower leeway, accommodation, and hospitality is than UNICEF's national average for Guinea- expected between family, friends and neighbors, Bissau from 2005 to 2008 of 51 percent/ The meaning that the school fees are not always discrepancy between male , and forthcoming. As a result, the only way to enforce timely payments is by barring children from the classroom who default. This, however, is often not an option for a tight-knit community, placing the teacher in a

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How Can Revisiting the Cabral-Freire Collaboration in Guinea-Bissau Help Bridge ...? 201 difficult position. This consistently leads to shortening school days and the closing down of the schools early when the staff and faculty must work elsewhere to support themselves. Third, classrooms. Sessions may be short, and lessons although an indigenous teacher is ideal in this may be basic, but the social implications of context because he or she shares the right cooperation and integration are quite signifi- cultural capital, these same school teachers are cant. often inadequately trained and often have little Today, schooling is mandatory for children formal schooling themselves. Therefore, the between the ages of seven and twelve years old pupils become unwittingly underprepared for in Guinea-Bissau although only about half of secondary education. This sets up the potential those are actually enrolled in school (about one- for a high drop-out and failure rates between the third of which are girls). A little more than half primary and secondary levels. of the population speaks Creole adequately while little more than ten percent speak the One strategy that has worked to increase official Portuguese language. An additional enrollment in formal schools throughout the threat is being faced by Muslim children in country is school feeding programs (IRIN, Guinea-Bissau who are falling victim to 2008a). Through these types of child-friendly trafficking, primarily being forced to beg on the education models, organisations are working to streets of Senegalese cities under the guise of make basic education a right for all children. religious study (Correia, 2007; IRIN, 2010). These agencies, work closely with women's Therefore, finding solutions to the education organisations throughout the country on a crisis in Guinea-Bissau is more important than number of projects including paying for meals ever. Bissau-Guineans are looking to education for school children. Today there are more than and learning as an outlet to achievement as the 650 schools throughout the country that have effects of globalisation reach deeper into their implemented school feeding programs to great cultural fabrics. success (IRIN, 2008a). Conclusion The ability to read and write was As has been argued throughout this paper, many recognised as a valuable skill by the Nalu of the necessary elements to reconstruct a centuries ago. They sent their children off to be successful education system in Guinea-Bissau educated by Imams before Christian are already underway. It is simply a matter of missionaries and community schools arrived in aggregating several approaches to pedagogy to their remote villages. Today, the Balanta find a solution that most readily fits the Bissau- immigrants to the Nalu patrimonial lands of the Guinean context and then providing enough south also see the value in education and send financial and material support to make sure it is their children to these local community schools, able to take root. I will reiterate the disparate which are often taught by semi-educated Nalu pieces that must be fitted together in order for men. Both Nalu and Balanta youths, boys and this educational puzzle to take shape. girls, sit side by side in these Formal education is about capacity building. Therefore, it must be a context-driven collaboration between the national

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202 Brandon D. Lundy government, civil society, the schools, the teachers, the parents, and the pupils. With this in mind, I make the following four suggestions mandatory daily exposure. This will continue to as an outside observer recognising the limita- provide Bissau-Guinean students a global lingua tions as such. First, and most importantly, the franca. Finally, the multiple ethnic and border issue of language must be addressed. As the zone languages cannot be ignored. Creative primary barrier to education and literacy, this is ways to write and incorporate these languages a necessary first step. The most obvious answer into the learning process must continually be is to formalise the Bissau-Guinean Creole, and discussed and tested as valuable contributions use this language as the primary means of to Guinea-Bissau's unique cultural capital. communication for education since it is spoken Therefore, competent and innovative localised by much of the population. There are endeavors teachers and administrators are a must. currently underway to write the Creole language Second, the capacity and level of training for all through the development of dictionaries and of the teachers, whether at the community- grammatical notes (Dieterle, 2005; primary level or urban-secondary centers of Scantamburlo, 1999, 2003) and literary works learning, must be advanced. This can be (Montenegro, 2007; Sila 2002, 2006). In the meantime, the Bissau-Guinean Ministry of accomplished in three ways. First, must take advantage of similar credentials must be formalised at each level initiatives underway in their sister-republic of through the testing of teacher proficiencies in Cape Verde where they have developed the the appropriate areas. In other words, some sort Alfabeto Unificado para a Escrita do Caboverdiano of evaluative system must be put in place. (Unified Alphabet for Cape Verdean Writing), Second, appropriate compensation must be commonly known as ALUPEC, the alphabet provided to attract the best and brightest to the that was officially recognised by the Cape Verdean government to write Cape Verdean teaching profession. This can be done by paying Creole. Since these two Creole languages are civil servants on time and by increasing their almost 80 percent mutually intelligible, this is an salaries. A real commitment must be made by excellent starting point. In addition, the few the government, demonstrated through a educational materials that are found throughout significant increase in the national education Guinea-Bissau including textbooks and budget. Many international organisations are curricular materials are written in Portuguese, willing and able to contribute to the although as previously mentioned, a minority of the population is adequately proficient in this development of good teachers. The community second language. Therefore, Portuguese remains must also be invested in their teachers. a serious impediment to education. A renewed Therefore, school fees, particularly those paid to commitment to Portuguese must be undertaken community teachers at the primary levels in the at all grade levels Through countryside must be increased. At the same time, the extreme poverty found throughout the

countryside must be acknowledged along with

the Declaration of Child Rights, which insures that all children have access to free educati -:i

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(UNICEF, 2008). Therefore, government subsidies must supplement or cover the school fees owed by lower income households based on the most current census data. Fees could be set increased capacity and sanitation facilities such up on a three tier system as full, reduced, or free, as clean latrines for both boys and girls, and determined through needs assessment. Third, dedication to skills-based training for students outside agencies such as the U.S. Peace Corps alongside more traditional forms of education. In should be invited to return to Guinea-Bissau to other words, a more child-friendly education fill the current vacuum of well-trained teachers model must continue to be promoted and while simultaneously transferring skills to host expanded in which children want to be at school country counterparts who will take over these and parents want their children to attend as positions once adequate skills have been well. developed. Finally, the Freirean method must be brought into the Bissau-Guinean classroom. Only Third, the length of the school day must be through student-teacher dialogue can the increased from a half-day (i.e. approximately structures of power be appropriately exposed four hours) to a full-day so that the children of and discussed in a safe environment toward a Guinea-Bissau are trained as intensively as the pragmatic view of the community, the nation, rest of the world. Only once they are on equal and the world. With the appropriate training of footing with the rest of the world will they have teachers, no subject should be off-limits for a better chance to compete globally in the discussion such as frank conversations about the international labor market. This shift to a longer structural inequalities of a world system in school day must coincide with an appropriate which Guinea-Bissau consistently finds itself at seasonal calendar in which students have a the bottom,8 as well as strategy sessions to yearly break from May through August, which promote indigenous solutions to these coincides with the cashew harvest, rice structural disadvantages. In addition, concerns cultivation, and Ramadan. In addition, this about tribalism and the politlcisation of transition can only take place if a real difference by the national government should be commitment to education is made by a majority debated along with the benefits of of the population with boys and girls having multiculturalism and cooperation stressed by equal opportunities and access. Some ways that indigenous culture heroes such as Ami'lcar this commitment is being addressed is through Cabral. Other classroom dialogues could sustainable school feeding programs in which include: community gardens are helping offset (1) Should the school contribute to weaken or international food donations from programs reduce the class differences in the society? such as the WFP (World Food Programme), (2) Should the school contribute to prevent through an appropriate school year providing a the cities from dominating the rural areas? break during peak agricultural periods, better (3) Should the school contribute to an equal teacher training, school rehabilitation including estimation of manual and

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204 Brandon D. Lundy intellectual work? and, (4) Should the school contribute to an equal The teachers just play with the kids. They do estimation of practical and theoretical not provide what the children need. I am not a experience? Christian, but I put my own children in a private Alongside standard curricula, students should school to be educated due to the state of the also discuss the political nature of education local public schools. They studied at the itself at an age appropriate level. Skills must be promoted through culturally-specific lessons Catholic Mission until the sixth grade. My last without becoming patronising portrayals of child is now 18 years old and will graduate this cultural specificities without any true year. What is difficult is that all three of my pedagogical value. children are female, which means they have little For example, a fourth grade textbook for the opportunity here in Guinea.10 . . . There is no natural and social sciences, titled A Nossa Vida education here. The Creole spoken by kids today (Our Life), produced by the Editora Escolar of is not the same as it was a generation ago. They Guinea-Bissau (Casimiro, Cassama, and King, were once respectful and had a better 1998) is a mere 52 pages in length covering topics such as economics (agriculture, knowledge of the Portuguese language. Now, pastoralism, fishing, industry, and commerce) the language is ka bom [no good]. The textbooks through purely indigenous examples. The text are no good. For example, there is a section in goes on to discuss water, air, soil, and their textbooks about the battle at Como. The conservation; the body and health; child rights; information is all about warfare, the battle of and culture and history in a similar fashion. The Como [Island], the battle of Guiledje. The text is in Portuguese with lots of pictures. While it focuses on local concerns, which textbooks used to be thorough; they would even should be lauded, the treatment is overly teach . Then it was decided that simplistic with too few connections to issues the topic was too controversial, so it was beyond Guinea-Bissau. removed. Now young girls are getting pregnant Guinea-Bissau will face many challenges over by old men throughout the country. It is a mess. the coming decades, including the need for a Students are getting pregnant by their teachers. more viable educational system. I will end this chapter with the words of a Lebanese shop- Teachers are not holding classes because they keeper who came to Guinea-Bissau alongside his say the state isn't paying them enough. Before, father 36 years ago. He saw great potential in students would go to school in the morning this small West African nation, and married a until midday. They would then go home for Bissau-Guinean woman with whom he had lunch and return at 3:00 pm and stay until 6:00 three daughters. During the interview, his pm. Today, kids go to school at 11:00 am and frustration with the country's poor education they are done by 2:00 or 3:00 pm. Or they start tract record surfaced. He stated, "Now in school, there is no education. school at 3:00 pm and leave by 6:00 pm. What can you learn in three hours? Terms end early or classes are cancelled by the end of the month because the state doesn't pay their teachers or regulate the schools. If you were a teacher in

these conditions, you wouldn't do

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How Can Revisiting the Cabral-Freire Collaboration in Guinea-Bissau Help Bridge .. .? 205 and fees" (Chabal 2003:16). anything either. The state doesn't help at all. I 4. Similarly through an examination of Christian have seen teachers begging for bread. The only religious conversion, George Brooks (1984:19) successful program I have seen is when the NGO found that the Portuguese pre-colonial explorers came in and started making food in the school and later colonial officials of Guinea-Bissau were for the kids" (interview 6/16/2011). As illustrated generally reputed to be neglectful of their from this quote, education in Guinea-Bissau has religious obligations toward themselves and a long way to go. The hope is that some of the their colonised populations as well. Few recommendations made In this chapter will administrators attended mass, observed holy prove to be a catalyst in helping to continue a days of obligation, or consecrated Christian real dialogue about the state of education and marriages. learning in Guinea-Bissau. 5. Amilcar's half-brother. 6. "The dominant culture functions to legitimate Endnotes existing modes of social relations and 1. Lobban and Mendy (1997:166-168). production. It also functions to provide the 2. George E. Brooks illustrated the same motivational structures that link individual phenomenon in Sierra Leone: "The spread of needs with social needs; and, finally, culture Islam from the interior to the Serra Leoa littoral provides a society with the symbolic language was fostered by Mande and Fula marabouts, for interpreting the boundaries of individual and who founded Koranic schools that introduced social existence" (Giroux 1979:260). the study of Arabic and Islamic law. In addition, 7. ttp://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/ guinea Muslim immigrants transformed political bissau_statistics.html institutions and commer-cid networks in the 8. Each year since 1990 the United Nations region" (2003:249). Human Development Report has published the 3. "Salazar's 1930 Colonial Act had drawn up Human Development Index (HDI), which is an the principles of modern Portuguese colonial aggregate measure of three basic dimensions of rule and these principles remained in force until human development: health, education, and 1974 . . . Although colonial ideology emphasised income. Guinea-Bissau's HDI is 0.289, which a policy of assimilation . . . the nature of the gives the country a rank of 164 out of 169 countries worldwide for 2010. The HDI of Sub- Portuguese indigena (native legislation), the lack Saharan Africa as a region for the same year is of education and the requirements for the status 0.389. This places Guinea-Bissau below the of assimilado virtually precluded the application regional average. of the policy. In order to become assimilated, the 9. These questions were taken from a indigena had to be 18 years old and to speak document and photo essay titled, Portuguese correctly. He had to earn a sufficient Reconstructing education: the example Guinea income for himself and his family and to produce Bissau: Freire's method in practice, by Claudius two testimonies of good character. He must have Ceccon (http://www.fagsider.org/sw/). attained a sufficient level of education. He was 10. According to the 2010 Ibrahim Index of required to submit a birth certificate, a African Governance, which measures the certificate of residence, a certificate of good health, and a declaration of loyalty; and to have deliver}- of public goods and services to citizens paid the appropriate taxes by government and non-state actors, in the "Participation and Human Rights" scores under the sub-category "Gender", Guinea-Bissau ranked 52nd out of 53, just behind Somalia. In the category of ''Human

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Development" consisting of the sub-categories PAIGC (September). ____(1969b). Revolution in "Health and Welfare" and "Education", Guinea- Guinea: Selected Bissau was 50th, the lowest of any West African Texts by Amilcar Cabral. R. Handyside, transl. country, ranking 50th in "Education" alone, just New York: Monthly Review Press. __ (1979). ahead of Angola, the Central African Republic, and Unity and Struggle, Speeches and Somalia (Ibrahim Index 2010). Writings of Amilcar Cabral. M. Wolfers, transl. New York: Monthly Review Press. References Casimiro, Teresa, Isabel Cassama, and Ema King Abdullah, Ibrahim (2006). Culture, consciousness (1998). A Nossa Vida: Ciencias Naturais e and armed conflict: Cabral's declasse/ Ciencias Sociais 4a Classe. Bissau, Republica (lumpenproletanat?) in the era of globaliza- da Guine-Bissau: Editora Escolar. tion. African Identities 4(1):99-112. Chabal, Patrick (2003). Amilcar Cabral: Ahlenhed, B., G. Callewaert, M. Cissko, and H. Revolutionary Leadership and People's War. Daun (1991). School career in lower primary Trenton, NJ: African World Press. education in Guinea-Bissau. The pupils and Cissoko, M., and H. Daun (1989). A Vida their socio-economic and cultural Profissional e Social dos Professors do EBE. background. SIDA Education Division (The professional and social life of the Document No. 54, Stockholm. teachers in lower primary). Ministry of Baum, Robert M. (1999). Shrines of the Slave Education/ INDE, Bissau. Trade: Diola Religion and Society in Colls, Robert (1976). "Oh Happy English Precolonial . New York: Oxford Children!": Coal, Class and Education in the University Press. North-East. Past and Present 73:75-99. Berenger-Feraud, LJ.B. (1973 [1879]). Les Correia, Yolanda Nunes (2007). At a glance: Peuplades de la Senegambie. Nendeln: Kraus Guinea-Bissau: Under the facade of religious Reprint. study, children fall victim to trafficking. Bourdieu, Pierre, and Jean Claude Passeron (1977), ElectronicDocument,http:// Reproduction in education, society, and www.unicef.org/infobycountry/ culture. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage guineabissau_40282.html. Gabu: UNICEF, Publications. July 9. Brooks, George E. (1984). The Observance of All Daun, Holger (1993). O Professor e Sucesso Escolar Souls' Day in the Guinea-Bissau Region: A dos Alunos do Ensino Basico Elementar na Christian Holy Day, An African Harvest Guinea-Bissau. (The teacher and pupils Festival, An African New Year's Celebration, school success in lower primary in Guinea- or All of the abovef?). History in Africa: A Bissau). Institute of International Education, Journal of Method 13:1-34. Stockholm University/SIDA, Stockholm. ______(2003). Eurafricans in Western Africa: ______(1997). Teachers Needs, Culturally- Commerce, Social Status, Gender, and Religious Significant Teacher Education and Observance From the Sixteenth to the Educational Achievement in an African Eighteenth Century. Athens, OH: Ohio Context - The Case of Guinea Bissau. University Press. International Journal of Educational Cabral, Amilcar (1969a). Palavras de ordem gerais Development 17(1):59-71. do Camarada Amilcar Cabral aos Daun, H., and A. Gomes (1993). O Papel do responsaveis do partido (Novernbro de Professor e As Caracteristicas dos Alunos no 1965). Conakry: Sucesso Escolar na Guinea-Bissau. (The role

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