Bokaa: living and learning in an African village
Kooijman, K.
IEC Broadsheets on Distance Learning, International Extension College 14: 102
1980
Document Number: 499498
The Botswana Extension College, set up in 1973, wanted to know how villagers, the ultimate recipients of distance teaching programmes, viewed their educational needs. Traditional informal education has always met rural needs in the past, formal education meets many of the needs of those who will move out of the village, but neither satisfies those who continue to live in the village. This report builds on the author's familiarity with a village already studied from the anthropologist's viewpoint. It gives a comprehensive descriptive account of life in Bokaa, as background, since lack of this sort of information so often hampers people involved in development programmes. A major conclusion is that a village such as Bokaa should not be viewed in isolation, but as part of a much wider economic and social system, and that the nature of this system imposes constraints upon the directions open to village development and the rate at which these developments can take place. Development programmes should not aim too high. Some tentative conclusions are reached on the role of informal, formal, and non-formal education. The traditional informal learning situations are today far from adequate educational channels. Initiation still provides one kind of formal education. Formal western schooling has become widely valued, and is successful in that villagers see it as essential for their children, but does not prepare children adequately and has a poor achievement record. Non-formal education holds the most promise, but often leads to disappointing results. Many results are only measurable in behavioural change. The most successful courses and programmes are obviously going to be those that meet a need the villagers themselves perceive.