Building vibrant and tolerant democracies The statistics
relating to San children in Namibia and education are shocking.
Only 67 percent of San children in the country enrol in school.
And only 1 percent of those children complete secondary school.
Think about that for a second. And then add the fact that none
of them make it to university. These statistics – highlighted by
Dr Haavashe Nekongo-Nielsen from the University of Namibia
during the Indigenous Education in a Changing World conference
on San education co-hosted by UNESCO, the Working Group of
Indigenous Minorities in Southern Africa and OSISA in Namibia –
raise a very important question for those providing education
services and working in the education sector, where are we
getting it so wrong? Despite being backed up by numerous
policies and legislation, from the UN Convention on the Rights
of Indigenous People to constitutions at country level to
several policies by Ministries of Education and other relevant
Ministries, education outcomes among the