Educational Psychology and the Psychology of Marginalized Peoples: The Village Schools Project

The high student drop-out rate and level of illiteracy among the Ju/hoan people ofNyae Nyae in Namibia has been attributed to the following factors: an authoritarian education system which is contrary to the traditional Ju/hoan social system; instruction in Afrikaans, a foreign colonial language; and the fact thatJu/'hoan children have been abused and discriminated against by teachers and classmates from other ethnic groups. This article discusses the Village Schools Project, which has been set up to counteract the high dropout rate by providing basic community-level education for the first three years of primary school. Its main objectives are: instruction in the mother tongue; training of Ju/'hoan teachers; development of a curriculum relevant to the community; and the construction of school facilities close to local communities. It is hoped that the project will create confident students who will be successful when they move on to government schools in their fourth academic year. It is also hoped that this community-based programme will inspire other marginalized peoples to set up their own schools projects.