Page 43 - Msingi Afrika Magazine Issue 5

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omeschooling has looked down upon socially. Un- Many of these parents use the
been practiced for de- der international law education standard curriculum but infuse
cades in many coun- must conform to certain aims, it with life, or they choose an
htries around the world one of which is developing the alternative curriculum that they
knowingly, deliberately or not. It child’s personality and talents deem more beneficial to the so-
is simply the training up of a child and mental and physical ability cial, mental and spiritual growth
in the way that he should go that to their fullest potential. Which, of their children. Some practice
when he is grown he would not honestly speaking, few formal it because they live in remote
depart from it. In some coun- education programs in Afrika locations or because they want
tries in the world (such as South ever achieve. to be able to provide their child
Africa) it has been legalized, it Homeschooling is simply a with a more personal touch than
is highly regulated in some of hands-on approach taken by the formal school environment
those, while in others it is ille- parents towards the training and provides. Yet others do it be-
gal or simply frowned upon and socialization of their children. cause regulatory environments

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IN AFRIKA – OUR LAST LINE OF DEFENSE?
Chioma Phillips

in their communities are unfa- to read the bible, so that they away from God that many ‘ed-
vorable to their personal beliefs would be able to connect to the ucated’ people now reject Him
and so they choose to keep their word and be able to grow their or even claim His nonexistence.
children away from what may relationships with God. Howev- The irony!
be environments detrimental to er, when the government saw While homeschooling appears
their own cultures. the effectiveness of these class- to be a recent trend in Afrika, the
I heard an American preacher es, they took over and created truth is, it is not. It may seem a
speak about the history of for- the system you see today and strange and novel concept be-
mal education in the US and he the purity and simplicity was cause of the growing availability
said that schools were started lost. What started as a tool to and acceptability or even desir-
by the pioneers simply as a tool help people know God became ability (socially) of formal educa-
to enable children to learn how a vessel that took them so far tion systems, which have been

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