School Focused Educational Interventions are Limited in Addressing Structural Inequality in Conflict-affected Contexts
Community building used as a school for internally displaced persons in Haut-Katanga province. Photo taken by Cyril Brandt in 2015.
By Cyril Brandt, Gauthier Marchais, Samuel Matabishi, and Patrick Mze Somora.
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19 October 2020
In this blog post we assess some limitations and opportunities of interventions that conceive schools as the main driver of change in conflict-affected contexts. Education interventions in settings of forced displacement and conflict typically target a limited number of schools. This allows them to provide tangible and measurable results within the constraints of a fixed budget. Such interventions often combine literacy and numeracy training with socio-emotional learning, mental health, and protection measures. The ‘safe school’ approach is a prominent example, which conceives the school and its environment as the central unit that protects children from violence in and around schools. However, such approaches have little leverage in addressing structural marginalization. Our recent research in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) assesses how violent conflicts interact with ethnic marginalization in the education sector.
The politics of ethnicity in the DRC
The politicization of ethnic identities is a fundamental characteristic of contemporary DRC. It finds its origins in the ethno-territorial organization of the colonial state and has largely been maintained in the post-colonial era. These historical inequalities have fed grievances and political conflicts between and among ethnic groups, some of which have become violent during various Congolese wars. While violent conflicts have multiple causes and cannot be reduced solely to an ethnic dimension, a focus on ethnicity, as outlined here, can help to explain persisting inequalities in the education sector.
Ethnicity and access
The Congolese education sector has played a central role in establishing and sustaining racial and ethnic inequalities. Ethnic groups that found themselves privileged in the colonial ethno-territorial order had better access to missionary education, which has conditioned access to positions in the administration and education sector in the post-independence era, further reinforcing political inequalities. Exclusion from the state administration often intersects with exclusion from customary authority, which conditions access to key resources, in particular land. As Batwa in the South Kivu province put it, the lack of agricultural land is central to their difficulty in accessing schools: “…and I, Twa (Pygmée), once I have my land, I can cultivate and send my children to school.” Post-colonial era political dynamics, particularly political competition that continues to be structured around ethno-territorial identities, have reinforced or modified these trends. Moreover, in some conflict-affected areas, like parts of Ituri or Tanganyika, violence has reinforced spatial segregation along ethnic lines, resulting in ethnically segregated schools.
Education programs that seek to address marginalization in accessing education typically focus on economic barriers or girls’ education access, for example by sensitizing different actors (political, parents, civil society, etc.) to address barriers for girls’ access to schools (such as the All Girls to School campaign). Rarely do these projects explicitly address marginalization in access along ethnic lines.
Ethnicity and quality
Ethnically structured inequalities are also reflected in teaching. Mirroring the importance of ethnicity in various domains of Congolese politics, groups that are marginalized in national and provincial politics are less likely to be represented in the teaching workforce. Given that the integration of teachers onto payrolls is extremely politicized, teachers from marginalized groups are also more likely to have precarious contracts, thereby negatively influencing their teaching quality. This dynamic interacts with the ethnic homogenization of schools resulting from protracted violence. A low availability of skilled teachers can negatively affect the quality of education that marginalized ethnic groups are able to access.
Ethnicity and well-being
In provinces that are polarized along ethnic lines, students may experience ethnic discrimination in schools, affecting school climate and student well-being. As we show in our study (forthcoming), the Batwa of Tanganyika experience routine discrimination and social isolation in schools, often exacerbated by the social stigma resulting from recent violence. Students can also experience ethnic discrimination during play time. Moreover, narratives that reflect longstanding racialized discourses dating back to the colonial era have persisted in schools, such as the idea that the Twa are reluctant to educate themselves. As a result, students adopt various protective and coping strategies, such as avoiding schools or concealing their identity.
Conclusion
Recent education interventions in conflict-affected contexts increasingly seek to enhance the socio-emotional well-being of children, promote conflict-sensitive learning, and create safe learning spaces. However, these interventions rarely conceptualize or address the complex forms of ethnically based discriminations that happen in schools, and are therefore limited in addressing the ingrained forms of discrimination that influence students’ well-being and their access to and experiences of education.
Addressing ethnic marginalization in protracted crisis settings is highly complex. While projects might be unable to directly address these inequalities, we suggest that they should at the very least convincingly demonstrate how they ‘do no harm’: Does the selection of intervention schools favor one ethnic group over another? Is this likely to exacerbate dynamics of ethnic marginalization and the exclusionary character of education?
On the one hand, projects need to be careful so as not to reify ethnicity, which could reinforce the politicization of ethnicity. On the other hand, turning a blind eye to ethnicity is likely to reinforce said dynamics. These dynamics play out at provincial and national levels, and while schools too can serve as a ground for the perpetuation of prejudices and discriminatory practices, these nuances are usually not captured or addressed by interventions focused solely on the school level. We therefore call for education practices in settings of conflict and forced migration to strongly include critical research examining ethnic marginalization in their intervention designs.
Disclaimer: The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in this publication belong solely to the author(s) and do not necessarily represent those of REACH or the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
About the Authors
Cyril Brandt finished his PhD at the International Development Studies program at the University of Amsterdam in 2018. He is an Associate Researcher at the Institute of Development Policy, University of Antwerp, and Honorary Associate at the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex. His work has focused on (1) the political economy of educational governance reforms and teacher salaries in protracted violent crises, particularly the Democratic Republic of Congo; (2) teacher governance in violent contexts and violence against teachers; and (3) the political economy of an unfinished population census. Next to his academic work, Cyril works as a facilitator for anti-racism / critical whiteness workshops. Connect with Cyril on LinkedIn.
Gauthier Marchais is a Research Fellow at the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex. He works on social transformation in contexts of violent conflict. His current research focuses on education in contexts of protracted violence, with a focus on the provinces of South Kivu and Tanganyika in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He also works on race and whiteness, particularly how they appear in the context of academic research. Click here to read more about his work.
Samuel Matabishi Namashunju holds a PhD in Language-Linguistics from the University of Rouen. He is a professor at the Institut Supérieur Pédagogique de Bukavu, as well as Visiting Professor at the Université Evangélique d’Afrique, Université Catholique de Bukavu, and the Université Officielle de Bukavu. His interdisciplinary research focuses on the relationship between language, education, and development. He is setting up a research institute called “Congolese Centre of Plurilingualism for Education and Development” (Observatoire Congolais du plurilinguisme pour l’éducation et le développement). Two of his publications on this topic will be published shortly by Harmattan, Paris.
Patrick Mze Somora holds a PhD in Bioengineering and Agronomy from the University of Liège. His research and publications focus on environmental protection, land governance, and development planning. He his Professor and Head of the Institut Supérieur Pédagogique de Bukavu.