Youth mobilisation as and for sustainable education

• In Event: Roundtable Session (Monday I)
  In Refereed Round-Table Session: Critical explorations of students' and teachers' experiences of intercultural, citizenship, and democratic education

Proposal

Drawing from the experiences of a democratic youth movement of high school activists in South Africa, our presentation seeks to highlight the role of social movement mobilisation as a transformational tool for both learners and the education system.

Equal Education is a democratic social movement of approximately 5 000 high school activists, known as “Equalisers”, from across five of South Africa’s nine provinces. Equalisers are predominantly black learners from poor and marginalised communities who continue to suffer the legacy of Apartheid dispossession. Together with parents and post-school youth, Equalisers advocate for redress in and achievement of equitable access to quality education.

Through the social movement, Equalisers lead campaigns that combine various tools, including direct action and protest, media advocacy and litigation. Equalisers elect representatives to Leadership Committees at the provincial level, and ultimately to a governance structure called the National Council at the national level, which gives political direction to the movement’s work.

Every week, Equalisers meet in “Youth Groups” to engage in political education and discussions on issues that directly impact their education. These modes of organising and engagement extend the educational experience of Equalisers beyond the classroom, as they critically engage with - and participate in - democratic practice and develop interventions to address social injustice. This is a demonstration of the role of youth mobilisation as values-based sustainable education.

At the same time, the campaigns which Equalisers lead and participate in also address critical issues required to redress profound inequality and injustice in education provisioning. Over its first decade of existence, Equal Education and its members have sought to advance accountability and expand the space for public engagement on education.

Campaigns on school infrastructure provisioning, access to scholar transport and school safety, as just some examples, have required government to specifically address issues which impact on sustainable and quality education. The effect of these campaigns on material improvement in education, increased resource allocation, as well as law and policy development has been tracked by Equal Education over time. In addition to campaign victories, another important outcome is that learners take a deep interest in and strong ownership of their own education. While significant challenges remain, these examples offer case studies of the role that youth mobilisation for sustainable education can play.

Equal Education can share its lessons and challenges on youth mobilisation, but also hopes to gain from the experience of others in mobilising for sustainable education. In particular, Equal Education has faced challenges around parent organising and mobilisation and has had to balance local struggles and “victories” against long-term campaigns and goals. This contribution is directly relevant to the Citizenship and Democratic Education SIG and would benefit from the sharing of comparative experiences.

Authors

• Noncedo Madubedube, Equal Education

• Roné McFarlane, Equal Education