Abstract:
France designed a policy in the name of francophonie that serves as a means by which the French has achieved intellectual and cultural control and created economic dependency between her and the African countries. The author mentions the consequences of the francophonie effect which include inadequate educational resources that are dumped in the francophone African countries and the influx of unqualified French educational experts into Africa. The maintenance of these French expatriates forces francophone African countries to look for loans from the World Bank and the IMF. In addition to bearing the burden of unnessary foreign debt, francophone African countries have to conform to a "racist" educational reform proposed by the World Bank and the IMF. The reform dictates that Africa does not need professionals, but should promote vocational training. African educators have resisted these exploitative recommendations put forward by these institutions and this had resulted in protests and confrontations with African leaders. The author also addresses the issue of the attempt to model the African continent and its education system according to an imperialist agenda.
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| Chapter Title: | Francophonie, World Bank, and the collapse of the francophone Africa educational system |
| Book Title: | A thousand flowers: social struggles against structural adjustment in African universities |
| Edited by: | Silvia Federici, George Caffentzis, Ousseina Alidou |
| City: | Trenton, NJ |
| Publisher: | Africa World Press, Inc. |
| No. of Pages: | 37-42 |
| Date: | 2000 |
| Document Type: | Chapter in Book (Peer Reviewed) |
| Subject Area: | National Systems and Comparative Studies |
| Country: | African Continent |
| Keywords: | Francophone Africa, World Bank Policies, International Monetary Fund IMF, Education Systems, Educational Reform |
| File Size: | 40 KB |
| Rights: | Permission to reproduce this chapter was granted by the editors. |
| Date Added: | 26 July 2007 |