A. Babs Fafunwa and J.V. Aisiku (Eds.) Education in Africa.
George Allen and Unwin, London, 1982, pp.270, £5.50
Education in Africa: A COOparative Survey is a welcane but disawointing
oollection of oontributions by Africans al:x:>ut           Africa.    Balls Fafunwa, one of
the editors,       proVides a broad perspective whidl traces the pre-oolonial and
indeed pre-Islamic and pre-christian             indigenous educational system. How-
ever he tends to equate 'education' with 'socialization'                and oonsequently
spends !lOst of the introductory dlapter itemiting the <;pals of traditional
African education.         The Islamic influence in North Africa and its spread
to West Africa IOOantthat thirty-five             out of forty-five African oountries
v.ould retain into the twentieth centory distinct evidence of Islamic in-
fluence.     The Qur'an, Hadith and Shari'a are still taught in many parts, and
the Qur'anic school system has many distinctive               features.   The period of
oolonialism meant that the educational system was <bni.nated by the inte-
rests of foreign missions and the evangelicals, and this later became a
secular pronulgation of oolonialism.              Throughout, the oolonial powers were
anxious to 'de-Afticanize'          the African, none rrore than the French.
SOlOllOnShy looks at the dlequered history of education in Cameroonunder
British,    GeI1l'aI1 and Frendl domination.        Shu examines, with;)ut IlUch critical
analysis, various sectors of education, providing an abundance of statis-
tical data.        The University of Yaoun~, for exanple, has over 8,000 students
and 400 lecturers        giving 1 :20 ratio.      Ferrales gain only 15% of the places
in higher educ.:ation. In Egypt Abdelaziz SOliman gives us the statistic                that
25%of higher education places belong to, v.omen while in sdlools the pupil
teacher ratio is 37: 1. /\gain, in Ethiopia Gerna Amarepresents us with a
bewildering array of facts and figures but with a glimnering of an attaTpt
at analysis.         Education in G1ana (ALAsiedu-Akrofi) and Kenya (Filanina
Indire) is treated in a factual rather than in an analytic fashion.                  Lesotho
 (J. MJhapeloa) and Liberia          (M. Brown Sherman), together with Mali (A. Toure)
and Nigeria (0. Ukeje and J. Aisiku), are treated little                better.
It is with sore relief that we cane to Julius Nyerere's chapter on Tanzania
vA1ichis a thoughtful questioning of major issues such as 'What Kind of
SOciety Are we Trying to Build?'             Although written in 1967 we can only
assume that the sent.iIrents and v.orries still           rerrain.
The final 'progress and Prospect' perspective is presented by Fafunwa and
Aisiku which, not surprisingly,           links education in Africa quite finnly with
developnent.         The took as a whole is dry and wring and lacking in any real
analytic/sociological         perspective.     One can only assuxre that the editors
have issued a fonrula for each chapter which the author follows.                  The mere
presentation of figures and percentages taken from cpvernment reports, with-
out analysis, <bes little          to help the reader, and like all such facts and
figures it is very soon out of date.
 KENNE'lH JOOES
  Institute   of J\dult Education
 Universi ty of Botswana
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