Hunter-gatherer children at school: A view from the Global South

Universal formal education is a major global development goal. Yet, hunter gatherer communities have extremely low participation rates in formal schooling, even in comparison with other marginalized groups. Here, we review the existing literature to identify common challenges faced by hunter-gatherer children in formal education systems in the Global South. We find that hunter-gatherer children are often granted extensive personal autonomy, which is at odds with the authoritarian culture of school. Hunter-gatherer children face economic, infrastructural, social, cultural, and structural barriers which negatively affect their school participation. While schools are a risk to the transmission of hunter-gatherer values, languages, and traditional knowledge, they are also viewed by hunter-gatherer communities as a source of economic and cultural empowerment. These findings highlight the need for hunter-gatherer communities to decide for themselves the purpose school serves, and whether children should be compelled to attend.