Horn of Africa —Reading a book by Paulo Freire had transcended my thinking on my activist approach to popular education and my understanding on the capacity for securing our transformational change in the society we live in.
The book, The Politics of Education is an affirmation of Freire’s prodigiously activist mindset to today’s popular education.
Freire, a Brazilian educator and philospher was an advocate of critical pedagogy. He believes that knowledge and culture is always changing, calling this historicity —the quality of being historical beings.
We are, as humans always caught up in the process of becoming.
Freire had developed an approach to education that links the identification of issues to postive action for change and development.
His way of thinking leads us to fully understand the society around us.
Educational process, according to Freire is never neutral.
His ultimate purpose was to liberate individuals from oppressive systems and eventually foster a more just and equitable society.
He firmly believes that education had that power to break the chains of ignorance and empower us to become active agents of social change.
In this context, the Organisation of Southern Cooperation (OSC) had honoured Paulo Freire of a visionary initiative called FREYRE or Framework to Reinforce Exchanges between Youth and Regions through Education.
OSC’s FREYRE is aimed at fostering academic mobility, cultural exchange and interregional cooperation across the Global South.
The programme seeks to create a platform for students and scholars to gain enriching educational experiences and build lasting connections across the 28 member states of OSC.
Indeed, Freire’s critical mindset had influence this particular programme of OSC — that of embracing his curiosity of critical thinking and hope, a profound reflection on his learnings about his view on the changing political landscape on education, and his outlook on social liberation, both in thought and in deed.
He practically left a radical legacy of love and hope for the young generation to follow and emulate.([email protected])
