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.