Education—job Number 1: What Education and for Whom?

The article by Kjörven (FDS 2-04) and the recent policy paper of the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ‘Education—Job Number 1’, are criticised for the lack of a problem-oriented, critical approach to the difficult task of aiding the educational sector of developing countries. The policy paper also lacks a Norwegian imprint, the article maintains, when in fact the most important contribution Norway could offer might well be its history of an equality-oriented educational system built on the use of Norwegian as the language of instruction not only at primary and secondary level but also at tertiary level. The article discusses the issue of the language of instruction, especially in Africa, as well as the question of co-ordination of aid to the education sector.