Book Review

At a time when Africa appears unable to extricate herself from an increasingly complex web of crises, it is refreshing to read something positive about the continent. In New directions in African education: Challenges and possibilities, Nombuso Dlamini has put together a book that holds hope for Africa. The nine contributors to this book are all scholars and educationists who have actively engaged with the educational systems in various African countries in different capacities. The authors bring a rich mix of viewpoints, highlighting the book’s strong point in harnessing the experiences of foreign based African scholars and those based in African universities and other key institutions. The book sets out to “reconceptualize and reinvent education in order to suit and serve pressing socioeconomic needs in the African continent ” (p.1). This indeed, is a tall order and an overly ambitious undertaking given that the authors manage to address only a few educational issues. Moreover, the issues addressed are largely country-specific. In fact, the book falls into the now common tendency to limit discussion on Africa to sub-Saharan countries, and mainly Anglophone countries. It would be good to have a more inclusive coverage that includes some Francophone countries as well as countries in th