Education and Democracy: The Road to an Active Citizenship for All?

This study discusses education and democracy in Malawi. With a premise of democracy as a means and an end of development, and education as a factor that can have an impact on development and the individual, the main objective of the study is to discuss how formal education contributes to a democratic society through the education of its smallest unit, the individual citizen. It will be argued that the whole process of education is relevant for a discussion of education and democracy. Therefore, the discussion will consider the general school life and the methods of instruction beside the content of education. The discussion is based on data that was collected during a qualitative research conducted in an urban and a rural school in Malawi, which used a comparative case study design that included direct- and participant observations, interviews and the analysis of documents. The study comes to the conclusion that democracy is promoted through formal education in Malawi, but not to the fullest extent. The findings suggest that education promotes the preservation of democracy as a political system of government, but the teaching of democratic values and practices, which would allow for the transition to a sustainable democracy, is still being undermined by various factors