Today, there may be a constitutional right to education in many countries in Africa. Throughout history, across Africa and in other parts of the world, men and women in church groups, political organisations, social movements, or as individuals have agitated for education. This right to education is absolutely important to treasure, especially given that there are still countries where education is not a right, or where, even though it is a right, obvious structural barriers exist that prevent some groups from gaining access to it. If you are poor, for instance, what you get may or may not be what you need or want. A great deal of what you get does not amount to much when it comes to learning how to live with self-esteem, pride, love, purpose and meaning. Poverty ought not to undermine the right to education, but where education is commoditised it does limit your educational choices as far as quality is concerned.

To overcome the effects of a dehumanising history, not merely in order to be rich but to learn to live a life full of significance, even if your parents were poor and unschooled – that's exactly what you won't get from the right to education if your teachers don't care for the whole of you as a person. You are more than just your brain or your body.

Even though I acknowledge the imperative of affirming education as a legal human right, I am struck by the fact that there is rarely ever an ethical obligation for those who look after the education of the young to ascertain that they are well taught. To be taught well can mean many things. To someone like me, keeping the notion of African-centredness in mind, it means that African children and young people, and all others who wish to study, are educated such that they will enjoy a meaningful life after their education. It means that they are taught how to be free, if they live in a country that has endured years of dehumanisation and oppression. It means that they learn how to live-with-others (this lesson on living-with-others being concerned with the values of botho referred to earlier), if their society is one in which living apart from ‘others’ was for a long time a way of life.