It was an absolute honour to engage in a hearty conversation with Sigamoney Manicka Naicker about his Chapter, From Apartheid's Margins to Reimagining Education : A Life Devoted to Inclusion. In this conversation he discussed the following and more: - his childhood in brief - pivotal experiences that led him to questioning the education narrative in South Africa - his 1st book, Education and the working class: Is there a hope for an inclusive approach? - his 2nd book, “Education Systems in the 21st Century Are Engines of Inequality”: From a Pedagogy of Convenience to a Pedagogy of Resilience - Education by Design: When Systems Produce What We Accept I grew up in township communities and later returned to similar spaces as an education leader, carrying with me both memory and responsibility. In a world blessed with abundance, I found myself asking a painful question: why do so many children still grow up surrounded by drugs, violence, and deep insecurity—especially in the very spaces meant to nurture them? What troubled me most was not only the reality itself, but how normal it had become. Schools, which should embody care, dignity, and possibility—what I call educare, the act of drawing out humanity—often reflect the opposite. This is not accidental. The system, as it is designed, quietly reproduces these conditions. It is efficient at sustaining inequality while appearing to function. But systems are not immovable. Human agency matters. It is the one force capable of interrupting cycles that seem permanent. This book emerges from that conviction—that with courage, clarity, and collective will, we can redesign education to serve humanity, not abandon it.Read more here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/104928092X#InclusiveEducation #SocialJustice #EducationReform #Pedagogy #Equity Sigamoney's books can be purchased on the following links: 1. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Education-working-class-inclusive-approach-ebook/dp/B0DCC8HP4P 2. https://www.amazon.com/dp/104928092X He can be found on Sigamoney Naicker on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and LinkedIn. An enormous thanks to Sigamoney for spending the time, energy, and effort in discussing this Chapter and to everyone else for engaging with it. It will be available on @humanchapters YouTube, podcast, and Facebook page. Please share it with those that may resonate.
