Social justice and equity in Eritrean schools: Lessons from school principals' experiences

This article examines Eritrean school leaders' administrative functions in promoting social justice and equity among students. A detailed discussion of the challenges they encounter in their daily activities and its effect on the promotion of social justice and equity is also presented. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 randomly selected school principals, followed by an inductive analysis based on the transcribed interview data. Three major approaches to social justice practices commonly adopted by the principals were discovered: promoting a collaborative learning culture, individual support, and working with communities and local administrations. Major pitfalls in the school system which negatively affect social equity practices were observed, including teachers' low levels of professionalism, poor commitment and awareness; the tendency towards a highly bureaucratic and delayed distribution of educational resources; low levels of parental involvement; and conservative cultural and traditional attitudes.