ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the Western and neoliberal biases that impact education and the development discourse, the conversation dealing with the progress of countries and societies. It demonstrates that the Western neoliberal education is not the only way to ‘freedom’. In the development discourse, education is positioned as the catch-all remedy for all issues facing society. The empowerment of women and girls, especially in the Third World, is often couched in terms of increasing access to education. Education has been constructed as one of the main responses to progression and prosperity. However, this idea is embedded not only in the development discourse but has also been co-opted by neoliberal understandings. Moreover, neoliberalism results in ‘suppression of oppositional critical thought and much autonomous thought and education’ as critical thinking, one that ponders over inequalities and is at odds with the neoliberal agenda.
