What is an African curriculum?

The #RhodesMustFall student protests that gripped the University of Cape Town (UCT) have once again brought to the fore the problems around
transformation that bedevil higher education in South Africa. The disgraceful paucity of black professors and the disingenuous explanations
advanced by university management to show why this is so have appeared in the newspapers so often that they have become common lore.
But as so often happens when student or street protests shine an unforgiving light on our failings, a rash of committees are established in the
aftermath and put to work on what is to be done, even when everyone knows what this is.
I’ve heard that UCT has established a committee to look into curriculum reform, among other policies. I don’t want the discussion around curriculum
reform to die a slow, deliberative death, as so many issues do when landing at the feet of committees. I hope, by putting it out in the public domain, I
will, in a small way, help prevent that.
Curriculum transformation is an area that does not lend itself to the simplicity of numbers. It is easy to escape scrutiny when the focus is on matters
that can be represented in numbers, such as the number of black and white professors at a university. It also often disappears from the public gaze
because it is assumed that curricula are things for experts. Many commentators fear that they do not have the competence to discuss curriculum
development, except to merely call attention to its necessity.
But anyone who knows anything about post-colonial societies and their histories will know about the curricular changes that happened in the 1960s.
Others will know about those that occurred in Europe and North America from the 1980s onward because of the huge migrations that changed the
face of many Western countries and resulted in the multiculturalism movement. These two historical moments were accompanied by conversations
and debates about what, say, a decolonised curriculum will look like in Africa or Asia and what a multicultural curriculum will look like in the West.
Learn from old lessons
In South Africa, therefore, we do not need to start at ground zero when we think of transforming curricula. We should learn from the lessons left to us
by these earlier debates and the new curricula practices they set in motion. One such debate that holds important lessons for us started in October
1968.
At the University of Nairobi, a group of three academics led by a young man then known as James Ngugi (now the acclaimed author, Ngugi wa
Thiong’o) sent a memo to the arts faculty board. This memo was a reaction to an earlier, well-intentioned paper presented to the same faculty board
in the same year.
In this earlier paper, the acting head of the English department had proposed that the English syllabus be expanded to include writing in English from
other parts of the world. His rationale was that though the English department “had built up a strong syllabus by its study of the historic continuity of a
single culture throughout the period of the emergence of the modern West”, it now needed to be less British and open up to writing in English from
elsewhere.
It was a modest proposal. And, it must be said, that this was the position that was later to be adopted by the interest groups advocating
multiculturalism in education. Remember, this paper was presented in the 1960s and the multiculturalist movement that was to gather steam in the
1980s was at least a decade away.
An unacceptable plan
But the idea of a strong syllabus built on the historic continuity of a single culture to which other writing was to be added now and again as the times
demand drew the ire of the trio of academics – Ngugi, Henry Owuor-Anyumba and Taban Lo Liyong. In these young men’s opinion, this was
unacceptable.
For them, it made Africa an extension of the West. Kenya, East Africa and Africa should be placed at the centre of whatever historic continuity
Kenyan students were to study. In their thinking, it was a fundamental question of place, perspective and orientation that needed to be addressed in
any reconceptualisation of the curriculum for a Kenyan university.
The memo eventually led to a major curriculum transformation in East Africa. This memo is important for us right now, in South Africa, not only for its
historic significance but also because it spells out two of the major assumptions and principles that have been at the centre of debates about
transforming the curriculum since then. Do we simply add new items to an existing curriculum – rather like adding raffia chairs to the master’s living
room? Or do we adopt the reverse approach in which we rethink how the object of study itself is constituted? These were the two positions that the
Nairobi debate foregrounded and they give us a good platform to begin to think about transformation in our present context.
But let us take the experts out at this point and remind ourselves that, at a basic level, a curriculum is simply a way of assigning value, a way of
discriminating between what we think is important and valuable and what isn’t.
Assigning value
Although the narrative with which I began has to do with English and literary studies, every curriculum in every discipline – be it in geology or
medicine, history or chemistry – assigns value to its objects of study and withdraws it from others, which could be thought of as belonging to the
same domain. If I asked medical students or students of pharmacology to study my grandmother’s cures, which I know from experience are as
effective as any other, some are likely to fall off their chairs laughing.
In addition to assigning value, a curriculum also determines the academic formation of a new generation. That is, it helps to create people who think
in a particular way about particular subjects and talk about them in a particular language and idiom. This is what makes the curriculum a particularly
good place to plant the seeds of transformation.
How, therefore, do we think about curriculum transformation in the context of higher education in South Africa today? The first step is to recognise
the cultural and scientific production – the knowledge – of previously devalued groups of people. This is not a new proposition – recognising and
according value to the previously disadvantaged was what was supposed to have happened politically in 1994. This now has to happen in
universities too.
It will not only be presumptuous, but impossible for me to prescribe in fine detail how this should be done in each discipline. Yet it is possible to again
reiterate the principles that should inform and guide this process and points that the specialists need to keep in mind.
Two approaches
In your own discipline, you may, first, want to adopt a content-driven additive approach and expand the curriculum already in place. Or you may want
to adopt the different approach of thinking how the object of study itself is constituted, what tools are used to study it and what concepts are used to
frame it. This is because analytical tools and concepts may marginalise some students and privilege others. This kind of approach will not only
supplement simple additions to the content of the curriculum, it will lead to a rethinking of the theories and methods that underlie the framing of the
curriculum.
Borrowing a term from music, the Palestinian theorist Edward Said suggested that the way to most productively read, analyse or interpret a text is to
do so contrapuntally. Contrapuntal analysis takes into account the perspectives of both the colonised and the coloniser, their interwoven histories,
their discursive entanglements – without necessarily harmonising them or attending to one while erasing the other.
Transforming the curriculum involves contrapuntal thinking at every level; it needs a contrapuntal pedagogy that brings the knowledge of the
marginalised to bear on our teaching. A transformed curriculum is one that encourages contrapuntal thinking and pedagogy. For example, next time
your philosophy professor teaches you Hegel’s “master and bondsman” and does not mention Haiti, ask him why.
The Cecil John Rhodes statue at the centre of the upper campus of UCT may have been physically removed, but what we now need to move is the
hegemonic gaze of the Rhodes that is lodged in our ways of thinking, in our curricular and pedagogical practices, our professional practices as
teachers, academics, scholars and students. We need to take a critical look at our everyday routine.
In short, we need to remove the Rhodes that lives in our disciplines and the curricula that underpin them.
Harry Garuba teaches African studies at the University of Cape Town. In 2011, he wrote about the Rhodes Memorial in Cape Town for the Mail &
Guardian’s Thought Leader websiteTowards an African curriculum
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African Curriculum Materials

Africans as Primary Actors in Their own Lives and Lands: Validating African Curriculum Materials

Paper presented at the African Studies Association meeting, Baltimore, November 3, l990

Nancy J. Schmidt, Africana Bibliographer, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN (permission to reprint granted)

In 1969 Barry K. Beyer wrote a pioneering guide to African curriculum in elementary and secondary schools that represented some of the best
reformist thinking of the l960s about the role of Africa in U.S. school curricula: Africa South of the Sahara; A Resource and Curriculum Guide (New
York: Crowell). In this guide Beyer stated:

Africa must be studied from the inside, in its own terms. No culture or region can be accurately understood or analyzed through the values and
assumptions of another culture (p.23)

In 1989 Barry K. Beyer was one of three co-authors of a high school textbook, World History: Traditions and New Directions (Menlo Park: Addison
Wesley), in which 30 of 878 pages focus on Africa and Africa is mentioned on a few other pages. The chapters which focus on Africa are on
kingdoms of ancient Africa, diversity in Africa, empires and kingdoms 1450-1800, imperial control, impact and resistance, African independence, and
culture of Sub-Saharan Africa. Africa is not mentioned in the first chapter on roots of civilization and prehistory, yet there is prehistoric evidence of
culture from Africa earlier than anywhere else in the world. A world time line (pp. 838 ff) begins at 30,000 B.C. for Europe, 24,000 B.C. for Asia and
5,000 B.C. for Africa when agriculture was introduced into Africa. In the chapter on ancient Egypt there is no mention of Sub-Saharan African
connections or influences. In short, the revisionist historical scholarship of the last two decades is not represented in this textbook, which is highly
Eurocentric in focus despite the attempt to include more information about non-European areas than was included in world history textbooks two
decades ago.

How can Barry Beyer be a coauthor of such a book which studies Africa from the outside, when in 1969 he said that Africa must be studied on its
own terms and presented resources that would assist in an African-centered approach? Beyer's 1969 book was an independent effort, unrelated to
textbooks adopted by school systems or state boards of education, designed to change teachers' and curriculum designers' approaches to teaching
about Africa.

Beyer's work and that of others in the 1960s did influence the thinking of some teachers and curriculum developers. The amount of information about
Africa included in textbooks has increased in the last 20 years. The accuracy of information about Africa included in textbooks has improved,
although certainly not enough. Yet most textbooks remain Eurocentric in focus even when they incorporate primary materials by Africans. The
bureaucratic structures of textbook publishers, textbook review committees, state and local boards of education insure this. These are formidable
structures to deal with. Only a few states such as New York and North Carolina, and relatively few school districts, including Portland, Oregon, have
been able to mobilize sufficient support to overcome entrenched structures and introduce African perspectives into some curriculum units.

The challenge for most teachers who want to teach about Africa in U.S. classrooms is how to introduce African perspectives in focus. Teachers are
faced with at least six major challenges in introducing African perspectives into the curriculum:

1. finding materials (print, audio, visual) in which African viewpoints are expressed 2. selecting which African viewpoints to include 3. providing
balance in presenting different African viewpoints 4. selecting viewpoints which inform but do not reinforce stereotypes 5. selecting materials that
students as well as teachers understand and respond to 6. providing context so that African and Eurocentric viewpoints can be compared and
understood

In the last 20 years several different approaches have been used in incorporating primary materials in the curriculum to represent African
perspectives. I will briefly discuss and critique several materials that use these approaches as a means of exemplifying the scope of the challenges
just mentioned.
In 1970 Leon Clark edited Through African Eyes (New York: Praeger), a six volume collection of primary resources written by politics, which has
been revised and is being published in two volumes by CITE (Center for International Training and Education, New York, Vol.1, 1988, Vol.2, 1991).
Each selection from a primary source is several pages long- long enough for the author to develop his/her ideas and to provide the reader with an
impression of the authors style. Through African Eyes includes fiction and poetry that express African viewpoints by well-known writers such as
Chinua Achebe, David Diop and Stanlake Samkange, as well as expository prose.

The primary resources are divided into topical sections. Clark has written an introduction to each selection that places it in the context in which it was
originally created. The introductions provide background that can help students understand the different origins of African and Eurocentric
perspectives.

As an Africanist scholar Clark is familiar with a wide range of material on Africa, and has selected works that are relatively accurate, by important,
well-known and respected authors. Thus the selections are relatively well-balanced to represent different kinds of African perspectives.

The readings in Through African Eyes are quite flexible. They can be used in their entirety as a high school curriculum on Africa, or may be used in
part to fit into history or social studies curricula on Africa, or to introduce African perspectives into general curricula on history, colonialism or
nationalism. The readings can be used on their own or in conjunction with curriculum suggestions that are published in a separate volume, Teaching
Strategies.

Few teachers could individually select such a wide range of African viewpoints to include in a curriculum. Most teachers lack access to a wide range
of resources from which to make selections. Very few libraries in the U.S. have comprehensive collections of materials on Africa. Even fewer have
collections which include materials published in Africa.

A very different approach to using primary resources is found in Problems of Africa, Opposing Viewpoints (St. Paul: Greenhaven Press, 1986)
compiled by Janelle Rohr. The opposing viewpoints Series for high school and community college students uses newspapers, magazines, popular
journals and books "to help readers become more intelligent and discriminating consumers of information in our media-centered culture" (back
cover). Most volumes in the series focus on American topics such as AIDS, abortion, animal rights, the arms race, U.S. foreign policy and death and
dying. Of more than 30 volumes in the series, less than five focus on foreign areas. Neither Rohr, nor the series editors, David Bender and Bruno
Leone, have significant African expertise.

Although some African viewpoints are included in Problems of Africa, no attempt was made to provide them on all topics or to balance them with
non-African viewpoints. Almost all selections come from U.S. and British publications which are included in standard indexes and bibliographies and
are readily accessible to non-specialists. The brief introduction to each selection sometimes identifies the occupation of the author, eg. journalist,
politician, but context for the selections is not provided. Instead the introduction includes a one or two sentence summary of the selection that follows
and a list of questions to think about when reading the selection.

The structure of the entire volume has a strong Eurocentric bias, beginning with the title, Problems of Africa. Why not have a title such as political
issues in Africa or challenges in Africa? The five chapters in which the primary resources are included are also biased. Although chapter 1 is entitled,
What are the causes of Africa's problems?, the problems are identified and discussed by non-Africans. Not one African viewpoint is included in this
chapter. Chapter 2, Have the Superpowers Hindered Africa's Development? takes an external perspective in which Africa is presented as
responding to outside forces rather than internal goals. Only one African perspective is included in this chapter. The title of the third chapter, Why is
Famine Prevalent in Africa? is erroneous. The compiler equates food shortage and famine in organizing the chapter in which no African perspectives
are expressed. Most of the African viewpoints are expressed in the fourth and fifth chapters on apartheid and South Africa. Including two of five
chapters on only one African country is an incredible imbalance in a book which purports to cover the continent. Issues of concern in South Africa
are not typical of those of the continent.

Problems of Africa informs and reinforces stereotypes. For some topics it misinforms because there are factual errors both in some chapter
introductions and selections. Misinformation also occurs because Africa is treated as a country, not as a diverse continent. Information on only a few
African countries is included, and there are many generalizations about the continent which are unsubstantiated. Problems of Africa also reinforces
stereotypes because the structure of the volume and the questions for student discussion assume that everything is wrong with Africa.

If individual teachers were to try to select their own readings from the press on current issues in Africa, they would have some of the same problems
as the compilers of Problems of Africa, if they used only the American and British materials that are most readily accessible. Few African
perspectives are expressed in Euroamerican mainstream media. Most teachers will not have access to African newspapers and magazines in which
a wide range of African perspectives on contemporary issues are discussed or to American publications such as Africa News or Africa Report which
express some African viewpoints. These kinds of materials are not available in most school libraries, curriculum resources centers and public
libraries.

Global Insights (Columbus, Ohio: Merrill Publishing Company) incorporates primary materials in an author written text that is organized by topics
more relevant to Africans than those in Problems of Africa. "Global Insights Africa" is one section of the Global Insights textbook. The 1980 edition
was written by Ella Leppert and Ellen Johnson, and the 1988 edition was written by Katherine Thuermer. Johnson and Thuermer have considerable
African expertise. The authored text and short selections of a few paragraphs to two pages from primary resources are interspersed in the coverage
of each topic. The selections include oral literature, fiction, poetry and expository prose. Many of the selections are too short to grasp the author's full
argument or show the author's styles, the arts and development. The 1988 edition provides three case studies on Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa,
which represent the diversity of large English- speaking nations in which the U.S. has a special interest. Three case studies are preferable to one. It
is not possible to show the diversity of the continent in a short textbook. The framework of the general chapters, Adapting to the Environment, African
Heritage, From Colonialism to Nationalism, Arts in Daily Life and Challenges to Development, is more Africa-centered than in Problems of Africa or
World History. There is some focus on what Africans are doing rather than on what is happening to Africa as a result of external forces. Many African
viewpoints are expressed, although not in depth.

"Global Insights Africa" includes attractive, interesting illustrations, but some of their captions are not as accurate as the text. This is a result of the
editors, rather than authors, writing captions. The questions in "Global Insights Africa" encourage inquiry, rather than focusing on forming opinions
based on limited data as in Problems of Africa. The questions in both textbooks tell students what to look for in the primary resources, rather than
letting students interpret the primary resources on their own.

Changes were made in the primary resources by Africans in the second edition of "Global Insights Africa." One resources dropped was a long
selection from Wole Soyinka's play, The Swamp Dwellers. Although Soyinka was awarded the Noble Prize for Literature, his writing is not easily
accessible to American high school students, and thus is not as appropriate for inclusion as that of some other African creative writers. This example
serves as a reminder that materials expressing African viewpoints need to be selected for appropriateness to the focus of curricula and the abilities
of students, just as do materials expressing American or other viewpoints, and that high quality materials which appeal to teachers and curriculum
developers may not be appropriate for inclusion in school curricula.

A different approach to providing African perspectives in American curricula on Africa is to have Africans write material explicitly for American
students. I will provide two examples of materials prepared as curriculum supplements.

The essays in Lessons from Africa (Bloomington, In.: Social Studies Curriculum Development Center, 1989) edited by Merry Merryfield, were written
by African teachers and curriculum developers who were taking advanced degrees in education at Indiana University. The essays focus on
commonplace activities of African teenagers and are intended to supplement social studies curricula in middle schools. The topics covered, include
daily activities of 13 year olds, marriage, family, food, etiquette and Kenyan and Liberian stereotypes of America. The essays are on specific
countries or ethnic groups in English speaking Africa, and incorporate viewpoints of the authors and their perceptions of what American young
people should know about Africa.

These essays are not without problems for use in some schools. The authors vary in their writing skills and use of English. For example, the
idiomatic use of English differs in the U.S. and Lesotho or Liberia. For stylistic reasons, the essays will vary in their appeal to American students.
Some of the material in the essays reinforces stereotypes at the same time that it informs. For stylistic reasons, the essays will vary in their appeal to
American students. Some of the materials in the essays reinforces stereotypes at the same time that it informs. For example, the emphasis on topics
like polygyny or the use of terms such as "tribe" and "hut," which do not have the negative connotations in the authors' countries as they do in the
U.S.

The African Outreach Program at the University of Illinois has assembled a large number of handouts written by Africans and Africanists and
compiled them in Curriculum Materials for Teachers, which has been issued in several editions since 1983. These are materials which can be
photocopied and distributed to students. Almost all of the authors are or were affiliated with the University of Illinois as students or faculty.
Biographical information is provided on the authors in compilation.

The materials, intended as supplements to social studies curricula in elementary and secondary schools, are on diverse and specific topics such as
folktales, directions for playing African games, information about and instructions for making adinkra cloth, music, sports, cocoa production, tourism
and economic development. Most materials focus on a specific country and are written on topics for which the authors have subject expertise. The
African Outreach Program at the University of Illinois has prepared a volume of readings in French, Afrique en Francais (1986) compiled by Severine
Arlabosse, for use in French language classes at the beginning and intermediate levels. The information in this volume focuses on French-speaking
African countries.

The materials created at Indiana University and the University of Illinois and usually present only one viewpoint on each topic. The subjects and
countries covered are limited by expertise of those who voluntarily will write materials for use in American schools.

As these examples show, letting Africans speak for themselves in African focused and African centered contexts in American schools is not easy to
achieve. The most useful materials which include African perspectives are created outside the formal textbook structure. They must be sought out by
teachers, since they are not published by major U.S. publishers of Curriculum materials.

African focused materials and primary resources by Africans need to be evaluated for their relevance to specific curriculum goals by the same kinds
of criteria as any materials on Africa are evaluated. Some of these criteria include:

1. What are the credentials of the author? 2. Is the subject matter up-to-date or current for the historical period represented? 3. Is the level of
generalization appropriate for the subject? 4. Is the conceptual framework relevant to Africa and Africans? 5. Is the vocabulary appropriate for the
topic discussed, or are biased, loaded, condescending, sensational or other inappropriate terms used?

More detailed criteria for evaluating materials can be found in my essay, Criteria for Evaluating Precollegiate Teaching Materials on Africa (Issue
(Los Angeles) 3/4 (1980): 58-60) and in Louise Crane's essay, some Guideline for Evaluating Materials About Africa for Children (Curriculum
Materials for Teaching. Urbana: University of Illinois, 1983, pp. 71-74). It is highly desirable to incorporate African perspectives in teaching about
Africa in American schools, but primary materials must be selected with the same care and concern for appropriateness and validity as are other
materials on Africa.

In the last 20 years the most successful approach to incorporating African perspective in American curricula is that taken by Leon Clark Through
African Eyes. Primary materials written and spoken by Africans are introduced, in relation to the context in which they were originally created, into
American history and social studies curricula. What is desperately needed in the 1990s is a greater infusion of this approach into mainstream social
studies and history curricula on Africa

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History of Black Education

In short, white universities felt no special mission, as centers of American culture, to incorporate the former American slaves into that culture.
-Allen Ballard, The Education of Black Folk

To better understand the status of blacks in education between the years 1950-1975, one must have an understanding of the historical events
shaping that status. An understanding of social political status of Black Americans is needed.
Ever since the days of slavery, constraining black education was used as a method to quell black agency and fears of slave rebellions. This denial
only intensified Black people's desire for education. After emancipation, black education was relegated to poorly funded segregated schools.

During this period, two leaders emerged with conflicting philosophies regarding Black education, W.E.B. DuBois and Booker T. Washington.
Segregated school in the South
History of Black Higher Education
In higher education, several Black institutions were formed under the auspices of the Freedman's Bureau and the American Missionary Association,
to help create black clerics and provide a Christian education for the Black "heathens." Simultaneously, Southern black institutions, segregated
schools that largely depended on white philanthropy to exist, focused on industrial education that would prepare blacks for subservient roles in
society. These institutions were in most cases, academically inferior to white institutions. The first Black American student graduated from Bowdoin
College in 1890. Black students did not begin to enter predominately white schools in significant numbers until the 1960s.
-Education of Blacks in Ohio
Although from the mid to the late 1800s, Ohio had more colleges that any other state in America, the acceptance and enrollment of black students
was relatively small. With the notable exception of Oberlin College (1833), which was open to black students as early as 1835, only two years after it
open, Ohio's campuses were overwhelming white institutions with scarce Black students representation. Like Kenyon, these schools. Perhaps the
establishment of Wilberforce University (1856) in Southern Ohio may have contributed to this.
Education in the 1950s
Before the beginning of the large-scale entry of Black students into white universities in 1965-66, the academic world itself scarcely noticed Blacks.

-Allen Ballard, The Education of Black Folk

While some universities would require federal urging to open their enrollment to black students, these were primarily larger state universities. Many
private colleges never explicitly forbade blacks, but practiced a de facto segregation. Before the black enrollment boom of the late 1960s, some
schools, such as Kenyon, began to investigate the possibilities of recruiting qualified black students. There were sparse scatterings of solitary black
students beginning to integrate all white campuses. Contributing factors included the Great Migration, the economic gains of World War II, military
desegregation, and the Brown v. Board of education case. These all brought hope to black Americans regarding their children's education.

Education in the 1960s

The university fancied itself free of racism and imbued with the belief that it is the man, not the color, that counts. But self-perception is often fatally in
conflict with the perception of others. The white American university, as viewed by Blacks, was white and racist.

-Allen Ballard, The Education of Black Folk

The 1960s was a time of great turmoil and social unrest in America and in the Black community. At this time, more blacks began to attend
predominately white institutions at an increasing rate. Moreover, toward the end of the decade, more blacks were choosing to attend predominately
white institutions than were choosing to attend historically black colleges and universities. Sociologist Jacqueline Fleming discovered that while black
students chose white institutions because of better academic reputations, financial aid, and academic resources superior to those at black colleges,
the presence of racism or an environment that is hostile impedes these benefits for blacks. Fleming's studies show that black students tend to
perform better and exhibit more personal growth at historically black institutions.
Many believe that the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. prompted not only an increase in campus black political activity, but also an increase in
administrative responsiveness to black student demands. The demands of these activists typically included more black students, increased black
faculty, and the establishment of black studies programs. Kenyon was no exception.

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Beginnings of Black Education

Very few black Virginians received any education at all until public schools were established during Reconstruction. Public schools in Virginia were
segregated from the outset, apparently without much thought or debate, on the widely-held assumption that such an arrangement would reduce
conflict. Of course, public schools were segregated in many other states, both North and South.
 View fullscreenMore informationWhen public
schools were a novelty, most black Virginians were thrilled to have any free education at all. Moreover, they liked having schools of their own, not
subject to white interference, in which black children would feel comfortable and not be taunted with racial epithets.

These schools, however, were at the mercy of the white-controlled state government for funding. Many whites did not want blacks to become
educated, fearing they would challenge white supremacy and not be content with jobs working in the fields or in domestic service. Black schools
therefore received far less financial support than did white schools. Black schools had fewer books, worse buildings, and less well paid teachers.
Ramshackle, segregated schools marked black Virginians with a stigma of inferiority and the status of second-class citizenship that they would have
to endure throughout their lives.

Traditional African education: Its significance to current educational practices with special reference to Zimbabwe
Chrispen Matsika, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to critically examine three different approaches to educational provision in Zimbabwe during the pre-colonial, colonial
and post-colonial periods. It was the intention of the researcher to then select certain features of the pre-colonial, which is also known as the
traditional approach, and adopt them into the present practices in order to improve the later. To this end, two methods were employed, literary works
and interviews. ^ The major form of obtaining information here was through literary works. Various documents on the history of education in
Zimbabwe during the colonial and post-colonial periods were examined and those relevant to this study were selected. Those of the current practices
were also used. It was determined that both in the colonial and postcolonial eras, governments were using education as a tool to realize their political
objectives. The concerns over political security led colonial governments to provide and withhold education provision as they saw fit. This was their
way of checking and controlling the rate of African advancement. Current efforts in the provision of education by the government are a way of
cementing the ruling party's administration of society around its own political ideology. ^ This study has found that in both the colonial and the post-
colonial periods, the African children were subjected to very strange experiences in the form of the school curriculum. The type of thinking and
activities children did at school was not supported with the experiences that they had at home. The worlds of traditional Shona and thought (home)
and that of the West (school) in many cases were found to be diametrically opposite. This study argues that these opposite worlds can be bridged if
certain aspects of traditional thought and practice was allowed into schools. This would be done by providing a curriculum at school, which
incorporated some of those experiences that are highly valued at home. That would make the students' experiences at home continuous with and
complementary to those at school. ^
Subject Area
Education history|Teacher education|Educational philosophy
Recommended Citation
Matsika, Chrispen, "Traditional African education: Its significance to current educational practices with special reference to Zimbabwe"
(2000). Doctoral Dissertations Available from Proquest. AAI9960770.
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Sunday, 17 July 2011

HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN EAST AFRICA

African indigenous education was a lifelong process of learning where by a person progressed through predetermined stages of life of graduation
from cradle to grave. Cameroon & Dodd (1970). This implies that African indigenous education was continuous throughout lifetime from childhood to
old-age
Mushi (2009) defines African indigenous education as a process of passing among the tribal members and from one generation to another the
inherited knowledge, skills, cultural traditions norms and values of the tribe.
In www.eric.ed.gov/../recordDetail. African indigenous education is defined as the native, locally developed form of bringing up the youngsters by the
older and more experienced members of the society. Being native is by no means to deny the fact that indigenous learning goals, content, structures
and methods have not been enriched, or for that matter, polluted or both by outside influences.
African indigenous education can generally be defined as the form of learning in Africa traditional societies in which knowledge, skills, and attitudes
of the tribe, were passed from elders to children, by means of oral instructions and practical activities.
The main characteristics of African indigenous education included the following.
Traditional African indigenous education was community oriented, geared to solving the problems of the community. The instructional activities were
therefore, directed towards the social life of the community, so as to prepare the learners to fit into their community.
Kenyatta (1961 in Mushi 2009) holds it that;
It was taught in relation to a ‘concrete’ situation. The boys and girls learnt about birds that were harmful, how they could be controlled, and what birds
could be eaten. In the same way they learnt about trees that were good for firewood, building or for propping crops like banana and yams as well as
those which resisted ants.

It was illiterate. The learning experiences were made orally and the knowledge was stored in the heads of elders. The instructors were carefully
selected from the family or clan. Their task was to impart knowledge, skills and attitudes to the young, informally at the didactic and practical levels.
Nyerere (1975) says, “at the didactic level the teaching process took the form of the stories, legends, riddles, and songs; while at the practical level
individuals enacted what they had learnt didactically, by imitating and watching what their elders performed”.
It put emphasis on practical learning and the young adult learned by watching, participating and executing what they learnt. The skills like carving,
masonry, clay working, cloth making, building canoe making, cooking, and home management were insisted among the children in the community.
These were the skills opened to all, as they consisted of the basic skills, knowledge and attitudes that enabled individuals to live and function
effectively in their tribe.
The question of learning by doing is very important. The best way to learn sewing is to sew; the best way to learn farming is to farm; the best way to
learn cooking is to cook the best way to learn how to teach is to teach and so on. Nyerere (1975 in Mushi 2009)
It was not separated from other spheres of community activity. This implies that it was the whole life of the community and it had no special time of a
day or life when it took place. Instead it took place in the entire span of life it can therefore be viewed as a life-long process in which an individual
acquired skills, knowledge and values from womb to tomb. Mush (2009) comments that in this case education was essentially part of life and not
separated from the societal culture.
It was functional. The knowledge skills and values that were imparted were relevant to the socio-economic activities of an individual. The learners
learned the skills that were for immediate and long term activities. Mushi spotlights the Bena society and has the following to say;
In Bena society, the individual who were earmarked for various community roles like guards, leaders or teachers, received training around the chiefs
(ntemi) residence. The compulsory subjects comprised fighting, religion, law, history, agriculture and animal husbandry. Upon completion of their
training they were appointed as guards, teachers and warriors.(ibid)

It had no paper word-testing and certificates but learners graduated ceremoniously. There were basically no formal exams at the end of a specific
level of training, but a learner was considered a graduate when he/she was able to practice what s/he had learnt throughout the period of training.
The ceremony was held to mark the completion o training and thus assuming more community responsibilities. This was common especially during
what Mushi referred to as ‘coming of age’ ceremonies and ‘the rites of passage’

African indigenous education did no develop in a vacuum, it had its own philosophical bases on which it was built. Having looked at the main
characteristics of African indigenous education lets examine its philosophical bases. The following should be considered as philosophical bases for
African indigenous education
Preparedness/preparationism. This implies that the role of teaching and learning was to equip boys and girls with the skills appropriate to their
gender in preparation for their distinctive roles the society. In most African traditional societies such as Sukuma, Zanaki, Kurya, masai, Nyamwezi
most girls were taught how to become good mothers and how to handle their husbands soon after marriage, and boys were prepared to become
warriors, manual farmers, good fathers (the heads of the family) and other male dominated occupations.(ibid)
Functionalism. This was another philosophical base in which the knowledge, skills and attitudes imparted were relevant to the social economic
activities of an individual. And so education was for utility value. It was provided for immediate induction into real life in the society. Learners learnt by
observing, imitating and initiation ceremonies. Mushi has the following to say on it
Indigenous African education was functional, the knowledge, skills and values that were imparted were relevant to the socio-economic activities of
the individual … this was evident in the fields of agriculture, building, fishing, iron smelting, canoe making dancing or child rearing.(ibid)

Communalism. In African traditional society learners learned/acquired a common spirit to work and life and that the means of production were owned
communally. The education was also an integral part of culture and history. For example children upbringing was a whole community’s role. If for
instance a child misbehaved in the absence of his/her parents any adult member of the community was responsible to correct him/her on spot. That
implies that even children belonged to the society.
Holisticism/multiple learning. In this philosophical base a learner was required to acquire multiple skills. They were either not allowed to specialize in
specific occupation, or a very little room for specialization did exist. When a learner learnt about a certain skill, say farming s/he was obliged to learn
all other skills related to farming such as, how to prepare farms, hoeing, food preservation, how to fight with diseases attacking crops and so on. Also
he had to learn other skills like, hunting, house building, cookery, and principles required for the wellbeing of an individual, clan and ethnic groups.
The learner learnt multiple skills and mastered them all.
Perennialism. This philosophical base ensured that the traditional communities in Africa use education as a necessary tool for preserving the status
quo of the tribe. Based on this fact it did not allow the progressive influence of on the mind of young people and so it was viewed as conservative in
nature. Learners were viewed as passive recipients and could not contribute anything to the learning process. Mushi says on this that, “criticism
about what they were taught was discouraged and knowledge was not to be questioned. Questions seeking clarification on aspects not clearly
understood were encouraged” (2009:39)

African indigenous education displayed the following strengths to its recipients and the society at large.
Every member of the community was employed. Children learnt the skills that prepared them to immediately utilize their physical environment for
self-employment. The skills acquired by watching, and imitating the elders were immediately put into practical use. And thus the children became
productive and useful members in the society.
It was successful in maintaining the socio-economic and cultural structures of the society. The learners were taught among other things, to preserve
their own culture and to get rid of external influences. Also the skills like masonry, clay working, carving, cloth making, building canoe making and
tinsmithery, were taught in the view of maintaining the socio-economic and cultural heritage of the society.
The learners/recipients acquired communal attitudes rather than individual. From communalism philosophical base point of view, learners were
taught to respect the properties of the whole society, and they used their acquired knowledge for service of the society. The Masai moran for
example protected the whole society and the properties therein.

Despite its strengths, African indigenous education did not go without limitations. Below are some of the limitations that befell African indigenous
education.
It was confined to a particular clan or society and covered that aspect considered being of immediate relevance to them and it did not go beyond the
borders of the society. Worse enough the elders who were teachers hardly entertained any challenge. That is what Mushi expresses in this
paragraph; “traditional education had a specific body of knowledge to be learnt which never changed, and which concentrated only on the
transmission of cultural heritage, i.e. of traditions, values, and norms among the members of the tribe from childhood to adulthood…”
The accumulated knowledge and skills could not be preserved in written form. It lacked proper methods of storing knowledge and relied on the
memories of the elders. Because it was not documented it was difficult to spread from one place to another. Mush says “it was not easy to describe,
compare, and estimate distance, volume, weight, and size of different objects because figures or letters were unknown to traditional African
societies” (ibid).
Intellectual training occupied a very small place in traditional African education. This means that greater emphasis was placed on the ‘concrete’
rather than the ‘abstract’. It ignored other cognitive abilities like reasoning, which although it was imperative, was insufficiently developed. So
sometimes, everything happening, be it good or bad was attributed to God’s will.
It is correct to argue that traditional African societies had their own ways of reasoning, but to some people this kind of reasoning could not enable
them to imagine alternatives to decision arrived at, a factor that was partly attributed to the emphasis placed on traditions i.e. beliefs and their
threats”(ibid)

Learning was lineal; the young people were taught by elders who had experiences in societal life. The young people were not given chance as they
were considered to have no experiences that would help them contribute in the learning process; they were required to listen and internalize what
they were taught by elders. That limited their creative and innovative mental development, thus leading to slow development of a traditional society.
In traditional society some members were prevented from eating certain types of food, such as eggs, fruits, chicken, fish, and milk. In those societies
if the forefathers did not eat such types of foods it was generalized that even the subsequent generations should not eat. Some beliefs were attached
to such foods for example if eggs were to be eaten by expectant mothers it was believed that she would give birth to a bald-headed child. This was a
big misconception since it was not realistically true.
In traditional societies, women were seen as the source of labour, they did not own means of production neither did they take part in decision
making, but men heavily exploited their labour. Even in learning segregation took place as womwn were isolated from men and were supposed to
learn skills realated to home management, mid wifery, healthcare weaving and farming. On the other hand men attended to those skills considered
irrelevant to women, these included; masonry, building, or fishery.{ibid)

African indigenous education is relevant to the modern education today in the following cases.

African indigenouos education is the basis for the foundation of Education for Self-relience in modern education. During the establishment of ESR in
1967, Nyerere recalled how the traditonal education was relevant to the community life-especially learning by doing, and included it in modern
education. Learners pareticiation in learning is highly encouraged by morden educators.
Furthermore, it prepared its recepients for life duties in their societies, likewise modern education is no exceptonal. It prepares the learners to enter
the world of work, and more specifically it changes with time. For example the introduction of information and communication technology course in
colleges and universities responds to the current demands of information and communication technology, traditional education also changed in
response to societal problems, like how to combart the emerging diseases, wild animals, enemies etc.
African indigenouos education has also greately influenced the need for development of more appropriate problem solving educational
curriculumand the promotion of life-long education. Some aspects of African indigenouos education have continued to feature in policy and practice
of education.

Basically African indigenouos education managed to provide education to all members of the community, althogh it differed from tribe to tribe. With
the coming of western education however African indigenouos education was seen inadequate to contribete to modern world’s demads and the need
for new skills. The isolationism of African indigenouos education was broken up as societis were now introduced into a larger world of modern
knowledge and technology.

REFERENCES

Cameroon, J. and Dodd. W. (1970) Society, Schools and Progress in Tanzania 1919-1970.
London: James Currey
Kenyatta, (1961), Facing Mountain Kenya. The Tribal Life of the Kikuyu. London: Secker
and Warburg Ltd

Mushi PA K. (2009) History of Education in Tanzania. Dar-es-Salaam: Dar-es-Salaam

University Press

Nyerere, J.K(1975)Education Never Ends, the 1969 and 1970 New Years Eve address to
the Nation in NAEAT Adult Education and Development in Tanzania.
Dar-es-Salaam.

Nyerere J.K (1979a) Education for Self Reliance in Hinzen, H and Hundsdorfer, V H
(Eds) Education for Liberation and Development. The Tanzania Experience Hamburg
and Evans

www.eric.ed.gov/../recordDetail visited on 10th Jan 2011