Background
It is an established historical fact that certain peoples in the world value every piece of their history , identity , and culture , both the highly significant and what may seem inconsequential, and are ready to purchase them at exorbitant prices!1 Can the same be said of the African peoples? Perhaps, Africans too have in the past valued their history and culture which are manifest in varying forms, as they were emboldened by their culture in their fight against Europeans, for instance, against colonial rule. However, what is the current state of Africans’ knowledge of their history and their mind-set in general toward the value of their history and culture ? Thus the likes of the long list of African freedom fighters before and after the Berlin Conference and its aftermath until the process of independence: Donna Beatrice (Kimpa Vita by her African name) of the Kongo Empire from the end of the seventeenth to the beginning of the eighteenth centuries who lived a short life as she was put to death by the Portuguese forces during the period of informal colonization ; Queen Nzinga/Jinga, the reformist who assigned women to important government positions in present-day Angola and organized and led a powerful guerrilla army; Nehanda Charwe Nyakasikana of Zimbabwe who led resistance against colonial occupation and was put to death by the British forces; Yaa Asantewaa who became Queen of the Ashanti Kingdom (now part of modern -day Ghana ) and who led her people to fight the onslaught of colonialism after the Ashanti Court was sent into exile and was also ultimately sent to and died in exile; the women who in Côte d’Ivoire took over the Grand-Bassam prison where the French colonial administration had imprisoned anti-colonial leaders ; the range of the African leaders who fought in the transition between colonial rules and independence among whom, Félix Houphouët-Boigny who fought for the eradication of forced labor in African countries colonized by France and became the first President of Côte d’Ivoire ; Kwame Nkrumah, a vanguard in the colonial struggle , strong advocate of Pan-Africanism , and first President of the Republic of Ghana ; Leopold Sedar Senghor, first President of Senegal and a founding member of the La Négritude Movement; Nelson Mandela, the first black President of South Africa and a countless others who fought apartheid; the Aba Women from six ethnic groups (Igbo, Ibibio, Andoni, Orgoni, Bonny, and Opobo) in Nigeria known for reclaiming their political power; Chinua Achebe of Nigeria , known as the Father of the African novel; Ngugi wa Thiong’o of Kenya with his theory of de-colonizing the mind and appeal to Africans to employ their own indigenous languages in their writings and as media of instruction in schools; West African in general such as Ghana’s Makola Women and Togo’s Nana Benz, market women famous for their economic clout and ingenuity; Aliko Dangote, Africa’s top billionaire who confidently believes that “we will be able to transform Africa by ourselves. Not alone, but we will lead and others will follow” (African Business Magazine, October Issue 2015, Emphasis in the original); as well as other countless past and present renowned (pan) Africans, both male and female have demonstrated unequivocally across Africa that Africans too have always treasured and utilized their identity , history , and culture and above all their natural potential and achieved capabilities and boldness to lead their societies over the generations toward improved lives.
However, the main question in this analysis is, to what extent are contemporary Africans willing to acknowledge, value , and integrate these manifestations of human distinctiveness, chronicle, assertiveness, intellectual philosophy , values , achievements , and leadership regarded collectively, into their educational systems , be it formal from pre-school to the tertiary level or non-formal so as to shape the contemporary education that genuinely represents and simultaneously equips the African to take on the challenges of her/his world? Dangote’s assertive words in terms of Africa’s ability in the world to assume the leadership position in shaping its own present and future destinies remain poignant: “we will be able to transform Africa by ourselves. Not alone, but we will lead and others will follow”. These words echo when Nsamenang and Tchombe (2011, p. xxvii) rightly point out that:
We have learned that no people entirely dislodged from their ancestral roots have ever made collective progress with development and that the era of outsiders deciding and “supplying” what Africans need has not yielded hoped-for outcomes …Their powers should not be used to ‘show the way’, but to support Africa’s efforts to hear its own education theories and see its education practices, among others , and to seek its own way forward.
This book represents one symbolic instance of Africa’s leadership efforts to “show the way”, “hear its own education theories and see its education practices…and…seek its own way forward” (Nsamenang and Tchombe 2011, p. xxvii). This is what it sets out to do.
This book is one of several publication projects that have been inspired by the 59th Comparative and International Education Society (CIES) Conference, held in Washington, DC, from 8 to 13 March 2015. The conference was framed in the spirit of the main theme: “Ubuntu! Imagining a Humanist Education Globally”. At the conference, the African Special Interest Group highlighted paper session entitled “Re-visioning Education in Africa and Beyond: Ubuntu, Humanism and Social Change” featured paper presentations that argued clearly that education in Africa, particularly, can no longer be “business as usual”, and that a re-visioning process for education in Africa was urgently needed. These paper presentations shape a number of the chapters in this book.
Rationale and Objectives
Re-visioning Education in Africa: Ubuntu-Inspired Education for Humanity argues that Africa needs a revolution or at least some profound transformation as far as its educational systems with poor outcomes are concerned—a conceptual and pragmatic revolution. Its purpose is to seek fresh paths for education in Africa by theoretically and practically interrogating and re-visioning education within the African cultural and philosophical concept of Ubuntu. Within this setting, it aims to: unpack the concept of an Ubuntu-inspired education for Africa and humanity; explore ways in and extent to which the continent can harness the potential of its very youthful populations rather than be confronted with the risk that untapped talents and capabilities of the youth pose; examine types of policy questions that national/regional/continental governments ought to be asking themselves with regard to educational systems and the global partnership for development processes in Africa; problematize the type and level of education quality offered to these growing young populations in the various countries; probe the issue of how educational systems in the different countries in Africa are enabling their graduates or beneficiaries with the above considerations in mind; investigate the choices that governments and decision makers are making to ensure these conditions are fulfilled; take a critical look into ways and extent to which governments can convert or are converting the fast technological and economic advancement in the international sphere into tangible transformation and enhanced opportunities for Africa’s youth ; interrogate the gender dimension; and finally, explore the relationship and impact of re-visioned education on socio-economic and political development of Africa and provide a critique of the current situation from an Ubuntu perspective , and how the Ubuntu philosophy will inspire a new type of education. For instance, what values and mind-set will the concept of Ubuntu bring into content and practice of education? Overall, the book proposes to instigate a rekindling of the debate on seeking new paths fo...