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Chapter 6. Indigenous Knowledge, Culture and Education in Africa
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127 Chapter 6 _________________________________________ Indigenous Knowledge, Culture and Education in Africa In all African countries especially in south of the Sahara, precolonial education system was based on the culture of the society or group of people concerned: it was not education embedded in the culture of the other as is the case today in many African societies. What was most critical about this education is that it recognised the value and importance of culture especially the traditional knowledge systems that involved activities, practices, norms, and processes that were useful to the indigenous people. This being the case, precolonial education enabled people to sustain their livelihoods and steer development in their respective communities. This should not be interpreted to mean that crisis was unheard of in pre-colonial period. People experienced different kinds of crises, but the crises were dealt with accordingly and through innovative thinking and the use of available [indigenous] knowledges. The environmental crisis that the people experienced, for example, was responded to with dismal failure at times, and resounding success at others, as the trial and error methods were seen to be effective (see also O’Donoghue et al., 1999). As the adage “necessity is the mother of invention” goes, these crises were springboards of innovative thinking. Through trial and error, people could try this and that IK and sometimes come up with new knowledge that successfully combated or reduced the gravity of the crisis. For this reason, scholars like Ntuli (1999: 189) 128 argue that “the role of higher education and that of intellectuals generally, in shaping the direction towards a more culture specific or culturally relevant curriculum, is a critical one”. The same argument is echoed by Vilakazi (1999: 206, emphasis original) who warns that “Africa needs to formulate and implement well thought out policies which would result in initiating an agricultural revolution, to be able to feed her millions of people adequately and lay a basis for education, industrialisation and modernisation”. Though Vilakazi’s argument is side with IKs especially in the area of agriculture, it is critical in that it emphasises the importance of integrating IKs in education systems in Africa. While integrating indigenous knowledge into the mainstream education curriculum is worthwhile for any country in Africa, this should not end there: a lot more should follow. This should include continuous monitoring and evaluation/assessment of the curriculum by stakeholders and educational technocrats so as to keep up and enhance the relevancy, significance, and quality of education being offered. This is critical as curriculum is just like a garden that requires constant care-taking to ensure that it keeps on flourishing. The importance of education curriculum evaluation has been underscored by Lotz, Tselane and Wagiet (1998) who have argued that assessment of education curriculum should be a continuous process of gathering evidence of learning throughout the school life of a learner in order to be able to determine the quality, impact, and value of the learning process and programme as a whole. [18.232.169.110] Project MUSE (2024-03-28 15:16 GMT) 129 Indigenous knowledge (IK) in Africa: Institutionalisation and integration in education curricular In the recent years, there has been realisation of the importance of institutionalising and integrating indigenous knowledge into the mainstream education curricula across the African continent. To this effect, some strides have been made by African governments to make sure that IKs are institutionalised and integrated into the mainstream education curricula. However, a few African countries have so far established IK institutions in their countries, worse still integrating indigenous knowledge into the mainstream education curriculum. Examples of institutions that have been created on the continent in an attempt to promote IKs include South African Resource Centre for Indigenous Knowledge (SARCIK) (South Africa), Cameroon Indigenous Knowledge Organisation (CIKO) (Cameroon), Association for the Promotion of Indigenous Knowledge (APIC) (Ethiopia), Nigerian Centre for Indigenous Knowledge (NIRCIK) (Nigeria), Centre Burkinabè de Recherche sur les Pratiques et Savoirs Paysans (BURCIK)(Burkina Faso), Kenya Resource Centre for Indigenous Knowledge (KENRIK) (Kenya), Ghana Resource Centre for Indigenous Knowledge (GhaRCIK)(Ghana), Masailand Resource Centre for Indigenous Knowledge (MARECIK)(Tanzania), Madagascar Resource Centre for Indigenous Knowledge (MARCIK) (Madagascar), and Zimbabwe Resource Centre for Indigenous Knowledge (ZIRCIK) (Zimbabwe). At regional level, there is the African Resource Centre for Indigenous Knowledge (ARCIK) which is an institution representing the African continent as a whole. 130 Yet the fact remains that while there has been a realisation of the importance of IKs in Africa, a lot more is still desired to...