Page 20 - Msingi Afrika Magazine Issue 19

Art & Culture
Re-education

Mouctar Cissé, a librarian at
the Al Qadi private library in
Timbuktu, where hundreds of
ancient manuscripts are being
preserved.

The History and Development of
EDUCATION IN AFRIKA

frican people were un- What is Education? Pre-Colonial Education
educated and could not Education can be a process through African societies aren’t a monolith
read and write before which an individual is integrated in and never have been. But a lot of
Acolonizers entered the the society and learns how to live African societies across the conti-
scene, right? by the rules and values of the given nent educated each other through
European education is the best that society. oral literature. That could take the
could have happened to Africans, Education can be a tool for passing forms of folktales, myths, proverbs
right? on generation-old wisdom, theories and songs. Nevertheless, there were
There is no positive future for Afri- of how nature works and facilitating African societies that had formal
cans on the continent, right? the gain of skills for manual labor. educational institutions as seen in
In the following article I will be Education can also be a synonym Mali, or ancient writing systems, as
exploring education systems that for a school or university degree. you will see later.
existed in Africa and how the educa- The family unit and tribal institu-
tion changed during colonialism and Historical context of Education tions were the main places where
what struggles Africans are experi- in Africa education-related processes hap-
encing today in regard to education. pened.
I will conclude with answering the To understand today’s educational Generally, the elders were the
question: Where do we go from processes, it is crucial to look at teachers. They taught the youths
here? history and connect history with about their history, their cultural
So let’s start. today’s situation on the African heritage and about the customs and
continent. laws of the specific African society

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