Page 22 - Msingi Afrika Magazine Issue 19

Re-Education

of them made access to education [Disclaimer: I am talking about my own school
very difficult for the African pop- experiences in the next part] • Almost 2/3 of the children
ulation. They used tactics such as Even today, if you visit Europe and between 15 and 17 years are not
limiting the teaching language to Africa, you will feel the difference in school.
European languages, and limiting between how people tend to oper-
teaching curriculum so that they ate. In Europe everyone is so caught Reasons for those education rates
did not reflect any Africa related up in minding her/his own business, Many of the reasons why some
content. that people just pass and move young children and a lot of teen-
The French used education as a on when they see people fighting, agers are not going to school are
tool to facilitate relationships with suffering, hurt or just in need of born out of poverty and a lack of
the African elites. They established someone to answer their questions. infrastructure.
very selective educational institu- Opposed to that, African-life is a Since many well-educated Africans
tions. And the British relied heav- little more community based and are not happy with their possibilities
ily on missionaries and churches communicative. Africans can travel for employment, they are migrating
to teach euro-centric worldviews, to places which they never have to Europe, North America or Asia
whereas the Belgians completely been before, and when trying to and consequently, the already small
forbid access to higher education for find a friend’s place, they can ask supply of teachers is even getting
Africans. any stranger for directions, and at smaller.
the end of the journey they will find Also, in rural areas, proper schooling
Westernized education was – and themselves in front of their friend’s facilities are missing and the areas
still is - a tool to uphold colonial house. And also conflicts between are not attractive to employees. In
structures and exploitation of people generally don’t go unnoticed. some of these areas there are no
Africans and the African continent. Ok, let’s move on. schools but learning centers, in
Western education promoted cap- which children are just taught basic
italism and the ‘natural superiority’ What are the today’s struggles knowledge such as reading, writing
of European people. It completely of Africans related to and simple mathematics. A reason
changed the lifestyle of Africans education? for this can be found in the current
through measures such as: Today, the western education urbanization, which causes many
• Converting Africans to foreign systems are still very present on Africans to move from rural areas
religions the African continent, are adapted and villages to the big cities.
• Banning music and dance from to a European lifestyle and reflect
curricula Euro-centric curricula. The lessons In addition to that, access to basic
• Abolishing indigenous literature. are still mostly held in European needs such as, for example, water

languages like English, French or or menstruation products can keep
Western education did also put a big Portuguese. children, especially girls, from at-
emphasis on the importance of ma- tending school regularly.
terial wealth as measure of success A few African educational traditions Furthermore, there is evidence that
which led to the general despise of have survived, such as griots and nu- children, who are taught content in
manual labor. merous African proverbs. a second language, achieve poorer
results than children, who are taught
Where is the big difference Statistics content in their native language.
between western and African In 2013, about 79% of primary And last but not least, the govern-
education? school age children were enrolled in ment simply does not spend enough
school in Sub-Saharan Africa. money on the educational sector.
African education tends to focus The same region has one of the Nigeria, for example, had banned
on the wider society. Pre-colonial highest rates of education exclusion history from the curriculum for
Africans mostly lived a community (2019): about 10 years for financial reasons.
based life. So Africans would con- • Circa 1/5 of the children
sider the whole society and its needs between 6 and 11 years are not Where do we go from here?
in their decisions, whereas western in school Unfortunately, globalization is a
education tends to focus on the in- • Circa 1/3 of the children be- justification of why euro-centric
dividual and forgets the individual’s tween 12 and 14 years are not in curricula are a good choice. English
impact on the whole society. is a language, which facilitates com-

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