RE-ENGAGING NYERERE’S IDEAS OF INDIGENOUS EPISTEMOLOGIES FOR AFRICAN EDUCATION

• In Event: Highlighted Session: Semali Symposium - Re-Engaging Nyerere’s Ideas of Indigenous Epistemologies for African Education

Proposal

In his articulation of the rationale for taking seriously the urgent imperative to reform the African “post-colonial” education systems, Nyerere argued that, in the case of Tanzania (which could be applied to all other African countries), one of the key factors was the irrelevance of both the curriculum and the values instilled into the mind of the formally educated Africans. He actually made a difference between schooling and education and so while many Africans were being successfully schooled in European-inherited institutions, they were not receiving relevant outputs that prepared them to be effective and useful in African development programs. Nyerere argued that education, no matter its technical quality, could not help the need for meaningful transformation if it did not suit the needs. Another important issue was governance, which became prominent in the debates and policies in the context of Structural Adjustment Programs (SAs) and was considered a determining factor in the dispensation of international “aid.” Nyerere argued that while applying the principle of responsible governance by African states is important, it is not the presence or absence of the state that can guarantee good governance and promote the needed changes for social progress. He considered that a weakened or confused state, for instance, cannot in itself provide an indication although external agencies at the time were eager to imagine alternatives that would take over, or share the space hitherto controlled by the state . In his view, strong, enlightened and caring states that can foster the enabling context for educational institutions to be developed as institutions of public good.

While neo-colonial states are devoid of power and autonomy despite the magnitude of work to be done, they should normally have the agency and appropriate resources to do what they are designed to do in the areas of forming Africa’s critical minds and producing relevant knowledge through research geared towards solving problems in the African societies. Thus, indigenous knowledge and epistemologies must be central to the learning process, with holistic education instead of limiting schooling. Nyerere’s key argument was that African visionary leadership would promote a more relevant education for social progress. Visionary and great leadership can be measured by what is left for posterity when a specific leader is gone. By all accounts Nyerere offered this type of leadership at a time when Tanzania had not uncovered natural resources to attract attention as a wealthy, or potentially wealthy, country.

The purpose of this paper is an invitation to engage some of the key ideas in Nyerere’s education philosophy that can be emulated in the continued search for solutions to Africa’s educational and persistent development challenges. The paper is a reflective essay that will review several of the central philosophical ideas in Nyerere’s conception of relevant education for Africa, highlighting indigenous epistemologies. The methodology will consist of analysis of some key texts by, or about, Nyerere, including Education for Self-reliance (Nyerere 1967), Ujamaa--essays on socialism (Nyerere 1968), Freedom and development. Uhuru na Maendeleo. A selection from writings and speeches 1968-1973 (Nyerere 1973), “Governance in Africa” (Nyerere 1999) and The Legacies of Julius Nyerere: Influences on Development Discourse and Practice in Africa (McDonald and Sahle, 2002).

Author

• N'Dri Thérèse Assié-Lumumba, Cornell University