Education in pre-colonial Africa

Pre-colonial Africa consisted mainly of tribes that migrated frequently depending on the season, the availability of fertile soil, and political circumstances. Therefore, in pre-colonial Africa, power was decentralized (many people had some form of power, since such power was not concentrated in a particular person or institution)[1]. Usually a person's right to the Earth (which was mostly patriarchal) gives him some form of power in the person's community and/or in his tribe. The communities were also economically independent, so that the members of the community produced their own food, shelter, and security. Thus, there was no need for formally organized education in pre-colonial Africa, as the members of each community learned their skills, values, responsibilities, socialization and norms of their tribe/community/tribe by observing and helping older household members or community members[2].

Education in pre-colonial Africa was in the form of apprenticeship (informal education) where the children and younger members of each community learned from the older members of the community, tribe or community. In most cases, each member of the community learned more than one skill in addition to learning the values, socialization, and norms of the community/tribe/community. Some of the common skills that people in pre-colonial Africa had to master included: dancing, farming, winemaking, cooking (mostly women), in some cases, selected people learned to heal with herbs, carve stools, other furniture [3].

Storytelling also played an important role in education in pre-colonial Africa[4]. Parents, other older family members, and griots used oral storytelling to tell children about the history, norms, and values ​​of their family/tribe/community. The children usually gathered around the storyteller, who then narrated the stories, typically using personification to tell stories that encourage submission, obedience, and values ​​such as resilience, honesty, which are important for community collaboration.

Festivals and rituals were in most cases also used as a means to teach the younger members of the family/tribe/community the history of their family, community or tribe. Rituals were mainly used to teach young people the responsibilities and expectations of adulthood, such as teaching women how to cook and take care of the household, and teaching men how to hunt, farm, make masks, etc. An example of a ritual , which was used to teach young girls about housekeeping is Dipo[5]. The dipo was used to teach young girls, usually teenagers, about cooking, motherhood, and other essential feminine skills and values ​​before they were married.

The origins of African education are found in Egypt (North Africa). One of the first convenient ways to preserve information was papyrus, which was used to develop a system of learning and the development of new ideas[6]. In fact, one of the first forms of higher education in Africa was the School of the Holy Scriptures built in Ethiopia and Al-Azhar in Egypt. These universities became cultural and academic centers because many people traveled all over the world in search of knowledge. Long before contact with other cultures, Africans developed common knowledge and developed educational tools.

Education in colonial Africa

The beginning of the colonial period in the 19th century marked the beginning of the end of traditional African education. European forces, missionaries and colonists were willing to change existing traditions to suit their own needs and ambitions. Colonial powers such as Spain, Portugal, Belgium and France colonized the continent without introducing an education system. Since the main goal of colonization was to benefit from the commercial colonial economy, the production of cash crops, the extraction of raw materials, other physically labor-intensive tasks were a priority. These economies did not expand to require jobs with a higher skill set or a larger labor force, so intensive labor requiring few skills was in high demand. Due to such circumstances, there was no demand for the education or training of the colonized population. Moreover, the colonial powers were unwilling to offer education to those they colonized unless it would benefit them. Either the colonial powers did not see investing in African education as a practical use of their income, or they refrained from educating Africans to avoid any revolts. Those in positions of power were particularly wary of wide access to higher education. Colonial powers often found themselves in debate over whether their colonized populations needed to be educated, and if so, to what extent.