Rediscovering Pre-Colonial Education in Africa

When the colonisers stormed Africa, they came with little regard for the structures and systems that were already in place and imposed theirs on the locals. One of such forcefully imported systems was the Western style of formal education. The British and French, who acquired the largest holdings in the Scramble for Africa, sought to disseminate western modes of thought and behavioural patterns to their colonies through formal education.

In French Africa, the authorities primarily established schools that focused on training interpreters and copy clerks, as well as on providing agricultural and vocational training. They initially moved away from academic training because they wanted to execute a more gradual takeover.

Interestingly, in Senegal, the French established an Ecole des Otages , meaning ‘hostage school’, for training sons of chiefs from the 1860s. There, they would be forced to learn the French language, culture and values, so that they could be equipped to be auxiliaries to the colonial power.

Meanwhile, in British Africa, the Western missionaries and voluntary agencies who mostly oversaw education focused more on academic rather than vocational training from the get-go. In Kenya, education—the ability to read and write—became a requirement for better paid jobs on newly established European farms. The British in Kenya established ‘general education’ for reading and writing, and  ‘industrial education’ for various trades. The latter offered an initial 2 pound-equipment grant per pupil followed by an annual grant of 5 pounds for each pupil who passed their exams.

In Sierra Leone, the British, through the British Church Missionary Society (CMS), went as far as establishing the first western-style university in sub-Saharan Africa, Fourah Bay College. CMS was used as a tool to Christianise Africans and also to help the Imperial British East Africa Company develop communication and agricultural centres.

Prior to Fourah Bay College, which started out as an Anglican missionary school, the only surviving university-level institutions were North Africa’s Al Quaraouiyine University and Al-Azhar University. Both universities were centres for Islamic learning.

Colonial education introduced a new form of social stratification; social status was now determined based on possession of formal education rather than solely on one’s descent. In countries like Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire and Kenya, traditional rulers resisted formal education for their heirs as they believed it was at odds with the system of traditional authority. The elders also wished to retain their own established educational systems.

African Traditional Education

African traditional education predating external influence comprised systems whereby attitudes, values, skills and knowledge were passed from more experienced elders to the youths. It was through such systems of learning that things like the use and making of iron tools, governing of societies, land cultivation, animal rearing and so on could be sustained over generations.

Education was mostly experiential, acquired through observing and doing. It was also unlike Western education, in that it did not alienate Africans from their environment. Instead, we learnt to survive and make do with what was around us.

As children grew in the society, they learned the uses of plants and animals in their environments. For example, in the woody areas of north-eastern Zambia, children aged six years old and above learnt about trees and their household uses. In fishing areas throughout Africa, boys and girls were required to learn how to catch, preserve and market fish, and how to make and repair fishy traps, nets and canoes.

According to Jomo Kenyatta, the educational system of the Gikuyu (also Kikuyu) was thus:

‘it will be found that education begins at the time of birth and ends with death. The child has to pass various stages of age-groupings with a system of education defined for every status in life. They aim at instilling into the children what the Gikuyu call “otaari wa mocie” or “kerera kia mocie,” namely, educating the children in the family and clan tradition. Apart from the system of schools which has been introduced by the Europeans, there is no special school building in the Gikuyu sense of the word: the homestead is the school…. This is one of the methods by which the history of the people is passed from generation to generation.’

In traditional education, every adult was essentially a teacher and was tasked with imparting skills and morals to the younger generation. Learning happened anywhere and everywhere, but just as Kenyatta said, the home was the primary school. Traditional education was crucial for preserving the cultural heritage of society as it helped pass down time-tested skills, customs, values and knowledge from generation to generation.

One rather interesting tool that was used for social education was oral literature. Through repetitive telling of stories, proverbs and riddles, elders could inculcate in the youths acceptable social behaviours and good morals.

Traditional education also helped young people develop a communal outlook on life, rather than an individualistic one. For example, in some communities, young people learnt communal living and a bit of economics from adults who ran rotational contributions—what the Yoruba of West Africa today call ‘ajo’. In this practice, everyone would contribute a certain amount of money at regular intervals and give the bulk sum to a different member of the group at different times. This would help members of the group undertake capital-heavy ventures when they needed to.

Traditional curricula across various African countries also included training for healthy living, dressing, cooking, hunting, farming, carpentry, music, dancing, marriage, critical thinking, and games which involved chanting certain playground songs and displaying physical fitness.

Traditional education largely prepared boys and girls for gender-based roles. For example, in some societies, male education produced farmers, warriors, and rulers while female education produced future wives, mothers and homemakers.

Traditional education also had a lot to do with religion. Children were taught about good and evil spirits, as well as purification practices and rites performed to avert misfortune. Some of these taboos were actually used as conservation strategies, e.g. not killing or eating certain animals because they were respected as totems.

Traditional education in Africa was largely holistic rather than specialised. For instance, among the Acholi of Uganda, a boy who was taught to build a house would also learn the geography of the building site. He would have to become apprised of the surrounding water sources, geology and the location of surrounding villages.

However, among a few peoples, like the Nupe and Ashanti of West Africa, education was highly specialised. There were formal means of teaching delivered through common and professional teachers who taught certain organised curricula over a period of time, sometimes even lasting many years. They received payments in kind from their students’ parents, although they were often simply referred to as ‘gifts’.

Both theoretical and practical methods were adopted in teaching, with students being encouraged to recite poems, riddles and songs. The said classes would typically be held in secluded places or at the traditional ruler’s palace. The graduation ceremonies of students who had sufficiently mastered their courses featured dancing and merriment.

Across many African societies, like the Sidamo of Ethiopia, the Maasai of Kenya and Tanzania and the Zulu of South Africa, initiation ceremonies were a fixture in traditional education. Teaching and learning of pre-determined material was carried out in a specific location and there was an obvious distinction between students and teachers. Among the Poro society of West Africa, initiation schooling lasted for as long as five years while the Tonga of Zambia initiated their female children over a period of six weeks to four months.

These initiations offered instructions on subjects like farming, weaving, fishing, history and mothercraft. Female initiates were trained physiologically, socially and morally to enable them become competent mothers and wives. Conversely, male initiates were trained to become defenders of their communities and good providers for their families. Many of these initiation rites were concluded with circumcision for boys and clitoridectomies for girls, marking their transition into adulthood.

While Western education has become predominant across Africa, the enduring presence of traditional education in rural areas reminds us of the intrinsic value of cultural heritage. By recognising and preserving these traditional systems, Africa not only honours its past but also enriches its present and future. As we navigate the complexities of modernity, we must not forget the wisdom embedded in the roots of African education.