Toward a Decolonized Moral Education for Social Justice in Africa

Abstract

Many moral and social problems affecting African people and development could be associated with (neo)colonial moral education problems in Africa: perpetuation of excessive materialism, individual competitiveness, and demonization of African traditional values. To solve African moral problems and realize Pan-African goals, we need a more contextualized approach to moral education in schools that takes into account moral values from African context. Hence, this paper proposed strengthening moral education in Africa through a decolonial educational approach that disrupts the conventional through anti-colonial curricular and pedagogical practices of moral education for social justice. It first conceptualized moral education and social justice and reviewed literature on moral education in Africa to illuminate its colonizing elements. The proposed decolonized moral education model, critiquing Kohlbergian moral development theory as ignoring the (neo)colonial struggles of colonized and Indigenous people, draws on Ubuntu philosophy, Afrocentricity, and postcolonial theories to develop five processes for the decolonization—(a) Indigenous knowledge, values, and practices’ consciousness raising, (b) moral diversity mapping and comparison, (c) critical evaluation of Indigenous moral disrupters, (d) prosocial anger toward historical/ongoing moral annihilation and complicity, and (e) Indigenous moral agency. The curriculum and practice implications of the Model are discussed.

Review of Ai in Education: Transforming Learning Environments in Africa

“…The state of education reflects not only the effects of colonialism but also instability resulting from and exacerbated by armed conflicts in many regions of Africa as well as fallout from humanitarian crises such as famine, lack of drinking water, and outbreaks of diseases such as malaria and Ebola, among others (Bekkouche, andDupraz, 2023, Walters, Chisadza, andClance, 2023). Although the quality of education and the quantity of well-equipped schools and teachers have steadily increased since the onset of the colonial period, there are still numerous inequalities in the existing educational systems based on region, economic status, and gender (Obiagu, 2023). The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has been working with African governments to improve access to education and the quality of education in the region (Ndlovu, and Woldegiorgis, 2023).…”