Modern Education Vis-à-Vis Indigenous Knowledge in Ethiopian School Curriculums

Abstract

Many scholars have undermined indigenous knowledge for many years. Western scholars considered it backward knowledge and had nothing to do with modern science. However, recently, the issues of the relationship between modern education and indigenous knowledge at school have gotten scholars’ attention. This paper explores the nexus between indigenous knowledge and modern education in Ethiopian school curriculums. It addresses the definition of indigenous knowledge, the difference between modern science and indigenous knowledge, the significance of indigenous knowledge, and the Ethiopian school curriculum and indigenous knowledge issues. It mainly focuses on the Gadaa system indigenous knowledge, the beginning, and the importance of Gadaa system teaching. The paper argues that teaching Gadaa indigenous knowledge system assists the Oromo community in rediscovering the Gadaa system values, ethics, norms, cultures, politics, economics, religion, and environmental concepts. It also allows teaching others about how Oromo transfer power peacefully and the harmonious living of the Oromo community among themselves and with others.

1. Introduction

There is no single definition for indigenous knowledge (IK hereafter). Consequently, different scholars stipulate it differently. Ref. [1] defines IK as the totality of strategies, practices, techniques, tools, intellectual resources, explanations, beliefs, and values accumulated over time in a particular locality. It is the foundation of indigenous governance that consists of the expressions, practices, beliefs, understandings, insights, and experiences of indigenous groups generated over centuries of profound interaction with a particular territory [2]. Further, [3] posits that IK includes indigenous technical, traditional environmental, rural, local, and farmer’s or pastoralist’s knowledge. It is “the basis for local-level decision-making in food security, human and animal health, education, natural resource management, and other vital economic and social activities” [4]. It comprises all theoretical or practical understandings that have been held by people [5].

Generally, IK is a collection of experience, customs, norms, values, traditions, cultures, languages, socio-economic activities, political systems, ways of life, political governance systems, ecological preservations and environmental management, and spiritual rituals. That “indigenous peoples around the world have preserved distinctive understanding, rooted in cultural experience, that guide relation among human, non-human, and other than human beings” [6]. It is a network of knowledge, beliefs, and traditions intended to preserve, communicate, and contextualize indigenous relationships with culture and landscape over time [6]. Consequently, IK has become the centre of global concern recently [7].

2. Importance of indigenous knowledge

Indigenous knowledge has much more importance. The importance of IK to development has been established over the years [8]. Ref. [9] explains that IK enriches and supports modern education systems. It is a useful tool for modern education [10]. Similarly, it covers the limitation of modern education [7]. IK is a system of local capacity building. Local capacity-building is a crucial aspect of sustainable development in which researchers and development specialists need to design approaches that support and strengthen appropriate IK and institutions [3]. Environmentally, IK is an important contributor to planning for sustainable development and environmental conservation means; the indigenous community has been doing a great deal of research field [3]. In nutshell, teaching IK reverses the western hegemonies that have been dominating for many years in Ethiopia [7].

However, some scholars have negative attitudes and understandings of IK. Ref. [3] argues indigenous beliefs, values, customs, know-how, and practices may be altered and the resulting knowledge base incomplete. For this reason, their life is far away from their community’s lives [10]. And the enjoyment of the right to education is hindered mainly by poverty in developing countries like the Philippines [11].

3. Comparison of indigenous knowledge and modern education

Most scholars agree that there is no water tie departure between indigenous knowledge and modern education. Ref. [12] presents that there are rooms and spaces where both IK and modern education interact. Therefore, most of the time, they co-exist. Furthermore, Ref. [9] suggests that IK supports modern education. Indeed, we cannot set a clear border between IK and modern education. Ref. [10] adds that IK is helpful for modern education. Hence, the importance of IK to development has been established over the years [8].

Contrarily, some scholars debate that modern education is responsible for the erosion of IK. Ref. [13] argue that the involvement of foreign academicians affected the IK, for example, in Ethiopia. The country has undermined IK teaching in schools because it depends on western education heavily [14]. Western practitioners affect the inclusion of IK in the school curriculum [6]. Ref. [15] conclude that IK and modern education are divergent so they cannot go together. In sum, the following (Table 1) demonstrates the difference between IK and modern education.

No	Indigenous knowledge	Modern education
1	It is a more intuitive and holistic view	It is an analytical and reductionist method
2	It is spiritual	It is positivist and materialist
3	It is acquired via experience	It is gained in class
4	It has been passing from generation to generation orally (mostly)	It has a well-organized document that passes to the coming generation
5	It does not create a subject-object dichotomy	It creates a subject-object dichotomy
6	Learners’ competency depends on the practical aspect	Learners’ competency is based on predetermined ideas
7	It is embedded in the cultural context of the truth	It sets criteria to determine the truth
8	It is subjective and qualitative	It is objective and quantitative
9	It is bounded contextually	It is abided by set rules and regulations
10	It depends on specific local conditions	It depends on the experiment
11	It has a holistic approach	It has a specific approach
12	It is multidimensional and complex	It is easy and simple
13	It believes in public values	It believes in individual view

Table 1.

Comparison of indigenous knowledge and modern education.

Source: Author summary, 2022.

4. African indigenous knowledge

Africa has a diversified IK system [16]. Africa’s IK consists of medicine, agronomy, food processing, chemistry, textile, architecture, biology, geography, engineering, history, and literature [1]. Then again, it has been undermined by many scholars, even by African intellectuals.

Ref. [17] summarize that:

Eurocentric discourse has greatly influenced research, teaching, and learning of social sciences in higher education in Africa. The principal focus of developments in social thought continues to originate from the work of American, British, French, and German scholars. The implication of this is that higher education institutions in Africa have reduced themselves to the reproduction of the intellectual outputs of social thinkers of western countries, including their theories and methodologies of research selection problem priorities. As a result, there is little attention given to African indigenous literary and philosophical traditions because they tend to be viewed as primitive and unscientific. And hence they are not proper sources for social theory and research development. This is accompanied by the inability of African social scientists to generate their own indigenous concepts, definitions, theories, and methods that could guide intellectual development in their research and academic fields.

African IK balances the African cultures, ways of life, norms, experience, and knowledge with the world’s strategies [7]. Incorporation of IK into higher education curriculum has a pivotal role to boost development, for example, in South Africa [17]. For instance, the Ubuntu, African IK Systems (AIKS), has decolonized curriculum content and imparted moral principles and the value of communal identities. “The use of Ubuntu philosophy in the school curriculum has been shown to stimulate critical thinking, creativity and promote collective values in learners” [18]. By the same token, comprehending the past and present indigenous practices of the Kenyan ethnic communities furnishes positive perspectives on groups’ sustainable economic and social responsibilities [7]. Generally, the African IK system is useful in accelerating sustainable development [19].

5. The Ethiopian education system and indigenous knowledge

Traditionally, Ethiopian education was based on religion. And it was delivered in church schools and monasteries to the elite few—mostly males. Western modern education did not arrive in Ethiopia until the twentieth century [20]. In Ethiopia, western modern education was introduced in 1908. Nevertheless, traditional education began in the country following the entrance of Christianity during the sixth century [14]. Modern education introduced science and technology but focused on foreign languages [13]. Then the establishment of modern schools spread throughout the country. The curriculum includes science, mathematics, drawing, English, French, Arabic, physical training, and home management subjects [14]. Additionally, some courses in religion, law, and calligraphy were offered [21].

However, Ethiopia has been adopting western education without conceptualizing and contextualizing it. Thus the country has not recognized, explored, and used IK yet [15]. Between 1908 and 1935, education aimed to master different languages. As a result, the curriculum was mostly developed in French, Italian, Geez, Arabic, and Amharic languages [21]. Most of the schools were headed by foreigners. For example, Egyptians led Menelik II School, the French headmaster led Teferi Mekonen School and the French headmistress guided Menen School. In general, the period between 1908 and 1935 was known as the French Period because French teachers and headmasters dominated the school system. Also, examinations were administered in French [13]. Consequently, the education system from its inception until the occupation by Italian Fascists in 1935 was criticized for being too European and unable to respond to the actual needs of Ethiopian society [13].

During the Italian occupation, Ethiopian education concentrated on scooping on Italian culture, cultivating many soldiers, and imposing Italian ideology [14]. Following that, the Ethiopian education system was dominated by the British and U.S. respectively after the Italian occupation [20]. The first Ethiopian higher education is Haile Selassie I University, later Addis Ababa University, which was launched in 1950. That depended on Western models in its staffing, curriculum, duration, timing, philosophy, and ideology [20, 22, 23].

During Derg, the Ethiopian education system continued by foreign domination. Yet, it shifted from western domination to eastern domination. Thus, education advisors from communist countries like the Soviet Union and East Germany influenced education policies [20].

Ref. [24] summarizes that:

The Derg established a Marxist-Leninist education system. Schools became centres of party mobilization. Students had to study revolutionary songs, and attend Marxist-Leninist classes. They were subjected to forced recruitment for national military services. Questions of academic freedom and other political freedoms were banned. Then a few students escaped to the forest to start a guerrilla movement and later sized power in 1991.

In nutshell, the involvement of foreigners, particularly the significant numbers of French and Egyptian advisors, largely affected the selection and organization of the curriculum, which did not necessarily address the needs and interests of the Ethiopian people [13]. Nonetheless, “Ethiopia had a real chance of using its own traditions to develop an education system that could suit its rich traditions” [24]. Unless the formal education is combined with IK, the educators cannot connect their environment with modern science [10]. The integration of IK into higher education must be supported by a strong institutional system [17]. In summary, Ref. [8] recommends that universities and libraries need to look inward and find creative ways of integrating Western and IK systems in their teaching, research, engagement, and information management.

And yet, the scientific education system introduced in Ethiopia did not appreciate the indigenous education system [9]. Ethiopia still gives less attention to IK. Instead, it copied the western curriculums without conceptualization and contextualization them [25]. Hence, the educators have become far away from IK that the local community practices in everyday activities. The educators began to undermine the IK in favor of the western one. All policies, programs, strategies, and plans are designed by foreigners and experts who do not understand the real situations of the country. The local communities who are responsible to implement the policies face challenges since they have no skills and know-how to do so. That creates two groups: the group that designs policies without understanding the problems of the local communities, and the group that does not know the designed policies very well. In consequence, the country’s political economy development stagnated for many years.

In the same vein, the current Ethiopian educational system marginalized IK and excluded experienced local people [26]. That has not developed a modern educational system that produces students who can solve problems and enables the country to be competitive in the contemporary world [27]. Normally, the curriculum did not depend on the economic, social, and cultural realities of Ethiopia. The country copied its components from other countries. It translated textbooks for primary education from other languages without reflecting the Ethiopian situation [13]. Thus exogenous western educational paradigms dominated the Ethiopian education system [28].

6. The Gadaa indigenous knowledge system and school curriculum

For many years, the Gadaa system has been transferred orally from generation to generation. The practices of the Gadaa system are so long. Ref. [29] elucidates that the Gadaa system is an intrinsic element of the indigenous Oromo people’s everyday lives. Ref. [30] demonstrates that Gadaa was practised during the leadership of 225 Abbaa Gadaas. That means the Oromo people have been exercising the Gadaa system before 1800 years. Before Amde Tsion and Zara Yaicob attempted to intensify the Christian religion in the lands of Oromo, the Oromo community had already organized under the Gadaa governance system. Gadaa system is active in some places such as Borana, Guji, Warqa, and Kokosa [31] Tulema, and Karayyu [9]. What is more, the Gadaa system is operated effectively for many years among most of the Oromo [32] albeit different factors challenge it.

Ref [28] stipulates that:

… the Gadaa system exists as far as the Oromo community exists. Thus we cannot separate it from the Oromo. And yet, different threats challenged it many times. Modern education was introduced into Ethiopia during Menelik II around 1908. Since then, the country’s educational curriculum has been dominated by the western. This undermined indigenous knowledge like the Gadaa system. Also, during the Emperor Haile Selassie, western education dominated highly. Besides, the Derg government followed the previous trends in the education curriculum. The Ethiopian People Revolutionary Democratic Front further continued to copy and paste the western educational curriculum. All educational curriculums did not encourage indigenous knowledge.

By the same token, it has not gotten the attention of scholars. The Gadaa system IK has been taught based on the traditional ways that depend on the calendar. There is a narrow space to include IK like the Gadaa system in school since the country exercises a western curriculum [25]. And “the pre-existing hegemonic education system denied peoples’ identities” [9]. Consequently, many challenges affect an attempt to teach the Gadaa system [33].

Nonetheless, Bule Hora University has started to teach the Gadaa system at various levels since 2019 [28]. Before Bule Hora University has begun to teach it, the Gadaa system has been transferring from generation to generation orally. Initially, the University launched the generic course entitled Introduction to Gadaa system course that is offered for all undergraduate students. The pupils also acknowledged the significance of learning it after they learned it. Ref. [9]summarizes that Bule Hora University has begun to teach the Gadaa system as an independent program under Gadaa and Oromo History in BA. Besides, there is a master’s program entitled Gadaa and Peace Studies. Also, the PhD program was launched as Gadaa and Governance Studies and entered into work fully. And the curriculum of the postdoctoral fellowship-related Gadaa system has already been completed. Furthermore, the University has put the direction to include the Gadaa system as a course in all postgraduate curriculums. That shows the shift of the Gadaa system from oral transmission to formal transmission. Following that, Oromia Regional State Education Office has designed Gadaa curriculums, and books (Figure 1) and began to teach students from grades one up to eight. In addition, Matu University has developed the curriculum MA in Gadaa and Heritage Studies and began to teach it.

Figure 1.

Sample of Gadaa books for elementary school students. Source: Oromia educational office, 2020.

In nutshell, the Gadaa system was not considered at school curriculum for many years. The Ethiopian school curriculum’s dependency on western and bad attitudes and phobia of the Habesha elites towards the Gadaa system in particular and other IK, in general, challenged the Gadaa system to remain as oral knowledge. Conversely, Bule Hora University has reversed that bad attitude and inaugurated the base for the Gadaa system formal education by incorporating it into the school curriculums. That also motivated other universities to include the Gadaa system and offer it either independently as a department or alongside modern education. Ref. [9] concludes that the incorporation of IK strengthens modern education since it addresses the weakness of modern education and vice versa.

7. Consequences of teaching the Gadaa system

Teaching the Gadaa system has paramount consequences. “The IK integration into scientific education allows students to conceptualize and contextualize modern education and solve local problems accordingly” [9]. Withal, it allows learners to understand, explore, examine, reiterate, analyze and repeat what they have already acquired knowledge from their parents orally. Besides, it helps the Oromo people to convert the Oral and informal knowledge into a written and formal one. Thus, it widens the chance to record and keep the Oromo’s ways of life, experience, history, norms, values, customs, cultures, taboos, folklores, riddles, idioms, and others.

Similarly, the incorporation of the Gadaa system into school curriculums assists non-Oromo students to gain the egalitarian governance system and leadership, clear separation of power, the existence of horizontal and vertical check and balance, how the decision is made and implemented, the mechanism of recalling the leader when he unfits the position and women participation in decision making of the Oromo community. Ref. [34]explains that Gadaa is an egalitarian governance system. And there is a clear separation of power. For instance, the Gadaa governance system has nine officials known as Saglan Booranaa. Those are:

1. Abbaa Bokkuu (Abbaa Gadaa)—President

2. Abbaa Bokkuu I—Vice President,

3. Abbaa Bokkuu II—Vice President,

4. Abbaa Caffee—Chairman of Assembly

5. Abbaa Dubbii—Speaker

6. Abbaa Seeraa—Memorize of Laws,

7. Abbaa Alangaa—Judge Who Execute Decision

8. Abbaa Duulaa—Leader of War, and

9. Abbaa Sa’aa—in Charge of Economy.

From this, we understand that there is a clear separation of power in Gadaa system governance. In addition, there is a check and balance among that cluster. Wherefore, there is no room in which power is monopolized by a single leader. The division of power in the Gadaa governance system is not the recent one. It has been practised among the Oromo community throughout their life for many years. “Under the rule of the Gadaa government, the Oromo indigenous education system was conducted by individuals, who currently have the required intellectual competence to teach at different academic levels” [35]. Therefore, Gadaa education is a part parcel of the Gadaa system (Ibid).

Ref. [9] enriches that:

Gadaa is peaceful and loving. The system respects the rights of individuals. It preaches about the harmonious relationship among people. When the Oromo surrendered enemies, they adopted into Oromo via Moggaasaa—naming. We have to invest in the youths’ minds to equip them with IK and thought. Otherwise, youths favoured the western styles by giving up IK. Again, in the Gadaa system, power is transferred peacefully via the Baallii. The Luba ruled only for eight years. After eight years, he handovers the Baallii to the next Luba. Also, there is a check and balance. Luba’s success and failure are evaluated after four years, mid a year. If the given Luba is unable to bring the desired goals, he will be removed from power and replaced by others.

Pupils further acquire the role of Siiqqee institutional conflict resolution mechanism, ritual ceremonies and religions, unique calendars, mechanism of environmental conservations, and identities and languages of the Oromo. Among Oromo people, women have a special place. As Gadaa is for males, Siiqqee is for females. Most scholars agree that the male cannot hold the Haadha Siiqqee position, and females cannot hold the Abbaa Gadaa position. That means their jobs and powers are classified based on sex compositions. No one can cross Haadha Siiqqee because she has a special status among the Oromo. Crossing her is prohibited [9]. Generally, the Gadaa system plays a significant role to boost development [34], and it helps to restore the civilization and identity of the Oromo people [33]. To include an IK system like the Gadaa system, “indigenous educators” [35] who have a sufficient understanding of IK need to involve in curriculum design, need assessment, teaching and implementation. In sum, teaching the Gadaa system enable the Oromo people to rediscover and document the social, political, economic, experience, ways of life, culture, development, religion, and environment in Gadaa values and systems. It more helps them to teach others the Gadaa systems’ values, norms, mores, folklores, concepts, ways of life, calendars, customs, marriages, gender equalities, checks and balances, justices, power separations, recalling when leaders are unable to discharge the duties, harmonious relationship with others, and how adoption and Moggasaa are taken place to add non-Oromo to Oromoo society.

8. Conclusion

This paper addresses the nexus between indigenous knowledge and modern education in Ethiopian school curriculums. Different scholars provide different justification regarding the relationship between IK and modern education. Some scholars such as [8, 9, 10, 12] state that there is mutual inclusion between IK and modern education. Thus they support each other. Other scholars like [3, 6, 13, 14, 15, 26, 28] debate that modern education is responsible for the demise of IK.

Ethiopia is rich in IKs. To mention some Konso people terracing system, Awramba people gender equality, Oromo Gadaa system, Sidama Fiche Chambala New Year celebration, Hadiyya Yaahode Maskala New Year celebration, and Tigray people Ashenda women festival [9]. However, the country has little experience in teaching IK alongside modern education at school. Ref. [22]concludes Ethiopia’s education system is a reflection of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and the Koranic school system. Similarly, the western and Japanese educational policies, for instance, influenced the Ethiopian education system albeit the country was not colonized [23]. Hence, Ethiopian educators are either unable to participate in curriculum design to incorporate the IK into school curriculum or neglect IK purposively favoring western knowledge as modern, but IK as backward.

Despite this fact, Bule Hora University has started to teach the Gadaa system at different levels since 2019. That inspired other universities, colleges, and Oromia Regional State Education Office to design Gadaa system IK curriculums either as an independent program or include in different programs as courses and teach students. Teaching the Gadaa system helped the Oromo people to shift from the oral transfer to a well-organized document of the Gadaa values, norms, socials, cultures, politics, economics, religions, calendars, and environmental protections. And it motivates researchers and academicians to focus on digging into Gadaa systems and their values and document them well.