ABSTRACT:
This paper argues for the fusion of worthwhile elements of Western and African Traditional concepts of education in Zimbabwe’s National School Curriculum. First, the paper notes that the concept of education is notoriously difficult to define because it tends to mean different things to different people. Second, the paper posits a case for the existence of traditional African education even before the coming of white colonial settlers in Zimbabwe in 1890. Third, the paper seeks to explore the impact of Western Education on traditional African education. Fourth, the paper tries to establish the similarities and differences between the two concepts of education. Using philosophical analysis, it shows that there are no significant differences between the two systems of education that justified colonial settlers’ resolve to replace indigenous systems of education with Western education. Finally, the paper proposes a fusion of worthwhile aspects of these educational systems in Zimbabwe’s National School Curriculum. Such an exercise would help Zimbabwe’s current National School Curriculum to reflect worthwhile aspects of traditional African education while at the same time ridding it of aspects of Western education that are not relevant to local needs and requirements.
