The Place of African Indigenous Knowledge Systems in Zimbabwe’s Education 5.0 Curriculum: Insights from Lecturers at a Selected Teachers’ College in Harare

Abstract

This hermeneutical study sought to estimate the value of African Indigenous Knowledge Systems (AIKSs) in Zimbabwe’s higher and tertiary education. Thus, it assessed the interface of AIKSs and the country’s higher and tertiary education curriculum, which, in essence, is the Education 5.0 curriculum. The study was informed by Gade’s theory of ‘narratives of return’ and the Sankofa principle, cognate ideals that look into the past for solutions to problems currently vexing Sub-Saharan Africa in general and Zimbabwe in particular. This study employed the qualitative approach and adopted the case study design. Interviews were conducted with six lecturers purposively sampled from one selected teacher’s college in Harare. The in-depth individual face-to-face interview was the chief data-generation instrument, buttressed by document analysis to permit the triangulation of findings for credibility and trustworthiness of results. It was discovered that participants (college lecturers) possess a sound understanding of the concept AIKSs, which presents a good starting point for integration of the same into Zimbabwe’s Education 5.0 curriculum. Participants communicated their appreciation of the benefits that come with integrating AIKSs into Zimbabwe’s Education 5.0 curriculum. Thus, AIKSs contribute immensely to heritage-based problem-solving, creativity, innovation, industrialisation, and national development. However, some participants noted potential drawbacks of this integration agenda. Hence, they suggested, inter-alia, the involvement of indigenous communities, curriculum modification to foster respect for AIKSs, re-orientation of educators to the dictates of AIKSs, development of relevant text material, and integrating AIKSs into education starting from Early Childhood Development. Participants also suggested government support at policy level, and monitoring and evaluation. The study, therefore, recommends an elaborate, comprehensive, and progressive policy framework tailored to tweak and expedite implementation of the agenda for integrating AIKSs into Zimbabwe’s Education 5.0 curriculum. This in the end fosters educational contextuality, instructional relevance, heritage-based creativity, indigenous-oriented innovation, and locally based but globally competitive industrialisation.