The most urgent problem of African people is education.
Let’s be honest, no matter where you are in Africa, what you learn in school is based on Western’s school system, and Western’s culture. Africa’s educational system is a copy of Western’s educational system, and classes are taught in foreign languages and rarely in African languages.
That alone is the most urgent problem African people face in this world. Why?
Well, Highly educated African people are brainwashed to fit into a Western economy. For most of them, what they learn in school is completely different from what they see in their environments. And it starts at a very young age, as Chika Ezeanya-Esiobu stated in her powerful Ted talk, when you learn the alphabet with the example of the letter A for Apple, knowing that for a young Nigerian kid, Apple is an exotic fruit, you know there’s something wrong with education.
A is for Apple should be for that child, in that part of the world where Apples grow out, and who has an apple in his lunch bag, not for an African child. The education itself is shaped to make young African scholars dream of going to Western countries, it talks about Western countries concept, and try to adapt it to young Africans.
As Chika Ezeanya-Esiobu said: « The major function of Education is to introduce the learner to his environment so that he can appreciate it and develop the curiosity to explore it more and add value ». Learning that A is for Apple for a young African makes it something out of reach. A foreign concept that you’ll consistently have to seek for validation to those it belongs to.
Government institutions in Africa should base their educational system on African concepts. EAC (The East African Community) starts to understand this since they want Swahili to serve as a National language for five countries: Rwanda, Burundi, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda.
By learning the concept of their everyday life, using their own language, discovering their own environment, and the African culture at a young age, Africans will be more knowledgeable, and less ashamed of their origins.
African people should be proud of what their culture has to offer! A should be for Akara in Nigeria, Alloco or Attieke in Ivory Coast, Achu in Cameroon, Asida in Algeria, etc.
