Indigenous education during the pre-colonial period in Southern Africa

Abstract

Prior to the arrival of European settlers in the Cape Colony in 1652, formal and informal educational practices through the transmission of indigenous knowledge from adult to child had long been in existence among the Khoi, the San and the Bantu-speaking people of Southern Africa. The African child was brought up by the community and educated in the culture and traditions of the community. The curriculum of indigenous education during the pre-colonial period consisted of traditions, legends and tales and the procedures and  knowledge associated with rituals which were handed down orally from  generation to generation within each tribe. This process was intimately  integrated with the social, cultural, artistic, religious and recreational life of the indigenous peoples. This article discusses different forms of indigenous education that existed in Southern Africa during the pre-colonial period.

Keywords: Pre-colonial period, indigenous education, indigenous people,
culture, rituals.