Decolonizing Education: Whose Knowledge Gets Taught?
Education has long been viewed as a pathway to opportunity, a universal human right, and a cornerstone of national development. But underneath the surface of school curriculums, textbooks, and university syllabi lies a deeper and more unsettling question: whose knowledge is being taught—and whose is being ignored or erased?
The global movement to decolonize education is not simply about updating content or adding diversity. It’s about restructuring the foundation of education systems that were built during and after colonial rule—systems that often continue to marginalize non-Western perspectives, languages, and histories.
This movement is reshaping classrooms around the world—from universities in South Africa and Canada to primary schools in India and Brazil. At its core, it is a call to reimagine what knowledge is considered valid, and who gets to be seen as a creator of that knowledge.
🌍 The Legacy of Colonial Curriculums
Colonialism didn’t just conquer land—it colonized minds. Colonizers imposed European languages, values, and worldviews in the education systems of Africa, Asia, the Americas, and Oceania. These systems replaced or downgraded indigenous languages, histories, and epistemologies.
Even after independence, many post-colonial nations retained Eurocentric curricula:
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African history often begins with European contact, ignoring millennia of pre-colonial civilizations.
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Indigenous knowledge systems are labeled as folklore rather than legitimate science or philosophy.
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Western literature dominates reading lists, while local authors are rarely studied.
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English, French, Spanish, and Portuguese are taught as primary languages, pushing native tongues to the margins.
As a result, generations of students have grown up learning that modernity, progress, and reason are synonymous with Western ways of thinking—while their own cultural heritage is seen as inferior or irrelevant.
🗣️ What Does It Mean to Decolonize Education?
Decolonizing education is a process—not a one-time revision of syllabi. It involves:
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Re-centering Indigenous and marginalized knowledge systems
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Challenging the authority of colonial narratives in history, science, literature, and philosophy
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Reclaiming languages, symbols, and teaching methods that reflect local realities
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Critically analyzing power structures within educational institutions
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Shifting from Eurocentric "universal truths" to pluralistic ways of knowing
This doesn’t mean erasing Western knowledge, but situating it within a global context that includes other valid systems of thought.
🧑🏾🏫 Real-World Movements and Actions
🇿🇦 South Africa: #RhodesMustFall
In 2015, students at the University of Cape Town launched the #RhodesMustFall movement to demand the removal of a statue of British imperialist Cecil Rhodes. But it quickly evolved into a broader demand to decolonize the university’s curriculum and faculty structure, which remained overwhelmingly white and Western.
🇨🇦 Canada: Indigenous Reconciliation in Schools
Following the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Canadian provinces began integrating First Nations history, treaties, and worldviews into public education. Some universities now offer degrees in Indigenous Knowledge, and efforts are underway to include language revitalization programs.
🇳🇿 New Zealand: Māori Pedagogies
The Māori concept of whakapapa (genealogy), ako (learning together), and manaakitanga (care) is increasingly being incorporated into teaching practices. Schools are using Māori language immersion and are weaving indigenous stories and cosmology into science and environmental studies.
🇮🇳 India: Rediscovering Pre-Colonial Scholarship
Educators and historians are advocating for the inclusion of Sanskrit, Tamil, and Persian texts, indigenous math systems like Vedic mathematics, and ancient centers of learning like Nalanda University in mainstream syllabi—rebalancing a curriculum heavily shaped by British colonial policies.
🧠 The Epistemic Shift: Different Ways of Knowing
Western science emphasizes objectivity, rationalism, and individualism. But other knowledge systems prioritize relationships, holism, and community. For example:
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Indigenous ecological knowledge often includes complex understanding of sustainability, passed orally through generations.
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African philosophy emphasizes Ubuntu (“I am because we are”)—a communal approach to ethics and society.
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Eastern systems such as Ayurveda or Chinese medicine view health through balance and harmony, not just biochemical processes.
These systems are not just cultural artifacts—they are valid frameworks for understanding the world and solving problems. Decolonizing education means creating space for them alongside Western paradigms.
🏛️ Barriers and Controversies
Decolonizing education faces resistance:
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Institutional inertia: Universities are slow to change their structures, faculty hiring, and research priorities.
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Political backlash: Critics claim it threatens “academic standards” or fosters division.
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Tokenism: Adding one indigenous book to a syllabus without changing the power dynamics of teaching and assessment is not true decolonization.
Additionally, there's tension over who gets to lead these reforms. Can elite institutions authentically decolonize themselves? Or must the process be driven by communities outside of traditional power centers?
📚 Rethinking the Classroom
True decolonization requires rethinking pedagogy—how teaching is done, not just what is taught:
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Using storytelling, oral traditions, and experiential learning as valid methodologies
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Valuing community-based learning over individual competition
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Promoting bilingual and multilingual instruction
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Making student voices central to the design of education
In some regions, this means creating parallel education systems rooted in indigenous worldviews. In others, it means pushing for curriculum co-creation between educators, students, and communities.
🕊️ A Global Moment of Reckoning
As movements for racial justice, climate equity, and post-colonial accountability grow, so too does the call to decolonize knowledge. In a world increasingly shaped by global crises, the dominance of one way of thinking—Western technocracy—has shown its limits.
A truly inclusive, pluralistic, and just world must begin with pluralistic education.
This isn't about rewriting history—it’s about completing it.
It’s not about replacing Western thought—it’s about expanding the horizon of what knowledge is and who gets to claim it.
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