Sankofa- Letlhaku le legologolo: A Meshed Framework for Centring Indigenous Knowledge in Education

Abstract

This literature study explains how indigenous knowledge can be centred in the school-to-higher education of an African child (learner) through a meshed Sankofa -Letlhaku le legologolo (Sankofa-Ll) framework. Sankofa and the Tswana proverb, letlhaku le lešwa le agelwa mo go le legologolo (a new tree branch is built onto an old and a very big one) emphasise the past shaping the present and the future in the rich African indigenous knowledge. The children’s education needs to centre this knowledge. This is against the backdrop of colonial influence on the African education system, whose goal is to immerse the child in African cultural values as part of qualifying him/her for different careers. In the article, I describe Sankofa and letlhaku le legologolo and show how they connect. The colonial influence on African indigenous knowledge is discussed, which leads to the article’s main focus, i.e., centring indigenous knowledge in education and showing how Sankofa-Ll frames this ideal. Sankofa-Ll will add to the indigenous frameworks and assist in preserving African indigenous knowledge. The framework will help strengthen the indigenisation of education and the curriculum to ensure that they relate to the culture of the African child.