HED4806
ASSIGNMENT 3 2025
UNIQUE NO:
DUE DATE: 2025
,HED4806 – Assignment 3 (2025)
Unique Number: [Insert Unique Number]
Due Date: 2025
Module: International and Comparative Education
SECTION A
3.1.a)
The practice of punishing learners for speaking their mother tongue had deep and
lasting negative effects within the broader framework of colonial education. Such
practices led to psychological and cultural harm, especially during the era of
decolonisation. By forbidding children from speaking their indigenous languages,
colonial systems instilled shame and a sense of inferiority regarding African languages
and, by extension, African identity.
Learners began to associate intelligence, success, and acceptance with the colonial
language — often English — while their own languages were seen as backward or
uncivilized. This caused many African children to internalize colonial values, leading to
alienation from their own cultures. The punishment was not only physical or emotional; it
was ideological. It was part of a broader strategy to suppress indigenous worldviews
and replace them with Eurocentric norms.
Therefore, language control in colonial schools was a powerful form of mental
colonisation — discouraging critical thinking rooted in local context and enforcing
compliance with colonial authority. This approach damaged the self-worth of
generations and contributed to the erosion of indigenous knowledge systems.
3.2
Decolonisation of the mind is a concept popularized by Kenyan writer and scholar
Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, who argued that true liberation must begin with freeing one’s
, consciousness from colonial influence. It involves rejecting the idea that Western norms,
languages, and knowledge systems are superior, and reclaiming indigenous languages,
traditions, and identities.
For Ngũgĩ, language is central to this process. He emphasizes that African languages
should not only be preserved but actively used in education, literature, and governance.
According to him, when education is delivered in a foreign language, learners are
disconnected from their cultural roots and taught to value foreign ways of thinking. This
contributes to a form of self-alienation.
By reintroducing African languages into the school system, learners can engage with
knowledge in a way that reflects their reality and heritage. It restores dignity, reinforces
cultural identity, and encourages critical thinking that is grounded in local context. Thus,
decolonising the mind is about psychological liberation — enabling people to see their
own cultures as valid and empowering.
ASSIGNMENT 3 2025
UNIQUE NO:
DUE DATE: 2025
,HED4806 – Assignment 3 (2025)
Unique Number: [Insert Unique Number]
Due Date: 2025
Module: International and Comparative Education
SECTION A
3.1.a)
The practice of punishing learners for speaking their mother tongue had deep and
lasting negative effects within the broader framework of colonial education. Such
practices led to psychological and cultural harm, especially during the era of
decolonisation. By forbidding children from speaking their indigenous languages,
colonial systems instilled shame and a sense of inferiority regarding African languages
and, by extension, African identity.
Learners began to associate intelligence, success, and acceptance with the colonial
language — often English — while their own languages were seen as backward or
uncivilized. This caused many African children to internalize colonial values, leading to
alienation from their own cultures. The punishment was not only physical or emotional; it
was ideological. It was part of a broader strategy to suppress indigenous worldviews
and replace them with Eurocentric norms.
Therefore, language control in colonial schools was a powerful form of mental
colonisation — discouraging critical thinking rooted in local context and enforcing
compliance with colonial authority. This approach damaged the self-worth of
generations and contributed to the erosion of indigenous knowledge systems.
3.2
Decolonisation of the mind is a concept popularized by Kenyan writer and scholar
Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, who argued that true liberation must begin with freeing one’s
, consciousness from colonial influence. It involves rejecting the idea that Western norms,
languages, and knowledge systems are superior, and reclaiming indigenous languages,
traditions, and identities.
For Ngũgĩ, language is central to this process. He emphasizes that African languages
should not only be preserved but actively used in education, literature, and governance.
According to him, when education is delivered in a foreign language, learners are
disconnected from their cultural roots and taught to value foreign ways of thinking. This
contributes to a form of self-alienation.
By reintroducing African languages into the school system, learners can engage with
knowledge in a way that reflects their reality and heritage. It restores dignity, reinforces
cultural identity, and encourages critical thinking that is grounded in local context. Thus,
decolonising the mind is about psychological liberation — enabling people to see their
own cultures as valid and empowering.
