EDS4801
ASSIGNMENT 7 2025
UNIQUE NO. 746572
DUE DATE: 25 AUGUST 2025
,Title: Why the Education System Must Be Transformed
1. Introduction
Education transformation often termed transformative education or educational change
refers to deliberate, system-level processes that reconfigure what is taught, how it is
taught, who is included, and how education systems are governed so that learning
becomes relevant, equitable and able to respond to contemporary social, environmental
and economic challenges. UNESCO frames transformative education as teaching and
learning that “motivates and empowers learners to take informed decisions and actions
at the individual, community and global levels,” emphasising values, critical thinking,
and agency alongside basic literacy and numeracy (UNESCO, 2021). In policy and
implementation literature, scholars of educational change add that transformation must
be systemic involving curriculum, pedagogy, teacher development, leadership and
governance if it is to sustain improved learning and social equity (Fullan, 2016).
The urgency for transformation in many African contexts cannot be separated from
history. Colonial and apartheid schooling arrangements intentionally structured access,
content and quality of education to serve political and economic hierarchies. In South
Africa, for example, apartheid policy (formalised through measures such as the Bantu
Education regime) systematically under-resourced Black schools and channelled
curricula toward subordinate labour functions; UNESCO’s contemporaneous study of
apartheid documented how these policies shaped educational opportunity and content
across the system. The enduring impacts of those structures are evident in modern
achievement gaps and unequal school quality, which scholars characterise as
apartheid’s “enduring legacy.” Empirical reviews of South African schooling show
persistent disparities in teacher knowledge, school resources and learning outcomes
that map on to race and socio-economic divides (UNESCO, 1967; van der Berg, 2007;
Spaull, 2013).
, Similar patterns of exclusion and curricular misalignment trace back to colonial
schooling across much of Anglophone Africa. In British colonies such as Kenya and the
Gold Coast (now Ghana), missionary and colonial government schooling expanded
unevenly and was often designed to produce clerks, teachers and other subordinate
roles for the colonial economy rather than to develop broadly relevant, locally rooted
knowledge systems. Scholars have shown how these colonial-era curricula and
language policies created structural inequalities in access and relevance that have
persisted after independence, contributing to regional, class and ethnic disparities in
educational attainment (Urch, 1971; Malisa & Missedja, 2019; Wiafe, 2021).
Given this background, the thesis advanced in this essay is straightforward: education
transformation is essential for achieving equity, relevance and sustainable
development. Without systemic reform — spanning curriculum decolonisation,
inclusive pedagogy and infrastructure investment, teacher professional development,
meaningful use of appropriate technology, and equitable financing and governance —
education systems will continue to reproduce historical injustices and fail to prepare
learners for contemporary social, economic and environmental challenges. The
following sections will (a) diagnose the main problems in current education systems
across selected African contexts, (b) argue why curricula must be reformed (including
decolonising content), (c) examine the role of technology in widening access and
supporting inclusion, and (d) propose policy recommendations and international best
practices to guide equitable transformation.
2. Problems in the Current Education System
Education systems in many African countries are grappling with persistent challenges
that hinder their ability to deliver equitable, high-quality learning. These problems,
though varying in degree between contexts, share common features rooted in historical
inequalities and contemporary governance gaps. Four central issues — outdated
ASSIGNMENT 7 2025
UNIQUE NO. 746572
DUE DATE: 25 AUGUST 2025
,Title: Why the Education System Must Be Transformed
1. Introduction
Education transformation often termed transformative education or educational change
refers to deliberate, system-level processes that reconfigure what is taught, how it is
taught, who is included, and how education systems are governed so that learning
becomes relevant, equitable and able to respond to contemporary social, environmental
and economic challenges. UNESCO frames transformative education as teaching and
learning that “motivates and empowers learners to take informed decisions and actions
at the individual, community and global levels,” emphasising values, critical thinking,
and agency alongside basic literacy and numeracy (UNESCO, 2021). In policy and
implementation literature, scholars of educational change add that transformation must
be systemic involving curriculum, pedagogy, teacher development, leadership and
governance if it is to sustain improved learning and social equity (Fullan, 2016).
The urgency for transformation in many African contexts cannot be separated from
history. Colonial and apartheid schooling arrangements intentionally structured access,
content and quality of education to serve political and economic hierarchies. In South
Africa, for example, apartheid policy (formalised through measures such as the Bantu
Education regime) systematically under-resourced Black schools and channelled
curricula toward subordinate labour functions; UNESCO’s contemporaneous study of
apartheid documented how these policies shaped educational opportunity and content
across the system. The enduring impacts of those structures are evident in modern
achievement gaps and unequal school quality, which scholars characterise as
apartheid’s “enduring legacy.” Empirical reviews of South African schooling show
persistent disparities in teacher knowledge, school resources and learning outcomes
that map on to race and socio-economic divides (UNESCO, 1967; van der Berg, 2007;
Spaull, 2013).
, Similar patterns of exclusion and curricular misalignment trace back to colonial
schooling across much of Anglophone Africa. In British colonies such as Kenya and the
Gold Coast (now Ghana), missionary and colonial government schooling expanded
unevenly and was often designed to produce clerks, teachers and other subordinate
roles for the colonial economy rather than to develop broadly relevant, locally rooted
knowledge systems. Scholars have shown how these colonial-era curricula and
language policies created structural inequalities in access and relevance that have
persisted after independence, contributing to regional, class and ethnic disparities in
educational attainment (Urch, 1971; Malisa & Missedja, 2019; Wiafe, 2021).
Given this background, the thesis advanced in this essay is straightforward: education
transformation is essential for achieving equity, relevance and sustainable
development. Without systemic reform — spanning curriculum decolonisation,
inclusive pedagogy and infrastructure investment, teacher professional development,
meaningful use of appropriate technology, and equitable financing and governance —
education systems will continue to reproduce historical injustices and fail to prepare
learners for contemporary social, economic and environmental challenges. The
following sections will (a) diagnose the main problems in current education systems
across selected African contexts, (b) argue why curricula must be reformed (including
decolonising content), (c) examine the role of technology in widening access and
supporting inclusion, and (d) propose policy recommendations and international best
practices to guide equitable transformation.
2. Problems in the Current Education System
Education systems in many African countries are grappling with persistent challenges
that hinder their ability to deliver equitable, high-quality learning. These problems,
though varying in degree between contexts, share common features rooted in historical
inequalities and contemporary governance gaps. Four central issues — outdated
