Julius Nyerere
Julius Nyerere is the former and founding president of the united Republic of Tanzania. He was an educational thinker, one of the things that granted him respect. Nyerere’s views on education can be located within the nationalistic ideological view of education in Africa. An underlying theme that runs through all these writings is that of education for self-reliance. He first articulated this idea in 1967 and later reflected upon it and modified it into school for liberation. These views on education are examined to determine the extent of their relevance to the contemporary theory of knowledge in Kenya. This analysis is concerned with three aspects: an exploration of possible theoretical contexts of his views on education is undertaken to obtain a basis for an intelligible discussion, an examination of knowledge for self-reliance, and analysis of culture for liberation.
Theoretical framework.
Liberal theory.
Liberalism envisions the ideal society to be one that embraces a wide range of individual liberties. These include personal dignity, free expression, religious tolerance, right to own property, freedom of association, transparency of government, limitations on government power,the rule of law, equality,free market economy and free trade. This pandemic s evident that the enjoyment of individual freedoms and rights often infringe on other people’s freedoms leading to tensions and conflicts.
The conservative theory.
The term conservatism is used to describe political philosophies that favour tradition and gradual change where tradition refers to religious, cultural or nationality defined beliefs and customs. Conservative focus on preservation of the status quo and within the status quo,a given order is supposed to be tirelessly conserved. Conservatism is usually propagated by the elite who employ state machinery to protect and preserve the status quo in society.
Implications of Nyerere’s ideas on education to contemporary education in Kenya.
The themes self reliance and liberation underscore Nyerere’s vision of an ideal education. These themes are relevant to contemporary education in Kenya in that the necessity of freedom as a pre-requisite for creativity in worthwhile. In essence, both physical and mental liberation are vital to realize self-reliance.
Marxist theory.
The Marxist interpretation of society consider competition for material resource and wealth as the main cause of conflict. The social classes emanating from possession of property creates antagonism between them one of which becomes the dominant or ruling class. The ruling class controls not only the means of material production but also the ideas of the eproch.
Nyerere and education for self reliance.
The term self reliance comprises of two distinctive words:”self” and”reliance”. “Self” refers to human being as the “agent” or the “I. This has to do with the individual’s conception of his soul and bodies. From philosophical perspective,three broad theories emerge: materialism,spiritualism and existential phenomenology. Materialism and spiritualism belong to the essentialistic conception of the human person. Materialists contend that is virtually composed of matter while spiritualists perceive man as a soul. Existentialist view the individual person in a two fold manner i.e.he/she is both a body(matter) and consciousness (spiritual) in unity.
“Reliance”points to a state of being that the dependant on something or somebody else. In education for self reliance, Nyerere comprehensively presents that need for radical definition of organization and content of education in Tanzania.
Nyerere and education for liberation.
According to Nyerere education liberates a man from the restraints and limitations of ignorance and dependency. Education has to increase man’s physical and mental freedom to increase control over themselves.