This paper attempts to critically examine the approaches that were employed by Africans in their knowledge, skills and attitudes acquisition before, after and during colonialisation of the continent. The paper looks at three distinctive epochs from which the perfect understanding of how learning in Africa transformed could be concluded.

It is notable that there was a period before Africa got colonised, which was followed by the period during colonisation, before the independence of the continent. The position that is strongly advanced through this paper is that even before colonialism the African societies offered training to their members, which was characterized by the provision of survival skills to individuals who were supposed to selflessly serve their societies. Members of African societies learnt through their interaction with their physical and spiritual milieus, as evidenced by their design of tools which they used mostly in their agro activities and in fighting for resources. The other area in which learning took place was that of spirituality or mysticism, as some superstitious members of African communities were believed to have powers of communicating with their ancestors. As noted by Westerlund (1991), the belief in the ancestors is widespread in many African agricultural areas and like divinities and nature spirits, the spirits of ancestors are thought to be intermediaries between God and humankind. The main problem that this paper is intended to advance is that Africa is regarded by some people as having not had any form of education before the arrival of the colonialists and their educational establishments or organisations. This paper therefore raises an argument against this position.

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Bureaucracy is the most important concept that has received prominence and used in most organisations in the world. In this paper it is argued that the concept is often abused by organisations, since it is not always followed strictly by those who claim to employ it in their organisational operations. In Botswana it would be argued in this paper that Bureaucracy has characterised most educational entities, but most often with disturbing flaws resulting from varying applications of the concept that are not influenced by what Max Weber prescribed. The emphasis in the paper is to demonstrate that there is a strong and unrelenting departure from the original conceptual base by educational organisations in Botswana, which falsify the concept. In some of the educational institutions in Botswana the concept is treated as home-grown than as exotic, and yet that position is not often pronounced explicitly to reflect the cultural influences that accompany bureaucracy in the Botswana context. The paper argues that if bureaucracy could be implemented by educational organisations in the way that Max Weber who is its founder prescribed, it would produce desired results such as the rising of productivity and professionalism within educational organisations in Botswana. The paper will further argue that what is referred to as bureaucracy within educational organisations in Botswana can best be termed Botswaucracy, which refers to Bureaucracy that has been customised or corrupted for use in Educational organisations in Botswana.

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