South Africa’s Curriculum Transformation: Insights from Post-Independence Africa and Post-Civil Rights Movement in the United States

Abstract

The #MustFall campaigns, student-led protests that began at the University of Cape Town (UCT) in 2015 and reverberated across South African universities, ignited calls for curriculum transformation, the abolition of Eurocentric epistemologies, and the embrace of indigenous knowledge systems. Given that despite more than two-and-a-half decades of majority rule, South African universities continue to promote hegemonic Western thought, the call for genuine curriculum transformation is understandable. Against this backdrop, this article investigates the challenges associated with curriculum transformation efforts in South Africa. It offers potential solutions by drawing lessons from transformation efforts in the humanities in postcolonial African states and African-American studies in the civil rights movement in the United States (US).

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on educational transformation in African higher education: a systematic literature review on rural universities

“…They argue that complete transformation in higher education requires addressing curriculum enactment and re-centring social justice issues (Ngubane & Makua, 2021). Similarly, Tella (2022) discusses the insights from transformation efforts in postcolonial African states and the African-American studies movement in the United States, providing potential solutions for curriculum transformation in South Africa. The experiences of African women doctoral students in STEM disciplines in South African universities are examined in a study (Mkhize, 2022).…”

“…In addition to addressing the technological challenges, universities have also focused on inclusive education approaches to ensure that rural students are included in the fight against the pandemic (Tamrat & Teferra, 2020;Tella, 2022). This involves adopting a bottom-up approach, where teachers and students with first-hand experience with online learning are actively involved in the decision-making process (Spaull & Van der Berg, 2020).…”

“…The strategies implemented by South African rural universities during the COVID-19 pandemic have had various outcomes and impacts on educational transformation (Spaull & Van de Berg, 2020). These outcomes and impacts have been discussed in several studies (Dube, 2020;Mahaye, 2020;Tella, 2022;Ajani, 2023). One of the outcomes of the strategies implemented is the shift to online learning.…”