African indigenous education: A case of the Keiyo of Kenya

Abstract

Education in any society, whether indigenous or modern, remains an important enterprise and asset by which the society models and determines its existence. It is formed in the process of propagating desirable survival skills to the succeeding generations. Through education, society sets and defines its basic survival needs. Thus, besides other components, such as cognitive, creative, and dialogical, the overriding significance of education can be summed up in its normative definitions. This was due to the fact that its impact was to be identified in the extent to which it affected and modified one’s behaviour in society. Based on this understanding, this paper focuses on the place of indigenous African education in the Keiyo of Kenya. Its aim is to define, justify, and affirm the importance of indigenous African education as an irreplaceable component in holistic development of learners. Being a library-based study, its data are mainly obtained from books, educationists, and from discussions with old men and women in the Keiyo community. A purely qualitative method was adopted so as to gain a deeper understanding of the pertinent issues involved in indigenous African education. Thus, the principle methods used included critical analysis and speculative and dialectic methods of investigation. On the overall, the essence of indigenous African education is critically discussed. Similarly, an exploration of various trends in indigenous African education has been made. Finally, the role of indigenous African education is examined. The study concludes by making practical recommendations on possible ways and avenues through which indigenous African education can be enhanced in Kenya. Keywords: African, indigenous, Keiyo, education, Kenya