Mainstreaming the General History of Africa into Education Systems: The Curriculum Pathway

Education about the history of Africa in formal, non-formal and informal learning settings continues to be dominated by Eurocentric perspectives, which has led to imbalanced representation of Africa’s history and preconceptions.

This publication is a tool to support countries in challenging the skewed perspectives on how African history is taught and how Africa is perceived. It aims to bring to the foreground Africa’s history, cultures and heritage through the curriculum to strengthen knowledge, skills, values and attitudes that contribute towards addressing long-standing hegemonic, colonial thinking and connected racial bias, while forging a united, prosperous and peaceful Africa and world.

Stemming from the decolonial vision and content of the volumes of the General History of Africa, the publication proposes guiding principles and approaches for designing and implementing the General History of Africa into the curriculum. It puts forth curriculum outlines for basic and secondary education to offer renewed and broader perspectives on the history of Africa and its diasporas, and their contributions to humanity.

The curriculum outlines are structured around nine thematic Learning Units, arranged chronologically from the origins of humanity and civilizations to Africa’s most recent history.