Africans Urged to Give Attention to Indigenous Knowledge, Collaboration in Education – ENA English

Addis Ababa, May 24, 2025 (ENA) – African countries need to give attention to ingenious knowledge, culture and history in addition to international collaboration on education, participants of the recently held Erasmus Week event for Sub-Saharan Africa told ENA.

Mauritius Tertiary Education and Scientific Research in Higher Education Director Professor Kiran Bhujun said African countries need to strengthen collaboration in various ways in order to promote indigenous knowledge and enhance people-to-people ties.

According to him, Mauritius has different indigenous knowledge centers such as the Nelson Mandela Center and the Center for African Studies that focus on indigenous knowledge, including the cultural aspects.

He further noted that African countries, including Ethiopia, have rich history. “We know that Ethiopia is (for example) very rich culturally, and it dates from time of King Solomon, most probably, and   there’s so much we can do on the anthropological side of things.”

And events like the Erasmus+ Week  would create linkage between African different universities to see how they can enhance each other’s knowledge by sharing information as African students of indigenous, Professor Bhujun added.

To enhance collaboration among African countries in the education and other sectors, however, there has to be ease of movement between education and professionals, researchers, students of different countries.

Thus, we should have free visa access among African countries to enhance mobility across the continent.

University of Bamako Associate Professor of African Studies, Ousmane Sangho, stressed the need for cooperation in higher education and research to promote indigenous knowledge.

However, today’s Africa youth are not aware of the rich history of Africa due to globalization, he said, adding that they look into Europe, America as they do not realize that we can grow and attain some levels from African culture.

“As we usually say, knowing others is good, but knowing oneself is always better; and if you know yourself, you can know where you are going.”

On her part, Madagascar Erasmus Focal Point, Zoly Harilala, commended the Institute of Ethiopian Studies (IES), located within Addis Ababa University, for conducting research on Ethiopian history, languages, literature, and culture.

“ I think that’s a great initiative which could also promote indigenous knowledge,’’ she said.

Harilala noted that there are parts of the Erasmus program that can focus on indigenous knowledge, on the way we can learn from indigenous knowledge to promote green transition, green transformation, inclusion and diversity.

The three day Erasmus Week event for Sub-Saharan Africa was held in Addis Ababa under the theme “The Role of Education in the Green Transition”. It brought together representatives of higher education and vocational education and training institutions from Sub-Saharan Africa and Europe.

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