WHAT EVERY AFRICAN CHILD NEEDS TO BE TAUGHT

         Nelson Mandela declares that "children of today are the leaders of tomorrow and education is a very important weapon to prepare children for their future roles as leaders of the community". Ali Pilling also said, "Our children are our future, love, nurture, allow, trust and believe in them, then step aside". These quotes stress the significance of children in any society and imply that whatever children have been indoctrinated with, grows with them, sometimes stays with them for a lifetime and even reflects in society. Therefore, every child needs to be taught critical aspects of their history and it should begin in the home, the core of socialization. Children need to be taught that Africa is a diverse continent, with different languages, cultures and religions. They need to know that Africa was already divided before colonization because of its diversity. African children need to be informed about enslavement and how Africans were marginalized and segregated during and after slavery. This education should be aimed at illuminating the mind of the African child so that they are equipped with knowledge on how to elevate their continent. 

        African children should be taught to embrace and improve on their cultures. Some Africans today have placed utmost regard for the cultures of Westerners. These Westerners are seen by some Africans as civilized and full of inventions. African children need to be taught that their cultures and traditions are not all barbarous, as Scholar Christoper Ehret puts it, "Those societies designated as civilizations are treated as if they were centres of almost all innovations and the really important developments. They tend to be viewed fallaciously, as culturally more complicated, artistically more accomplished and technologically more advanced than those societies that are labelled as "noncivilizations". The fact that many key technological innovations in human history began and much great art was produced, in order, less stratified non-urban societies is glossed over". African children need to be taught to not follow Western education blindly but to learn to establish from themselves what they value. 

         Central Africa for instance was the first to achieve iron technology, the earliest dated site in the world for smelting iron is about 4000 years ago or more and it is located in the Central African Republic and neighboring parts of Cameroon. Iron production activities are documented to have taken place as early as 300 to 2500 BC. African smelters were the first before anyone else to develop furnaces able to generate sufficient heat for the production of steel. African children need to be told about this, as this is an incredible early human achievement that originated in a less stratified society. Africa's kind of innovation does not need to look like other Civilizations to evoke world-renowned technology. 

         African Children need to be educated that Africa is not backward, savage or primitive. This narrative was intensified to justify some Westerners' motives for enslavement and exploitation. It is crucial that African homes and schools enlighten the children on these facts to combat the narrative.