Indigenous Knowledge Perspective on Holistic Education and Sustainable Development

Abstract

The potential for education to engender development and therefore to provide individuals and communities with opportunities to lift themselves out of poverty is, correctly, stressed throughout contemporary development literature (Subtle, 2009). In confronting the many challenges in the planet, humankind sees in education an indispensable asset in its attempt to achieve ideals of peace, freedom and social justice. In Kenya, Ochieng (2012) contends that citizens are highly educated yet the education is academic only given that socially we are probably the world‘s most ignorant group. Ours is an extremely bad education system as innovation systems do not effectively serve critical national needs. This paper points out that the only way we can fix challenges hindering sustainable development of Kenya is by adapting our colonial education system to enable the young citizenry find identity, meaning, and purpose in life through connections to the community, to the natural world, and to spiritual values. This paper will explore indigenous education systems to interrogate how communities have generally relied on their vast indigenous knowledge and technology to interact with the environment as well as stable coexistence with their immediate environment thus maintaining ecological equilibrium with quality life. Furthermore, the paper will give suggestions that will help educators, policymakers and educational stakeholders to advocate for a holistic system of education that will accelerate Kenya‘s sustainable development and achievement of Vision 2030.