The Role of African Leaders in the Decolonization of Education (Using the Example of Angola and Tanzania)

The most important task for the development of African countries has become the need to achieve genuine cultural sovereignty, an important part of which is the creation of an independent, nationally oriented education system. When solving the problem of overcoming the consequences of colonialism and neocolonial influence in this area, many African countries turn to the goals and objectives set by the leaders of a number of African countries that were liberated in the 1960s and 70s, primarily Tanzania and Angola. The first President of the United Republic of Tanzania, Julius Kambarage Nyerere, whose centenary was celebrated in 2022, played a major role in establishing sovereign education system of Tanzania. He became the first Tanzanian to receive a master's degree, and received the world-famous name Mwalimu (Teacher). The same year also marked the centenary of the first President of the People's Republic of Angola, who paid great attention to the development of education in his country, Antonio Agostinho Neto. His biography can be called typical of an African intellectual who embarked on the path of struggle for the independence of his country. Before the independence of Tanganyika in 1961, 90 % of the country's population was illiterate. The Government of J. Nyerere immediately set the task of covering all children with primary education and completely eliminating illiteracy in the long term. The advantages of this strategy lay in the fact that a positive foundation was laid, which smoothed out the severity of the structural restructuring that took place in the 1980s. Currently, thanks largely to the efforts of the first president, primary and secondary education in the country is affordable, and a high level of enrollment for children of the appropriate age groups has been ensured. By 1974, only 15% of the Angolan population could read and write. After independence, education became one of the areas that underwent fundamental transformations. The civil war and foreign intervention that took place intermittently in Angola from 1975 to 2002 caused catastrophic damage to the development of the social sphere. However, basic primary education is now compulsory and free, and more and more children are enrolled in primary and secondary education. Despite the enormous difficulties in the development of independent Tanzania and Angola over the past decades, the efforts made by their first leaders to develop the field of education are still yielding positive results

Colonialism · Decolonization · Functional illiteracy · Protectorate · Restructuring · Tanzania · African cultural and philosophical studies · Global Political and Social Dynamics · Historical and Contemporary Political Dynamics