Abstract

As a result of colonization, the colonizing countries implemented their own form of education within their colonies. Colonizing governments realized that they gained strength over colonized nations not only through physical control but also mental control. This mental control was carried out through education. The colonizer’s educational goal was to expose Africans to a superior culture. Colonizers thought education would bring Africans into the modern world and education would bring them to a higher level of civilization. However the need for skilled native labor by colonizers for economic development and eagerness to propagate Christianity caused colonizers to use education as a tool to achieve social control over African people.

Key words: Africa, colonial education, western culture, assimilation, inferiority, superiority.