Abstract
The qualitative study guided by the Ujamaa Intersections Model analyzed and presented the findings on the implications of Ubuntu philosophy in higher learning education in Tanzania targeting the Ujamaa Policy as a case study. The purpose of the study was to reflect on the impact of community and university engagement. Ujamaa is among the core values of Ubuntu Philosophy which envisions an inclusiveness approach embraced in practice of higher education in Tanzania following the Arusha Declaration of 1967. Under the Ujamaa policy, Tanzania developed an evidence-based education component that directly linked universities and the community. Curricula were competence-based and learners spent more than 70 percent of their learning through fieldwork activities in the Ujamaa Intersections composed of extended family, ecology, local leadership, etc. Graduates were prepared to enter the national service program as part of patriotism, solidarity, and voluntarism to build national development. Universities became community institutions that play significant roles in the social construction of Ubuntu graduates to demonstrate social justice, communality, social support, mutual respect, tolerance, and the responsibility of cooperating for collective and holistic development. Despite the shortfalls, the Ujamaa policy succeeded in capacitating university graduates to integrate other Ubuntu values in realizing citizenship education and rendering holistic social services relevant to the needs of Ujamaa intersections. Education for self-reliance became a transforming and decolonizing tool that empowered graduates to serve the community with Ubuntu values including vulnerable groups and marginalized populations. Ubuntu values are crucial in transforming higher learning toward global agendas including SDGs.
Presenters
Meinrad Haule LembukaAssistant Lecturer, Sociology and Social Work, The Open University of Tanzania, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Ubuntu, Pedagogy, Ujamaa, Education, Tanzania
