By Oweyegha-Afunaduula
It is true. In Uganda we are used almost exclusively to Knowledge Adding and Knowledge Splitting. We split knowledge to smaller pockets of knowledge termed as disciplines, and then we add knowledge in the small pockets of knowledge.
Our people get degrees in their small pockets of knowledge, and some specialise and over specialise, nearly becoming knowledge purists. If you told any that there was nothing called pure knowledge so long as man as is involved in its production they can kick you in the abdomen, or else ostracise you.
In this cyber age we talk more of knowledge integration and value individual knowledge less and value team knowledge more produced through connecting knowledge and interdependence of brains.
I know many Ugandans will ask me; “what is this thing called knowledge integration?”
Let me teach you, after all I have always teaching.
Knowledge integration is best defined as; “the recombination of knowledge by merging, categorising, reclassifying and synthesizing knowledge.”
Many universities outside are already engaged in knowledge integration but virtually all universities in Africa are stuck in splitting and adding knowledge in the small knowledge’s resulting from the splitting. They are actually producing graduates we don’t need to develop, transform and progress our continent and countries. It is as if we are training for de-development, de-formation and retrogression.
We need a major revolution in education right now to accommodate knowledge integration and begin to graduate human resources we need. So far – so bad.
Knowledge integration liberates the mind and the mind of an integrated brain cannot be manipulated or dominated by fear. Because we were produced in fear in small pockets of knowledge, we are victims of fear, and those who want dominate others use fear as a tool. They always find us well prepared for domination and manipulation because we were prepared to be victims of fear. There is a lot of fear in the small pockets of knowledge. This might explain why we tend to be so docile that we cannot resist when our abusers abuse our rights of resistance.
One thing is true. We cannot integrate our countries, our continued when our education systems are Anti- knowledge integration.
Our Universities continue to lie outside the knowledge integration wave and to produce graduates for us whom we no longer need. This is unfortunate. We cannot meaningfully belong to the 21st Century in terms of knowledge.
We can only do best at creating hotspots of violence and at abusing the rights of resistance of our people, thereby preparing them for renewed colonisation or export to slave markets in the Middle East.
But as I always say – behind every problem – there is the problem of leadership.
For God and My Country.
