“If your acquired knowledge cannot bring about change in your community, then that’s not education but miseducation.”
In a passionate address at a thought-provoking webinar titled “A Day Scientific Renaissance in the 21st Century: The Important Role of Indigenous Knowledges as Exist in African Elder Critical Teachings (ELDERCRITS),” Professor Paul Banahene Adjei emphasized the urgent need to rethink the role of education in African communities.
Delivering the keynote speech, Prof. Banahene challenged conventional definitions of education, asserting, “If your acquired knowledge cannot bring about change in your community, then that’s not education but miseducation.”
His remarks sparked deep reflection among participants on the relevance of modern education to local realities.
Highlighting the disconnect between Westernized curricula and African contexts, Prof. Banahene advocated for the use of local languages as the medium of instruction in schools.
According to him, theories and practical teachings should be indigenized to reflect and respond to the environments and socio-cultural realities of African communities.
“Our knowledge systems must not only acknowledge our heritage but also be functional within our setting,” he stated. “Language is more than a tool of communication it is a vessel of culture, wisdom, and identity.”
He called on educators, students, policy makers, government officials, and traditional leaders to actively promote and integrate local languages and indigenous knowledge into educational institutions and national discourse.
The webinar, hosted by the Department of Social Work, attracted scholars, practitioners, and students committed to the decolonization of education and the revitalization of African knowledge systems.
The event served as a platform to reimagine how education can empower communities and preserve cultural integrity in a rapidly globalizing world.
Prof. Banahene’s call to action signals a growing movement toward educational reform that embraces African languages and indigenous philosophies as essential components of meaningful learning and social transformation.
ABOUT PROFESSOR PAUL ADJEI BANAHENE
Paul Adjei Banahene is an Associate Professor and Interim Associate Vice-President (Indigenous Research) at Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada.
An alumnus of the Department of Social Work at the University of Ghana, he furthered his education with graduate degrees in Social Justice Education from the University of Toronto.
Prof. Adjei is a leading scholar in anti-Black racism, critical race and whiteness studies, Indigenous African philosophies, and decolonial theory.
His research is widely published, including a co-edited book with George Dei and over 30 peer-reviewed articles and chapters.
He has also led and contributed to several Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC)-funded projects focused on Black parenting, African refugee youth, newcomer settlement, and African Indigenous knowledge systems.
Prof. Adjei’s teaching encourages critical thinking and the decolonization of academic spaces, blending African indigeneity and critical pedagogy to challenge Eurocentric narratives.
Beyond academia, he serves on numerous institutional and community advisory boards related to Indigenous affairs and anti-racism, including the RCMP’s Black Engagement Steering Committee and Memorial’s Indigenization framework.
He has received wide recognition for his work, including being named one of Atlantic Canada’s Most Inspiring Immigrants in 2022.
Deeply connected to both his Ghanaian heritage and his Canadian context, Prof. Adjei continues to influence social work practice, education, and policy through research, advocacy, and leadership.
