Colonialism just like Apartheid education systems around the globe were deliberately designed to suit the white settlers’ interests and agendas, which were mainly driven by the desire to patronize, exploit, abuse, torture and control the natives of the occupied lands. During this era, indigenous communities were given access to very basic and substandard education instruction, and dehumanizing social services and housing. In South Africa, the Apartheid-era Bantu Education Act of 1953 formalized racial segregation and suppressed any possibilities for intellectual growth and development. Likewise, in Zambia, Zimbabwe and Malawi, colonial negligence significantly led to nominal investment in education systems, establishing a solid foundation for persistent underdevelopment and poverty. These historical events were further aggravated by neoliberal structural adjustment policies (ESAPs) in education around the late 20th century. They were the ESAPs that ushered in significant cuts in public spending (minimalism) on education, health, agriculture and telecommunications among others while introducing the era of pay-up services through user-fees also known as commodification or commoditization (see Ngobeni et al., 2023). The outcome has been a fragile and unfair education system, particularly vulnerable in rural and low-income communities.

Beyond these, social, cultural, economic and political factors have compounded levels of inequalities in Africa. In rural areas, gender disparities have persisted to foster inequalities among people of different sexes due to deeply ingrained patriarchal norms, early marriages, and limited education and access to economic means. Within patriarchal contexts, girls’ epistemological access to education and success have been so compromised the only crime being that they were born female. Furthermore, the issue of language of instruction being English, French and/or Afrikaans, which are languages of the colonizers, have continue to disadvantage non-native speakers as they create additional barriers to inclusive and effective learning given that the native child has first to grapple with foreign languages before being grilled by the foreign disconnected content of the subject matter. Moreover, the increasing corporatization and privatization of education amidst decreasing public investment (minimalism) has solidified class-based inequalities making quality education product of the rich who can afford the pocket-breaking fees now being charged on tuition and degrees (see Fleming, 2021) overturning the long-held assumption that education is a public good and a human right (see Nel, 2005).

While not all is yet lost, there are other philosophers of education who believe that addressing education inequalities in developing countries will require more than mere policy changes but rather targeted, just and fair counter/decolonial strategies aimed at dismantling systematic and systemic injustices, reversing neoliberal-minimalist policies, and re-envisioning education systems that recognize indigenous knowledge, linguistic diversity, inclusivity and epistemic pluralism among others. They warn that the goal of equitable, quality education for all may be remain a dream in developing countries if educational institutions continue to function as corporations and business entities through neoliberal-minimalism. On the other hand neoliberal proponents such as the World Bank, IMF and many education leaders seem to find nothing with minimalism and the idea of skills development curricula arguing that countries can no longer afford subsidies on education, health, agriculture and other social services and that every user of a service must pay for it, and that systems must be self-sustaining, able to control expenditure and invest in those programs that are skills and outcomes based (World Bank Group, 2020; Fleming, 2021; Ngobeni et al., 2023).

Given the rifts between sociologist and philosophers on the left, and economists and technical instrumentalists on the right pole, we sought to analyse alternative sources on education inequalities in Africa to explain and understand how histories and policy shifts have influenced epistemological injustices in education in developing countries. We adopted epistemological injustices based on the conceptualization of Morrow (2009) and du Plooy and Zilindile (2014) who understood it to mean pre-enrolment, post-enrolment, post-graduation and post-employment support services given to students by universities and guardians in order to realize quality, equity, equality, justice and democracy in education. Epistemological access (justice) is thus the opposite of physical access (expanded access) which mainly focus on enrolment and completion without paying attention to detailed inputs and throughputs that lead to quality and equitable learning experiences and outcomes. Alongside these, comes Epistemic Justice, a condensed form of epistemological justice which refers to disregard for testimony or knowledge of the other or deliberate withholding of resources that would help the marginalized groups access powerful knowledge and be able to make meaningful contribution to their societies (see Fricker, 2007; Boliver, 2011). Similar to this is epistemi-cide which refers to disregard or deliberate erasure or disregard on knowledge systems usually those of the marginalized groups (see Siddiqui, 2023; Leibowitz, 2017, 2018).

According to Fricker (2007) the idea of epistemic injustice, highlighting two main types: testimonial injustice wherein a person’s credibility is unfairly undermined and ignored due to bias and prejudice. Hermeneutical injustice on the other hand arises when systemic inequalities create gaps in collective understanding, making it difficult for marginalized groups to articulate their experiences. Hermeneutic injustice also extends to deliberate withholding of resources and concepts that can be deployed to empower marginalized groups so that they can make meaningful contribution to their society.

While this theory has been widely utilized in Communication and gender studies including critical race studies, its focus on individual interactions and experiences tends to overlook systemic erasure of individuals experiences and their ways of knowing such as indigenous knowledge systems (IKSs). Moreover, Medina (2012, 2018) expands the Frickers’ position through the concept Epistemic Resistance, suggesting that oppressed groups may actively challenge dominant knowledge systems to reclaim their Epistemic Agency. For the colonized people, their resistance has shined through their commitment to preserving oral histories, even in the face of Neo-colonialism, the desire to shape narratives that sit around Afrocentrism in education and society similar to what Bourdieu and Wacquant (1992) termed ‘Cultural State of Emergency.’ Medina’s theory, which mainly draws from Latinos’ and Black Americans’ experiences, seems to overlook the huge impact of state sponsored terror and marginalisation, especially evident in Africa’s language policies which have normalised English, French and/or Afrikaans as core languages of instruction at the expense of indigenous languages of individual states and nations.

For Santos (2018) and Leibowitz (2017, 2018), epistemic injustices should be seen the lenses of ‘epistemologies of the South’, critiquing the dominance of Western Knowledge Systems (WKSs), while advocating for the IKSs. Even though Santos faults macro-global power imbalances, his analysis ignores how micro-local elites such as local chieftaincy and African educators promulgate epistemic injustices in education. For instance, educational administrators and principals have often supported policies that promote WKSs including Science and Technology (STEM) and technical instrumentalist programs such as engineering, mechanics, economics and others at the expense of humanities and social sciences. These people have further promoted policies that recognize and reward neoliberal-minimalist academics whose main drive is commodification of research, education, degrees and all aspects of education. For Pohlhaus (2012), the notion of ‘Wilful Hermeneutical Ignorance’ forms discourses of power imbalances mainly where the elite deliberately ignores marginalized knowers and their ways of knowing hence causing epistemic harms and Symbolic Violations as argued by Pierre Bourdieu. This mirrors Chewa leaders’ reluctance to include Tumbukas cultural perspectives in village governance.

In a nutshell, the theory of Epistemic Injustices together with Epistemological Access and Epistemi-cide are pivotal for analysing and explicating how power-relations do influence marginalization of indigenous knowers, their means of knowing and their knowledge systems. Briefly, we cannot talk of decolonization and curriculum justice without handling epistemic injustices, the parent strand for understanding and challenging injustices in society. Briefly, Epistemic Injustices entail fair recognition, validation and inclusion of all knowledge systems, particularly those that were historically downtrodden. It thus ensures that everyone has equal opportunities to participate in the conception, creation, sharing and consumption of knowledge while countering structural biases and elimination (also see Boliver, 2011; Leibowitz, 2017, 2018). Using these theoretical positions, we now analyse selected inequalities that have affected education systems in the SADC region mainly focusing on South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Malawi.

In the SADC Region, educational institutions have normalized use English Language, French and Afrikaans as core languages of instruction depending on their colonizers. These languages have become the tools for the reproduction of education inequalities, social, cultural and economic exclusions. The adoption of these languages is by no means coincidental as they carry with them the legacy of colonialism which was rooted in Eurocentric privileging and cultural imperialism (Carnoy, 1974; Bamgbose, 2000; Taylor and von Fintel, 2016). Throughout the history of colonialism and apartheid, the Whiteman’s languages and culture were touted as superior to African language and cultural systems, and it is not surprising that they continue to shape modern education systems, often to the detriment of indigenous learners (Ngobeni et al., 2023; Sehlako et al., 2023). Arguably, any language is not only a tool of instruction but also the basket of identity, culture, and knowledge. As Brock-Utne (2000, 2001) and South African Reading Association (2024). postulated, when learners are taught in unfamiliar languages, their ability to access knowledge, participate in class, and succeed in education may be compromised. This challenge is compounded when neoliberal pressures for global competitiveness further entrench dominance of ex-colonial languages, while creating linguistic silos that disadvantage the local majority.

In South Africa, the enduring effects of apartheid language policy continue to shape educational policies and outcomes. For example, while post-apartheid reforms have encouraged use of mother-tongue in the Foundation Phase (Grades R–3), transition to English or Afrikaans from Grade 4 upwards have often created serious linguistic and cognitive problems especially for learners whose languages are isiXhosa, isiZulu, Sepedi, and others. Studies have also shown that using English for instruction in multilingual rural schools obstructs students who have limited exposure to English outside the classroom. More so, teachers have also struggled with English proficiency and have hence resorted to code-switching that excludes some learners. This abrupt shift disadvantages rural learners, contributing to poor literacy development, high dropout rates, and underperformance in national assessments. Moreover, English and Afrikaans remain dominant languages in higher education institutions (HEIs), reinforcing linguistic silos rooted in colonial and apartheid-era-like preferences, a situation critiqued by Alexander (2005) and Munyaradzi (2024) who linked English hegemony in HEIs to neoliberal-minimalism and epistemic genocide (see Siddiqui, 2023).

Likewise, Zimbabwe has continued to use English as a national language especially in secondary schools and HEIs. These underscore colonial imposition of English as a marker of modernity, and high levels of intelligence. Indigenous languages such as Shona, Ndebele, Tonga, Kalanga have been marginalized, relegated to the status of vernaculars with limited academic or economic value. This dynamic not only kills learners’ self-esteem and cultural pride but also creates cognitive barriers that hinder comprehension, creativity and confidence in the classroom (Zimbabwe Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education, 2023). While the Chronicle (October 2024) reports of big strides in mainstreaming seven IKSs in schools, with improved pass-rates and a policy for mother-tongue instruction from ECD to Grade 2, the historical dominance of English in higher education and the formal sectors, as noted by Zvobgo (1999), continues to pose challenges. Thus, colonial education system had explicitly aimed to suppress African languages and culture to promote English proficiency as a prerequisite for social mobility, a legacy that persists today in Zimbabwe’s formal education system.

In Zambia and Malawi, recent language policies have attempted to incorporate local languages in early child-hood and primary education. For example, Zambia’s Primary Literacy Programme (PLP), which replaced the Primary Reading Programme (PRP), has advocated for instruction in dominant local languages such as Chichewa, Tumbuka, Bemba, and Nyanja in the lower primary grades, extending mother-tongue instruction to 3 years before transitioning to English. Likewise, Malawi’s education policies have historically gone for English as the medium of instruction after the initial primary years, though implementation of the English-only policy was formally declared in 2014. However, in Zimbabwe, Zambia and Malawi which were British Protectorates, the transition to English in upper grades, has often been rushed through without adequate investment in teacher training, learner textbooks and assessment tools leading to difficulties incomprehension, and dwindling academic outcomes. Teachers themselves have also lacked proficiency in the foreign languages, and pedagogical competences have been poor hence disadvantaging marginalized learners who cannot afford private and part-time tuition.

Essentially, language inequalities transcend linguistic concerns reflecting and reinforcing deeper cultural hierarchies of the colonial period. Then, European languages were privileged as the vehicles of civilization and development, while African languages were deemed primitive or unfit for education purposes. As a result, students who speak indigenous languages have been excluded from meaningful participation in the education perpetuating cycles of poverty and inequalities. Accordingly, language policies alongside decolonial strategies that validate and institutionalize IKSs within formal education have been explored. These strategies require not only inclusion of IKSs but also production of learning materials, teacher training, and policy frameworks that reflect linguistic and cultural diversities of Africa if we are to deter epistemi-cide and Symbolic Violence (Siddiqui, 2023; Santos, 2018; Medina, 2012).

Poverty remains a huge obstacle to equitable education across Africa. Economic hardship can hinder families from paying tuition for their children. It also obstructs developments in school infrastructure, teacher deployment, and educational outcomes (UNESCO, 2023). These disparities are engrained in colonial economic structures, which heavily prioritised the Whiteman’s while providing the locals with rudimentary training designed to fulfil colonial labour needs.

For Zimbabwe and Malawi, post-independence educational expansion has been undermined by persistent economic crises, many of which are legacies of colonial underdevelopment and exacerbated by neoliberal-minimalist adjustment policies of the 1980s and 1990s (Chibambo, 2023; Chimombo, 2005; UNESCO, 2023). Structural adjustment programmes (SAPs/ESAPs), enforced by the IMF and World Bank, have led to the suspension of state subsidies in education, and introducing user-fees that disproportionately affect poor families (UNESCO, 2023). For Zimbabwe’s, the economic meltdown of the early 2000s, marked by hyperinflation, unemployment, and political instability, which then reduced public investment in education (UNESCO, 2023). Although government declared basic education free in 2025, “hidden costs such as uniforms, textbooks, and exam fees have remained prohibitive for many, particularly in rural areas where poverty is concentrated (Zimbabwe Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education, 2023). Food insecurity, especially in Matabeleland and Mashonaland have also forces girls to drop out frequently to contribute to household labour or informal trading (UNESCO, 2023). UNESCO (2024) data also indicates that a child born in Zimbabwe today will only reach 47% of their potential productivity due to factors including educational challenges.

Similarly, despite policy reforms such as the abolition of primary school fees in 1994, the education system struggles under the weight of poverty, high student-to-teacher ratios, and under-resourced schools. Children from poor households face multiple vulnerabilities, including malnutrition, long walking distances to school, and inadequate learning environments. Many have dropped out of school to support household incomes through informal work or subsistence farming, and sometimes girls are often pulled out for early marriage or domestic duties (UNESCO, 2023). The ISS African Futures Report (May 2025) notes that only 19% of Malawian children aged 7–14 have demonstrated basic reading abilities, and the country’s mean years of education (5.5 years in 2023) is below average for low-income African nations. The education budget’s share of the total government budget has also been declining due to increasing students’ enrolment.

In South Africa, poverty-related educational inequalities have been compounded by the racialized geography and infrastructure of apartheid. While the post-1994 government introduced redistributive policies such as “no-fee schools” the education system remains highly stratified (UNESCO, 2023; Soudien, 2004). Former Model C and private schools which were historically reserved for white learners have continued to offer superior infrastructure, smaller-sized classes, and qualified teachers compared to township. A 2025 World Bank report highlighted that 80% of Grade 4 learners could not properly read, and that pro-poor funding mechanisms are not achieving their intended goals (World Bank, 2025a). Poor learners have thus often lacked access to early childhood education with 43% of under-five children not exposed to ECD activities in South Africa [Department of Basic Education (DBE), 2025], and that access to literate parents, professional role models, and educational networks remained unevenly distributed, disadvantaging learners from rural backgrounds (UNESCO, 2023; Ngobeni et al., 2023; Sehlako et al., 2023).

Economic inequality in education is not simply a question of income or resource allocation but rather broader historical patterns of dispossession, underdevelopment, and exclusion. Colonial education thus deliberately structured access to education based on race, class, and gender, privileging the settlers. Post-independence governments have thus often struggled to dismantle these inherent inequalities, particularly under the constraints of neoliberal-minimalism and economic meltdown. Yet, addressing poverty inequalities will require structural reforms that go beyond the school walls to government investment in infrastructure, rural electrification, social protection schemes and gender-sensitive policies. Importantly, educators must be help decolonize knowledge production rather than concentrating it in the hands of western-trained scholars.

Geographical access to education remains a major structural determinant of inequality across Africa. The distance learners travel to school, transport infrastructure, and the physical conditions of the schools can hinder educational attainment (UNESCO, 2023). These inequalities are not incidental but traceable to colonial spatial planning and educational investment strategies, which prioritised administrative centres, settlers’ zones, and missionary stations, while ignoring rural communities (UNESCO, 2023). Today, educational infrastructure continues to plague rural schools, while impacting on learner performance and rights in South Africa and many countries of the SDAC Region [Department of Basic Education (DBE), 2025; Kadzamira and Rose, 2003; Chimombo, 2005]. Distance can be considered as physical distance as described above. While transactional distance refers to the connection and emotional space between the teachers and students. The Zonal of Proximal distance still carry the weight of transactional distance. In distance education responsible use of technologies, continued interaction through phones and internet and engaged pedagogies can treat ailments of distance.

While Malawi and Zambia have serious problems of distance, South Africa has also experienced disparities. For example, former white schools have modern classrooms, internet connectivity, libraries, and recreational facilities, however schools in homelands are often overcrowded and dilapidated (UNESCO, 2023). A recent South African Parliamentary Report (March 2024) on the Eastern Cape detailed how rural-schools suffer from dilapidated buildings, classroom shortages, lack of sanitation, and poor ICT centres, severely compromising learners’ rights and performance (see SA. Parliamentary Report, 2024). In the Eastern Cape and Limpopo, learners often attend mud schools without basic sanitation or secure classrooms. Overcrowded classrooms with over 50 students per teacher remain common, hindering effective learning (Lombo and Subban, 2024). These inequalities are anchored in apartheid-era spatial segregation, which systematically under-resourced black townships and/or homelands.

Infrastructure gaps, especially when combined with poverty, reinforce multi-dimensional exclusion and diminish the transformative potential of education. Access to digital resources, reliable transport, clean water, electricity, and well-maintained buildings is not merely supplementary but also foundational to educational quality and learner dignity (Education Justice Coalition, 2025). The colonial planning logic structured access around elite interests, and it now continues to shape who gets to learn, where, and how effectively especially in the SADC Region including Zimbabwe, Zambia and Malawi (Zimbabwe Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education, 2024a, 2025). Addressing these challenges requires massive investment in rural infrastructure, equitable teacher deployment, school electrification projects, and the integration of climate-resilient transport systems. Moreover, governments and partners must prioritise education justice by mapping out underserved communities, and ensuring that resources allocation corrects historical neglect.

Assessment systems across Southern Africa serve as gatekeepers to academic progression, employment, and social mobility. Rather than levelling the playing field, these systems often reinforce socio-economic and spatial inequalities, particularly disadvantaging learners in under-resourced communities (UNESCO, 2023; van der Berg et al., 2023). The dominance of high-stakes, summative examinations in the SADC Region sustains a schooling culture rooted in rote learning and narrow academic achievement, with little consideration for context, learner diversity, and/or alternative forms of knowledge (UNESCO, 2023). These systems are remnants of colonial education structures, designed to limit critical consciousness but also to sort and filter individuals for subordinate roles within colonial economies.

In Zimbabwe, Zambia and Malawi Schools Examination Council (ZIMSEC) oversees national assessments such as Grade 7, O-Level, and A-Level examinations. These exams follow a British-modelled curriculum that prioritises theoretical content over practical, localised knowledge (UNESCO, 2023; Miyoba et al., 2023; Chimombo, 2005). Learners in rural districts such as Binga, Gokwe, and Rushinga—where schools lack science laboratories, libraries, and trained teachers consistently underperform compared to their urban counterparts. A 2024 study highlighted that low examination registration in rural Zimbabwe is significantly influenced by affordability, family characteristics, school resources, and distance to school (Mazambani and Tapfumaneyi, 2024). The introduction of Continuous Assessment Learning Activities (CALA), and its 2024 replacement with school-based projects, aimed to shift assessment practices, but faced challenges related to increased workloads and resource demands, potentially further disadvantaging rural learners (Zimbabwe Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education, 2024b). The absence of robust formative assessment practices in many contexts contributes to low learner engagement and poor preparation for national assessments, thereby reinforcing cycles of exclusion at all level of education.

Moreover, Malawi’s education system is similarly dominated by the Malawi School Certificate of Education (MSCE), a high-stakes examination administered by the Malawi National Examinations Board (MANEB) in English, often with limited accommodation for contextual relevance (UNESCO, 2023). Students from community day secondary schools (CDSS), which are frequently underfunded and lack qualified teachers, face disproportionately low pass rates. While recent studies show that attending National (selective) schools significantly enhances student exam outcomes compared to day schools (Chimombo, 2005), access to these schools is limited, thus perpetuating inequality for the majority. The MSCE failure rate has also historically been high, with rural students most affected (UNESCO, 2023). For example, in 2023, the national MSCE pass rate was around 52%, but in rural areas, this figure often dropped to below 40% (MANEB, 2023). These outcomes are not merely academic arguments but rather that they shape life-trajectories by restricting access to university scholarships, teacher training colleges, and government employment. The reliance on MSCE as the main measure of learning success reflects a colonial legacy where assessment served to select a small elite for clerical and administrative roles under British rule (UNESCO, 2023).

What is common across these countries is that assessment remains decoupled from the lived experiences of most learners. It rewards those with access to quality inputs such as qualified teachers, stable school environments, support systems at home, and exposure to English—while penalising those grappling with poverty, food insecurity, linguistic marginalisation, and infrastructural neglect (Education Justice Coalition, 2025). Additionally, the focus on academic certification often overlooks vocational and technical skills crucial for sustainable livelihoods in rural settings. To address these inequities, there is a need for reform in assessment philosophy and practice. This includes increasing the weight of formative and school-based assessments, integrating context-relevant curricula, adopting multilingual assessment strategies, and enhancing teacher capacity in alternative assessment methods (South African Council on Higher Education, 2024; Mazambani and Tapfumaneyi, 2024; Spaull and Jansen, 2019; van der Berg et al., 2023; Adesanya and Graham, 2023). Decolonising assessment is not just a pedagogical issue but also an ethical imperative tied to broader social justice and equity goals in postcolonial Africa.

The rise of digital technologies has brought immense potential for transforming education in Africa, yet it has also exposed deep-rooted structural inequalities across Southern Africa (UNESCO, 2023). The digital divide which is the unequal access to ICTs has become one of the most prominent markers of educational inequalities particularly in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced an abrupt shift to remote learning (UNESCO, 2023). This divide is not merely technical or logistical; it is the outcome of historical, economic, and spatial injustices, many of which are legacies of colonial eras that privileged urban, white, and elite populations while under-developing rural and indigenous communities. The SADC Digital Education Roadmap (2024) and UNICEF (2020) have acknowledged these challenges and aims to deliver high-quality digital education to vulnerable learners by addressing issues of connectivity, content, and capacity.

In South Africa, universities such as the University of Cape Town and the University of the Witwatersrand moved swiftly to online platforms during COVID-19 lockdowns. However, students from townships, many of whom are Black and from working-class backgrounds faced enormous challenges (UNESCO, 2023). These included a lack of devices, erratic electricity supply, unaffordable data, and poor internet infrastructure in remote areas. This digital exclusion mirrors apartheid spatial planning that relegated the majority of the population to underdeveloped “homelands” with minimal services. The state’s failure to proactively bridge this technological gap meant that thousands of students fell behind or dropped out of schools, worsening the skewed outcomes between quintile 1–3 schools (least resourced) and quintile 4–5 schools (more resourced) (Sehlako et al., 2023), and these experiences were also recorded in Zambia, Zimbabwe and Malawi (see Vurayi, 2022; Chikanda and Madzima, 2021; Czerniewicz et al., 2020).

Across Africa, digital divide has become the new frontier of educational inequality, compounding poverty, gender, geographic, and linguistic disparities [Global Partnership for Education (GPE), 2025, 2024]. What is alarming is that while the region has embraced neoliberal ICT-for-development discourses, which promotes technology as a silver bullet for educational problems, this has often resulted into shallow policies that neglect the material realities of the poor. ICTs has instead reinforced the privileges of urban and elite students, while deepening exclusion among the poor (UNESCO, 2023; GPE, 2025). To redress these inequalities, governments must pursue digital justice, not just expansion. This includes public investment in broadband, equitable device distribution, zero-rated educational content, teacher capacity-building, and gender-sensitive ICT strategies (SADC, 2024). Furthermore, decolonising digital education means centring local languages, IKSs, and community participation in how ICTs are used, taught and governed in schools.

While education is widely promoted as a tool for upward social mobility, the lived experiences of graduates across Southern Africa reveal a persistent and growing disjuncture between educational attainment and meaningful employment (UNESCO, 2023). This phenomenon is particularly acute in post-colonial contexts, where historical patterns of exclusion, spatial segregation, and labour market dualism, rooted in colonial capitalism, continue to shape employment outcomes. Despite decades of education reforms and expanded access to schooling, young people from marginalised ethnic backgrounds remain disproportionately excluded from formal, secure, and well-paying employment. UNESCO reports that 25% of Africans aged 15–24 are not in education, employment, or training (NEET) (UNESCO, 2024; UNICEF, 2025a).

In South Africa, the education system has made strides in improving access, but the labour market remains deeply stratified based on race lines (UNESCO, 2023). UNESCO continues to report that graduates from previously disadvantaged universities face systemic bias compared to their peers from elite institutions like the University of Cape Town or Stellenbosch. This reflects the enduring influence of apartheid-era hierarchies that equated “quality” with historically white institutions. Furthermore, graduates from “Bantustans” lack access to professional networks, internships, and mentorship opportunities, which are often key to securing employment (UNESCO, 2023; Christie and Collins, 1982). Consequently, the youth unemployment rate for those aged 15–24 climbed to 62.4% in Q1 2025, with the overall youth (15–34) unemployment rate at 46.1%; the NEET rate for the 15–34 age group was 45.1%, with young women more affected (48.1% NEET) (Statistics South Africa, 2025a). Education levels significantly impact employment, with university graduates having the lowest unemployment rate (23.9%), while those without matric face the highest (51.6%) (Statistics South Africa, 2025b).

Under colonial rule, education for the African population was largely geared toward producing semi-skilled labourers for mining, agriculture, and clerical work—rather than professionals or entrepreneurs (UNESCO, 2023). This created a dual economy, where modern, high-wage jobs were monopolised by settlers while African workers were confined to the margins of mining. Although political independence led to Africanisation and expanded access to schooling, the structure of the labour-market has remained fundamentally exclusionary. Today, educational systems in Africa, including Zambia, Malawi and Zimbabwe, still replicate many of these colonial divisions, with elite institutions producing a small cadre of globally competitive graduates, while the majority are funnelled into oversaturated and underpaid sectors.

Parental education and home learning environments are among the most decisive yet underappreciated factors shaping educational achievement across the world. The disparities in parental literacy, involvement, and capacity to support learning are both a symptom and a driver of broader educational inequality (UNESCO, 2023; Reay, 2018; Reay, 2006; Reay, 2004). These dynamics are not ahistorical are also profoundly shaped by the legacies of colonial education systems, which deliberately restricted formal education to a small elite group while denying the majority access to meaningful schooling. Recent studies have underscored the continued importance of parental involvement for student outcomes (OECD, 2024; World Bank, 2025a, 2025b).

In Malawi Zambia and Zimbabwe, large segments of the rural population are first-generation learners, with many parents—particularly mothers—having had little or no access to formal schooling (UNESCO, 2023; Kelly, 1999; Zimbabwe Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education, 2024a). This is a direct consequence of colonial neglect of rural education and the prioritization of urban-based schooling under British rule. Arguably, parents with limited education often lack the skills and confidence to assist with homework, navigate school bureaucracies, or engage meaningfully with teachers (UNESCO, 2023; Chileshe et al., 2018; Reay, 2018; 2004). This is particularly detrimental to girls, whose education is often deprioritised in favour of domestic jobs. A 2020 study in rural Zambia by Simweleba and Serpell found that an intervention to enhance parental interaction in homework significantly improved Grade 4 learners’ performance in Chitonga and Mathematics, demonstrating the potential impact of empowering parents (Simweleba and Serpell, 2020a, 2020b). In Malawi, a 2024 study endorsed that while parents of children with disabilities showed willingness to support their education, factors like limited knowledge of learning needs, time, and financial challenges constrained their involvement (Malawi Inclusive Education Research, 2024). Similar findings were also reported in Zimbabwe and South Africa (see Vurayi, 2022; Sehlako et al., 2023; Lewin and Mawoyo, 2014; Nyamukapa et al., 2014; South African Reading Association, 2024).

In the main, colonial legacy of excluding the Africans in everything has created intergenerational injustices. In rural areas, parents have been offered rudimentary instruction designed to make them serve the colonial masters (UNESCO, 2023; UNICEF, 2025b). This limited their engagement with academic subjects and yielded stunted literacy development while positioning education as a tool for subservience. Today, the lack of parental education continues to reproduce social and educational inequalities, often widening the performance gap between rural and urban learners. To dismantle this cycle, policies must address both adult literacy and intergenerational justice, particularly marginalised communities (UNICEF, 2025a). Interventions such as parent training workshops, home-school collaborations, and community reading initiatives seem to be promising and may bridge the epistemological access gap if adapted intelligently (OECD, 2024; World Bank, May 15a).

Epistemological injustices across Africa are deep-rooted, and they seem to emerge from colonial legacies, culture and neoliberal-minimalist policies. Colonial systems deliberately created unequalised education trajectories to serve their imperialist interests. Post-1980s neoliberal-minimalist policies, spearheaded by the IMF and World Bank, have further compounded these inequalities by shifting financial burdens onto families, and commoditizing education and its products. These policies shave further deepened the gap between the rural poor and the rich. Addressing these iniquities call for rights-based approaches. Key strategies include promoting IKSs in schools and culturally relevant pedagogies (Ladson-Billings, 1995). And, increasing public education investment in rural areas, and rural teacher deployment cannot be over-emphasized. Fundamental assessment reforms are crucial, by way of shifting from high-stakes exams to more formative methods that best reflect diverse learning contexts. Additionally, bridging the digital divide through investment in affordable ICTs is essential. In the main we are to achieve genuine epistemological justice and avoid Symbolic Violence, the we should foster inclusive HEIs policies and indigenous initiatives that can help us empower marginalized learners. Moreover, tackling inequalities demands a multi-pronged strategy that dismember intergenerational injustices, defies commodification, ensures sustained public funding, and fosters solid community engagement.