OROMO INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE INTEGRATION INTO MIDDLE-LEVEL SCHOOL CITIZENSHIP EDUCATION CURRICULA: CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES

Abstract

The study examined the challenges and opportunities of incorporating Oromo indigenous knowledge into the middle-level citizenship education curriculum of the Oromia Regional State in Ethiopia. To meet this purpose, a mixed research method with a concurrent parallel research design was employed. The study was conducted within two purposively selected zones of the Oromia regional state. In the study, 43 (100%) teachers were selected by the comprehensive sampling technique. From a total of 13,302 students in the selected districts, 388 of them were selected using the sample size determined by Yemane’s (1967) formula. Moreover, regional curriculum experts, textbook writers, and editors were selected purposively. The data were gathered through questionnaires and interviews. The quantitative data obtained through questionnaires were analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics, while the qualitative data obtained through interviews were analyzed thematically. The findings revealed that economic factors such as limited resources for education and curriculum development, lack of well-organized documents, and prioritizing Western educational ideologies through grants and aid were obstacles to integrating indigenous knowledge into middle-level citizenship education curricula. Moreover, politically related factors, such as the Western system-oriented Ethiopian education curriculum contents, and the lack of administrative support, and social-related factors, like the little contribution of elites, lack of community, and stakeholders' participation in curriculum development, challenged the Oromo indigenous knowledge integration into the middle-level citizenship education curriculum. However, there are also opportunities, like a favorable policy environment and the legal sphere of the country’s constitution, for indigenous knowledge integration. While there is policy and constitutional support for the integration of Oromo indigenous knowledge, it should be translated into actionable strategies that actively engage educators, policymakers, and community members in curriculum development.