Indigenous moral education: Perspectives from Logooli culture

Abstract

In attempting to curb immorality in contemporary Kenya, both in rural and urban areas there is greater interest to recapture the •lost African moral values that were enhanced in the indigenous set up. And, it is within this set up that this paper endeavours to highlight the main aspects of indigenous Logooli people, a sub-tribe of the Luyhia community in Kenya s moral education. The paper emphasizes that the indigenous Logooli had senior members of society comprising of elders, leaders, foundingfathers and heroes who were not only emulated, but played a significant role in educating the youth by enhancing that their future and that of the entire community depended on the comprehension of inherited ethnic institutions of laws, language patterns, manual skills and moral values. We also discuss the view that moral education in the indigenous Logooli set up was a life long process of an individual which commenced right from infancy and proceeded up to death. A ccordingly, we focus on various people involved in educating the youth in their ethical principles such as; parents, grandparents, guardians, peer groups land siblings. Indeed, deviant members in the Logooli set up were dealt with and incorporated-into the society unlike in the contemporary society where even rehabilitation centres, law courts and jails are not sufficient in curbing social ills in society