STEM education and the question of decolonial knowledge
Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education is conventionally treated as a culturally neutral, universal enterprise. This theoretical paper interrogates that assumption and asks how science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education can be rethought beyond dominant Western epistemic traditions. Drawing on decolonial theory, indigenous knowledge scholarship, ethnomathematics, and African philosophy of education, the paper argues that decolonising STEM is not a matter of cosmetic curriculum diversification but of structural epistemological pluralism. Using a critical-hermeneutic engagement with the literature, the study advances a three-level analytic framework: content, pedagogy, and epistemic governance for evaluating decolonial STEM reform, and proposes a pluriversal model in which indigenous knowledge systems, local problem-solving practices, and the plural Western sciences are braided as co-generative starting points for STEM teaching. The paper concludes that genuine decolonisation requires moving from epistemic monoculture to cognitive justice and offers concrete recommendations for curriculum designers, teacher educators, and policymakers in African and other postcolonial contexts.