STEM education and the question of decolonial knowledge

Abstract

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.