Global South in pursuance of the Global North: case of rural South African education and the Fourth Industrial Revolution

: Nations in the global South tend to embrace ideas, practices, and trends from the global North as the standard. This is in many instances at the expense of their suitability in the current situation and environment of the global South. For instance, issues revolving around the Fourth Industrial Revolution is a typical example. In recent times, the adjustments in the education and other sectors in the Global North to accommodate practices of the Fourth Industrial Revolution are beginning to flood the Global South where many basic and necessary infrastructures are lacking. Issues such as curricular review are being raised and considered, while conferences, workshops, seminars, amongst others are being organized to ensure that learning institutions are positioned to suit the demand of Fourth Industrial Revolution. For instance, coding is fast becoming a major subject to be considered even from primary schools, though not necessarily meeting the local demands.

Abstract: Nations in the global South tend to embrace ideas, practices, and trends from the global North as the standard. This is in many instances at the expense of their suitability in the current situation and environment of the global South. For instance, issues revolving around the Fourth Industrial Revolution is a typical example. In recent times, the adjustments in the education and other sectors in the Global North to accommodate practices of the Fourth Industrial Revolution are beginning to flood the Global South where many basic and necessary infrastructures are lacking. Issues such as curricular review are being raised and considered, while conferences, workshops, seminars, amongst others are being organized to ensure that learning institutions are positioned to suit the demand of Fourth Industrial Revolution. For instance, coding is fast becoming a major subject to be considered even from primary schools, though not necessarily meeting the local demands.
Keywords: decolonization; Global North; Global South; Pan-African association; rural African nations.

INTRODUCTION
The standard of development and success in the Global South tends to be the Global North. In other words, whatever the global North understands as success and/or development tends to be the standard in the Global South. Meanwhile, at independence, nations are considered to be sovereign and expected to live independently. This should imply possibly living independent of their colonial masters. However, this seems not to be the case in the African continent where the colonial masters and/or nations in the global North still seem to determine the standard of what development is, which nation(s) are developed, which ones are developing. Suffice to state that, the issue of standard tends to be questionable across different parts of the global South. What is standard? Who determines standard? From which lens is and/or should the standard be seen or considered? These questions reveals issues yet to be critically answered by the different African nations, which are predominant in the Global South. Meanwhile, the case of rural areas in many African nations, regarding such standards, is more alarming. The foregoing permeates different sectors and systems in various African society: including both the rural and urban areas. However, for the purpose of this study, the focus remains rural African societies and the education sector in specific. Hence, this paper comprises the following sections: the first section considers the issue of colonialism 1 to neo-colonialism in African nations considering the Fourth Industrial Revolution regarding the education sector. The second section explores the agenda of the Pan-African vision 2063 in alignment with development in rural African nations and the demands of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The third section constitutes the educational and language challenges for African nations. The fourth section entails the attempts to review the case of China as a nation in congruence to its rise without external influence.

SECTION ONE: COLONIALISM TO NEO-COLONIALISM OF AFRICAN NATIONS REGARDING THE FOURTH INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION WITH FOCUS ON THE EDUCATION SECTOR
The quest for the reclaim of African territory in terms of politics, social, and economy from the colonizers and imperialists brought about unity within the African continent 2 . This spirit of oneness eventually led African nations to experienced independence. However, decades after independence, many African nations and the continent at large still remains in other forms of colonialism described as neo-colonialism, which is used to mean 'new form of colonialism.' According to Nyikal: There is merely a new form of colonialism, by the same western countries, masked under the pretext of economic support for Africa, directly enforced or comunicação & educação • Year XXVIII • issue 1 • jan/jun 2023 institutionalized in the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Trade Organization (WTO). The policies enforced on poor African countries through these organizations have chained Africa to continued dependence on western economies for mere subsistence, by preventing self help to the continent's economic problems. Moreover, the same policies seem to favor a trade imbalance to the already wealthy Western economies over the struggling ones in Africa. 3 This suggests the deliberate attempts of the Global North to 'neo-colonize' that is, colonize the Global South, especially the African nations in the context of this study, using new methods. According to Dinesh 4 , some ways by which neo-colonialism is perpetrated include: 1. The interference of strong nations in the current internal affairs of new/small/weak nations. This could mean former colonialists interring in the present internal affairs of their previous colonies; 2. Supplying of weapons and ammunitions; 3. Making loans and foreign aids available; 4. Dominating and controlling international economic institutions; 5. Using multinational organizations; 6. Continuously ensuring that weak nations are economically dependent on them; and 7. Creating satellite countries.
Nyikal 5 had earlier cautioned that African nations should turn away from some of the highlighted methods of neo-colonialism in order to be sovereign. However, such caution seems not to have been adhered to and has left many African nations experiencing neo-colonialism. Dinesh 6 highlights some reasons why countries in the Global South experience neo-colonialism. Some of these reasons, considered especially within the context of African nations according to the focus of this study include: rise and struggle against colonialism, developed countries meeting their own needs, continuous dependence of countries on their former colonialists, the impact of cold war and the issues of policies of the United States of America (USA) and the former Soviet Union. The identified points are briefly explained below following the submission of Dinesh 7 .
Rise and struggle against colonialism: The struggle of African nations and their continuous quest for independence brought about various movements in different countries. This led to the colonialists granting the demands of African nations by offering them independence. However, the ties between colonialists and their colonies remain. Through such ties, new systems of economic exploitations are being devised and perpetrated. 8 Developed countries meeting their own needs: Developed countries seek to meet their own personal needs with the exploitation of other countries that are relatively new and small by proposing economic and security assistance. 9 These come in the form of weapons supplies and the loan offerings.
Continuous dependence of countries on their former colonialists: Dependence of this nature occurs in various ways such as with the sales and purchase of raw materials and industrial goods, which may lead to neo-colonialism. New and small countries tend to depend on their colonialists or other developed countries for the sales of their raw materials. This tends to sometimes place these countries at the mercies of their developed counterparts, almost always from the Global North. The impact of the Cold War: The rise of two contending blocs in issues of international relations, during the post-war period, caused some challenges for new small countries since many of them were constrained to associate with one of the two blocs. 10 The reason for choice of the new small countries was to secure assistance economically and have access to weapons and ammunitions.
Issues of policies of the United States of America (USA) and the former Soviet Union: During the Cold War , the USA and USSR sought to increase their respective areas of influence. This led them into exploiting the economic needs of new small countries 11 . This is described by Talton (2011), following the speech of President Kenneth Kaunda, as creating weaknesses. The exploitation of countries by the USA and the Soviet Union was done through various means, amongst which are: offerings of loans, foreign aids, and control over international economy and economic institutions. Talton 12alluding to the March 1966 presidential speech Kenneth Kaunda, the first president of Zambia -explains that the challenge of African nations is mostly due to lack of trained personnel and financial constraints. Hence, "We are left with no choice but to fall on either the east or west, or indeed, on both of them" 13 . This suggests the reason why African nations became in allegiance with one of the blocs. According to Dinesh 14 , the practice of nations pledging allegiance to one of the two blocs led the USA and other western powers to focus on creating different economic dependencies, while the Soviet Union created its satellite countries. These activities by the USA, western powers, and the Soviet Union was targeted for operationalizing neo-colonialism within international relations. Dinesh 15 explains that 'economic dependencies' are used to denote sovereign new small countries that their economic interests are under the control of developed, powerful, and rich countries; in this case, the USA. On the other hand, 'satellite' countries are used to represent sovereign new small countries, whose politics and economy are connected to and largely depend on powerful and rich countries 16 , like the Soviet Union.

SECTION TWO: AGENDA OF THE THE-AFRICAN VISION 2063 IN ALIGNMENT WITH THE DEVELOPMENT OF RURAL AFRICAN NATIONS AND THE DEMANDS OF THE FOURTH INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
The agenda of African Union (AU) for 2063 entails that, by that year, peace, integration, unity, and prosperity would be the order for the Pan-African association and its member nations 17 . This is described by Ndlovu-Gatsheni as African futures. According to the author 18 , for the African Union (AU) to be able to successfully achieve such dream/agenda, they must first be ready to combat interminably against global coloniality. In this regard, the African Union (AU) is believed to be able to counter and fight against practices that promote various forms of legacies of European colonialism. This could be in the form of social orders and/or knowledge. This implies that the African Union (AU) may be able to lead African nations and Africans in creating the desired futures where unity, peace, prosperity, among others, reign by attempting to not follow the system of the modern world as well as its shifting global orders, which are mostly centered around the European and North American continents 19 . The shifting global orders tend to eventually have impact on the African nations and continent. In congruence, Keegan 20 has previously explained about four shifts in the global order, which occurred in 1648, the peace of Westphalia; 1815, Congress of Vienna; 1919, Paris after the First World War; and 1945, San Francisco after the second World War. Ndlovu-Gatsheni 21 , in critiquing the work of Keegan 22 , recalls and states the shift in global order of 1884-1885 in Berlin, where different leading European powers divided African nations amongst themselves in order to conquer territory. The aforementioned, suggests that African nations from history have been considered as underdogs, which may not necessarily matter in the shifting global orders. Adebajo, cited in Ndlovu-Gatsheni 23 , described the Berlin shifting global order of 1884-1885 as: "Berlin and its aftermath were akin to robbers forcibly breaking into a house and sharing out its possessions while the owners of the house -who had been tied up with thick ropes -were wide awake, but were powerless to prevent the burglary" 24 . This description explains how helpless Africans were during this time. However, centuries after, while African nations are considered to have gained independence and are expected to be sovereign, they are seemingly still being subjected to such experiences of Berlin 1884-1885, albeit in different and subtler manners, especially with the use of recent technologies and practices. For instance, the issue of language and educational content of different African nations, especially those of rural based institutions of learning should be of great concern. This will be further explained in the next section (Section Three).

SECTION THREE: LANGUAGE AND EDUCATION AS CHALLENGES FOR AFRICAN NATIONS
Language and education are in this regard considered as being sources of challenge to the Global South, especially the African nations that are the focus of this study. Crystal 25 describes the English language as a global language. According to Crystal, some of the reasons why English is considered a global language is its acceptability in different parts of the world, its use in print media, such as newspapers, magazines, books, reviews, amongst others. Also, following the work of Crystal, English has become the language of non-print media like films, podcasts, videos, websites, amongst others. This suggests the power of the language across the globe. Furthermore, this implies that in different parts of the world, the English language tends to be a well-recognized language; which might account for a contributory reason as to why it has become a common language adopted as the official medium of instruction in different African nations. The issue of language is evident when referencing the official languages of the African nations, as well as the recognized official languages adopted for meetings of the Pan-African association and its sub-associations. This, by implication, suggests that Pan-African nations still continues to experience modern day slavery. Following the works of different scholars such as Lee 26 , as well as Jennings, Vinson and Proctor (2014) 27 , language can be adopted as a tool for enslaving people. Thus, African scholar like Ngugi wa Thiong'o 28 cited in Kgatla 29 considers "language as the most potent instrument in the hands of the colonisers to capture the mind of the colonised." Kgatla, further citing Ngugi wa Thiong'o, states that language, when considered as part of culture, performs one of the functions of an agent responsible for image-forming in learners' minds. This is because it tends to create new images in the minds of learners who, with time, begin to disconnect themselves from their native environment. This signifies that language is a major tool capable of enslaving an individual. Thus, Ngugi wa Thiong'o and Kgatla call for the decolonization of the mind which seeks to help Africans to attain the height of self-freedom from internal and external enslavement, as well as from the control of their colonizers, and ensure self-empowerment. However, how possible can this be or how easy can such be achieved when many institutions of learning across the African continent adopt one foreign language or the other as medium of instruction? The works of Kamwangamalu 30 , Brock-Utne 31 , and Mukama 32 show that many of the languages adopted as medium of instruction in different institutions of learning in Africa are that of the former colonizers. For instance, English is adopted in Anglophone African countries like Gambia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Ghana, amongst others; French is adopted as medium of instruction in Francophone African countries like Madagascar, Burkina-Faso, Senegal, amongst others; and Portuguese is adopted as medium of instruction in Lusophone countries like Angola, Guinea-Bissau, São Tomé and Príncipe, Mozambique, among others. Brock-Utne 33 further state that the adoption of the languages of former colonizers as medium of instructions in schools is likely to serve only a few learners, leaving a larger percentage behind. In the case of rural schools, which is the focus of the study, where the rate of illiteracy is high 34 , the situation is believed to be worse, considering various factors like high rate of poverty, lack of exposure, lack of basic infrastructures required for teaching and learning, amongst others. Suffice to state that the adoption of foreign languages as medium of instruction in African schools do not promote understanding of what is taught and learnt. Meanwhile, according to Bamgbose 35 : Outside Africa, no one questions why the languages of countries with smaller populations in Europe should be used as a medium, even up to and including the university level. What seems to be lacking in many African countries is the political will to break away from the colonial policy and practice of limiting mother tongue education to lower primary classes. Where such a will exists, much can be done in a short period of time. The expressions of Bamgbose explains partly how African nations are yet enslaved and how they are likely to continuously remain if due action is not taken. Thus, for the Agenda 2063 of the African Union (AU) to be achieved they must consider the issues revolving around the language of instruction, as well as official language in African nations.
Similarly, in the education sector, while African nations continue to clamor for the decolonization of the education system, which in itself may be good and desirous 36 , the curricular which controls all activities and practices under the guidance of the school tends to not promote this agenda. Thus, Tavernaro-Haidarian 37 advocates for a re-curriculation in which the African philosophy of Ubuntu (brotherhood) will be infused. Meanwhile, from the viewpoint of Mampane, Omidire, and Aluko 38 , decolonization of education should be viewed considering the students of various nationalities across the African continent. Mampane, Omidire, and Aluko further state that achieving a decolonized curriculum and applying technology in education implies addressing injustices and marginalization of the past by regarding and leveraging indigenous languages and culture, while integrating significant and cost-effective technology. This implies that decolonization in education does not connote the removal of technology which is considered western as alluded by Arnold 39 who states that technology is regarded as a colonial innovation which can fail if it clashes with the culture of those whom it is intended to benefit. In this regard, technologies are encouraged to be moved into rural villages. Moreover, technology is not only a function of innovation; but entails issues of adoption by a mass of users, and it co-evolves with different domains like cultural, political, economic, amongst others, each of which impacts and/or is affected by the other 40 . However, Christie 41 suggests that decolonization tends to be unattainable because the different interventions by the government, in the many years prior to the recent time, have made colonial issues, as well as the construction of racialized differences, to remain and reproduce themselves in new forms.
another example is the quest for adjustments to many curriculum of African nations, in recent year, to suit the demands of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Meanwhile, many of the African nations are yet to consider and explore the need for the provision of necessary infrastructure to enable teaching and learning that will promote the desired development at local levels. For instance, the Government Gazette 42 shows that the Department of Basic Education (DBE) in South Africa has developed a coding and robotics curriculum for lower grades, precisely Grades R -3, though in many countries such type of curriculum only begins in the later schooling years. For this reason, South Africa is being applauded for beginning this intervention at an earlier stage. This is to prepare them for the work demand of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. While this step may be applauded by the Global North, the issue yet remains that many rural institutions of learning in the country still lack required infrastructures to ensure quality teaching and learning. This implies that, while the country 'standard' is set by the practices of the Global North regarding the shifting order in the quest for the Fourth Industrial Revolution by reviewing and adjusting the curricula, many learners are likely to be left behind, especially those in rural areas. This is mainly because the quality of teaching and learning in many rural institutions remains questionable due to lack of necessary infrastructure.

SECTION FOUR: THE WAY FORWARD
Ndlovu-Gatsheni 43 states that "At the epistemological realm, Africans are still stuck in Euro-North American-centric thought. They somehow breathe it on a daily basis because it is a major technology of domination." This implies that a major central element for measuring 'standard' revolves around the Euro-North American-centric mentality. This is the reason Africa and Africans in different instances are considered not to believe in themselves 44 . Kelland and Sánchez 45 had earlier stated that the African continent boasts many of the fastest economies around the globe, while they fail in believing in themselves. Some of the reasons why Africans fail to believe in themselves, according to the authors, include the following notions described as myths and misconceptions: 1. the poor and continuous poverty rate of African countries, especially with 47% living below $1.25 per day; 2. Africa is always hot, dry, and sunny; 3. Africa is all about grassland and wildlife; 4. Lack of access to modern technology in Africa; 5. Lack of arts industry in Africa; 7. Failure of Africans to help themselves; 8. Lack of unifying language and huge dependence on the English language; 9. Small size of the continent; 10. Bad governance in all countries in the continent. Furthermore, following a review of the work of Nyikal 46 , African nations as well as the African Union (AU) will need to design and promote policies that will encourage self-help, while discouraging themselves from exploring options of borrowing from international organizations and nations from the Global North. In addition, Verharen and colleagues 47 , believes that there is need for the development of a Pan-African curriculum via research funded by the African Union (AU). The curriculum is designed to include disciplines that drives innovation in science and technology. Thus, a new discipline which links science, engineering and technology to sustainable, ethical development is proposed.
While the global world may continue to consider globalization as the standard, Pan-African nations may need to explore the option of glocalization. The term 'glocalization' is a combination of global and localization. It is used to mean producing to meet local needs/demands while using global standard. In this case, a redefinition of standard is put forward. For instance, in the approach and use of technology, inclusion of African languages is considered and upheld. The needs of rural people are considered and, to proffer lasting solution, the curricula of schools are revised to include the infusion of items that may proffer lasting solutions to the challenges of the local community.

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
The study explored the issue of standard as set by the Global North and pursued by the Global South. While this may be unconsciously done by the Global South which is predominantly African countries, it tends to bring about some new forms of slavery for them. The agenda of the African Union (AU) to achieve its vision for 2063, when Pan-African nations are united, experiencing peace and prosperity, may be unachievable if success is not enjoyed in the continuous combat against decoloniality. Meanwhile, factors such as issues revolving around language, curricular of education, and/or educational practices/systems can hamper the attainment of such vision. Similarly, African nations not decisively taking a stand, as well as defining and maintaining their own standard, may continuously make them handicapped before the Global North, and at the same time relegate them to insignificant positions. Hence, there is need for African nations to break off from being at relegated positions to defining and pursuing their own standard which should include the rural areas, rather than focusing only on the urban. Based on the reviews and the findings of the study, the following recommendations are made: • African nations in the continent should define their own development and work towards their goal. This can be done with the Pan-African association. Thus, Pan-African nations need to come together, set a standard for themselves and begin to work towards its achievement, otherwise, African nations are likely to remain puppets in the hands of nations of the Global North. This will continue to promote neo-colonialism which can be described as modern-day slavery. • The education system of African countries should be designed in such a manner that rural and urban based institutions of learning are made first to cater for the needs and demands of their immediate and/or host community before considering the global world.
Suggestion for further study This study mainly focused on reviewing literatures. Hence, further studies which accommodates the use of quantitative, qualitative, or mixed methods should be considered. This can be done by comparing two or more African countries in the context of this study.