Engineering education and the drive for social justice in Africa

Engineering social justice education (ESJ) is an emerging core subject in engineering education (EE)and profession. However, several EE institutions are yet to incorporate social justice (SJ) into engineering courses, leading to strong advocacy for EE review of programmes. This paradigm shift is align with ESJ revised curricula to increase the power of engineering knowledge integrated with SJ, which explicitly harnessed in serving vulnerable society, thereby addressing injustices and inequalities; hence the crux of this paper. This paper was guided by Nancy Fraser’s theory of SJ that elucidates that a more equitable distribution of resources is interrelated with equal recognition of different identities/groups within a society. This theory looks at how individuals are prevented from participating as equals by denying them of available resources to do so. This paper takes a broad look at the impact of integrating SJ in EE in Africa, while examining the extent EE has addressed numerous inequalities and, exploring how engineering practitioners can work towards a more just and equitable society. The significance of SJ in EE in the 21st century were discussed among others. Thus, to address social justice in EE, collaboration amongst educational sector and engineering industrialists are central in building and revising EE curriculum inclusive of SJ themes to consolidate engineering professional ethics. This will transform the way educators think about ESJ through creating or converting existing core curriculum courses to attract, retain, and motivate engineering students to become professionals to enact SJ in engineering field.