FROM time to time, one hears calls for the Nziramasanga Report, that it is the panacea for our problems, educational and economic.
It is also referenced that other countries have adopted it, and so how good it is.
In some instances the Nziramasanga Report is synonymous with job creation, and therefore an end to our economic problems.
Other writers have, however, pointed out that the Nziramasanga Report has no soul, that this is its Achilles heel.
They have pointed out that the report makes no reference to the liberation struggle, to the foundation for the new education for Zimbabwe which was developed and implemented during the liberation struggle.
The glaring absence of what was achieved during the liberation struggle in education, is why it is correctly said to have no soul and precisely why it cannot be the solution to our problems.
The education system developed during the struggle is what provides the correct ideological direction for Zimbabwe’s education because it pursues the same purposes for which Zimbabwe was liberated.
It is an education to liberate the mind so that ‘inova nokuzvitonga kuzere’.
The practical skills the Nziramasanga Report is famed for, are not the issue.
The Smith regime also had the ‘F2 system’ which relegated the so-called less gifted Grade Seven graduates to certain practical skills because they were deemed not so ‘bright’.
Is this what Zimbabwe would want to resurrect?
“Ndiani anoda kuti vana vake vanzi havana njere saka chiendai kuma ‘practicals’ mundodzidziswa bricklaying neneedlework?”
Noone, because ‘hakuna chinonzi dofo’.
It is only an illusion created by our narrow traditionalist curriculum that screens and isolates the majority of our learners by selecting only a few competencies as legitimate areas of teaching and learning.
The pre-occupation with practical subjects per se is what results when there is no clear ideological orientation.
What must come first is the mental liberation which the Nziramasanga Report does not provide for by remaining silent about the liberation struggle and the goals it identififed and pursued in education.
A mentally liberated Zimbabwean knows that he or she is an heir to Zimbabwe and all it entails.
“Tinoda Zimbabwe neupfumi hwayo hwose,” as we sang during the liberation struggle.
It is still the same song that is sung by the Indigenisation, Empowerment and Employment Creation drive.
It is to claim ownership of all that Zimbabwe is endowed with.
It is not only about its natural resources, but also its cultural wealth and the political power that enables control of this ownership.
And so it is not just a matter of what skills, practical or otherwise, but a question of being skilled as who, and for what purpose.
As owners!
This is why President Robert Mugabe repeatedly challenges us not to take pride in managing foreign companies, instead to start our own companies.
It is this context in which whatever is taught in our schools should be referenced.
And it is not just ‘practical skills’; to run a business one needs productive skills yes, but also commercial skills, as well as the political skills to give direction in which to steer the businesses.
So it is the productive skills, it is the business skills which enable management of the business, how to strategise, how to account for what is produced, how to market the produce, but above all a clear understanding of political economy in order to accurately understand the power of ownership and production on the distribution of what is produced.
Therefore, it is not the practical subjects so narrowly defined that are needed ‘Kusimudza Mureza weZimbabwe!’, it is the whole spectrum of knowledge, attitudes, values, and skills that can be mobilised in each man and woman in Zimbabwe.
Each discipline has both the theoretical and practical components therefore the two should be merged and this is a fundamental principle in the theory and practice of education during the liberation struggle and with this approach no-one is left out.
So we should educate for ownership by Zimbabweans in their own land, who produce for the prosperity of their people, who will operate with integrity for the benefit of their people.
If they work for State Enterprises or institutions, still the correct ideological orientation will enable them to serve with diligence and integrity guided by the knowledge that this country belongs to Zimbabweans and they should collectively benefit from what is theirs.
The correct ideological consciousness will therefore enhance production in State Enterprises, proper management, and quality service delivery.
So the answer does not lie in ‘practical subjects’, but in an education that is driven by the correct ideology.
The foundation for our education laid during the liberation struggle provides the correct ideological direction for our education today, without it, we will continue in the current maze.
What great magnificence, what great wonders we would achieve for our country if each of the precious young Zimbabweans grew up knowing that this is the most beautiful country they could ever have, the best place to be in the whole wide world, if they grew up loving and cherishing this Great Land of Ours; it would be the greatest decoration for Zimbabwe.
But what is stopping us, who is stopping us?
One parent once asked: “Ko tinosungwa nani?
“Before Independence taisungwa naSmith.”
Here is wishing us all, the greatest and most gracious 34th Anniversary Independence celebrations!
Dr Mahamba is a war veteran and holds a PhD from Havard University. She is currently doing consultancy work.