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Cultivate patriotism in education sector

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THERE is a continuing, worrying culture in our country, particularly in schools. A student can literally sing the history of Napoleon Bonaparte, Benito Mussolini, Adolf Hitler, Winston Churchill or Cecil John Rhodes among others.
Is it not disturbing when the same student is unable to chronicle the accounts of heroes and heroines from his or her own motherland.
The student does not know Tichafa Parirenyatwa, Josiah Tungamirai, George Nyandoro, Willie Musarurwa, Joanna ‘Mama Mafuyana’ Nkomo, Jason Ziyaphapha Moyo, Herbert Chitepo and many more who contributed immensely to the attainment of independence.
The names of heroes who died at Chinhoyi are virtually unknown to our students, yet these are some of the gallant sons of the soil who were hunted down and killed like animals during the Rhodesian era.
How then as a nation do we expect the future generation to know where we came from and where we are going when all they know are exploits of foreign heroes?
How do we expect them to grow up celebrating the achievements of the country’s heroes when they virtually know nothing?
Are we not grooming a crop of students who will be quick to dismiss Independence and Heroes Days as non-events? Will these people be able to defend our independence?
And as they grow up, what sort of intellectuals do we expect?
We are our past, where we come from matters.
We cannot forge ahead successfully if we know nothing about our past.
The past is our anchor that holds us stead when winds that threaten nations blow.
The confidence that we need our people to possess can only come from knowledge of the exploits of our past heroes and heroines.
Our youths can be brilliant scholars and artisans, but they are constantly found wavering when called to deliver for the country.
And the problem lies in that absence of knowledge of their past.
They know and are confident in the capabilities of the Americans and the British for history books have shown them that these nations are littered with gallant individuals.
But so is our history and yet our youths do not know because they have not been taught about the greats of our country.
How many students in this country know who Gumboreshumba or Sororenzou is?
It is time that as a nation we take seriously the need to impart a wholesome education to our children.
If we miss them while they are still in school, we have lost them.
Attempts to replace Napoleons in adults will not bear positive results.
Our people can only compete as equals and confidently on the global platform not by possessing knowledge about the latest technologies, but by fully knowing who they are and where they are coming from and going.
Our past serves as a source of inspiration thus it is imperative that we understand it and fully appreciate it.
By not imparting the knowledge of those that helped shape our nation to what it is today we are doing ourselves a disservice and setting ourselves up for frustration.
Patriotism must be cultivated in our halls of education.
This is where our young, besides their homes, receive concrete data about their country and its aspirations.
Rewriting our own history must be our number one priority.

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