WE have already seen that education, as we know it today by its formal state, is certainly not in organic sync with the African value systems.
As Julius Nyerere (1967) accurately observes:
The fact that pre-colonial Africa did not have ‘schools’ — except for short periods of initiation in some tribes — did not mean that the children were not educated. They learned by living and doing. In the homes and on the farms they were taught the skills of the society and the behaviour expected of its members. They learned the kind of grasses which were suitable for which purposes, the work which had to be done on the crops, or the care which had to be given to animals, by joining with their elders in this work. They learned the tribal history and the tribe’s relationship with other tribes and with the spirits, by listening to the stories of the elders. Through these means, and by the custom of sharing to which young people were taught to conform, the values of the society were transmitted. Education was thus ‘informal’; every adult was a teacher to a greater or lesser degree. But this lack of formality did not mean that there was no education, nor did it affect its importance to the society. Indeed, it may have made the education more directly relevant to the society in which the child was growing up.
Those who have been listening closely here should have established that the philosophy which drove the so-called informal African education was unhu/ubuntu/botho whose purpose was principally to produce munhu/umuntu/ubotho. Unhu is a Shona word which is ubuntu in Nguni.
The concept of unhu in Zimbabwe is similar to that of other African cultures. Unhu is a social philosophy which embodies virtues that celebrate the mutual social responsibility, mutual assistance, trust, sharing, unselfishness, self-reliance, caring and respect for others among other ethical values.
It means behaviour patterns acceptable to Shona people. It may be known by different nomenclatures depending on languages but the bottom-line is that this philosophy is clearly understood by all Africans. The cornerstone of this humane philosophy is unity of purpose; that is, valuing others before oneself; hence common axioms such as:
l Munhu munhu navanhu (you derive your identity and value from others)
l Muntu ngumuntu ngavantu (you derive your identity and value from others)
l Botho kabotho kebotho (you derive your identity and value from others).
The point is that only the people are qualified to give worth, measured against their value-systems. As Okot p’ Bitek (1986: 19) explains, personhood (unhu) is acquired:
It is something to be achieved, not given simply because one is born of human seed. The human person is intrinsically a communal being embedded in a context of social relationships with fellow beings. The human society is not a mere association of individual persons pursuing different personal interests; but a group of persons linked by interpersonal bonds (biological and social) defined primarily by common interests, goals and values enshrined in their shared culture [and philosophy] (my emphasis).
This collective individuality can be expressed in different ways but the principle of oneness remains supreme. For instance Chinua Achebe sums up this concept of metaphysical unity in Nigeria creatively by saying:
A man who calls his kinsmen to a feast does not do so to save them from starving. They all have food in their own homes. When we gather together in the moonlit village ground it is not because of the moon. Every man can see it in his own compound. We come together because it is good for kinsmen to do so.
Even in this simplicity Achebe makes it plain that Africans value both collateral value as well as collateral damage. In a nutshell, they value both collective responsibility and collective accountability.
Education must therefore prepare the young to have values of unhu/ubuntu/botho. Its content must teach values that tend towards sharing and mutual benefit; hence lessons are drawn from everyday language forms like proverbs and idioms such as:
l Kunewenyu kunzou (You will not be missed out as you have one of your own where distribution is done)
l Ane maoko maviri haatsvi nenyemba (He who has two hands will not be scarred by hot beans)
l Varume ndivamwe kutsva kwendebvu vanodzimurana (Men are all the same, when their beards burn, they help each other to extinguish the fire)
l Rume rimwe harikombi churu (A single person no matter how big does not surround an anti-hill alone.
l Gumwe rimwe haritswanyi inda (A single thump does not kill a louse)
All these point towards a philosophy which derives legitimacy and strength from the people.
Quality education therefore produces an African who lives as an African, one who embraces an African sensibility.
This is what is missing in today’s extrinsically driven learning.
A key concept associated with ubuntu, or unhu, is behaviour and interaction in the context of various social roles.
For example, a daughter-in-law traditionally kneels down when greeting her parents-in-law and serving them food, as a sign of respect.
She maintains the highest standards, because her behaviour is a reflection on her family and on all the women raised in that family.
The daughter-in-law does this as part of the ambassadorial function that she assumes at all times. A woman’s deference to a husband or brother does not imply that the woman is subordinate, only that she possesses unhu and knows the proper attitude and behaviour for each social circumstance.
Her own husband lowers himself too before his in-laws.
In unhu, children are never orphans, since the roles of mother and father are, by definition, not vested in a single individual with respect to a single child. Furthermore, a man or a woman with unhu will never allow any child around him or her to be an orphan.
The concept of unhu is also essential to traditional African jurisprudence and governance. Under unhu, a crime committed by one individual against another extends far beyond the two individuals and has far-reaching implications for the people from among whom the perpetrator of the crime hails.
Unhu jurisprudence supports remedies and punishments that tend to bring people together.
A crime of murder might be remedied by creating a bond of marriage between the families of the victim and the accused, in addition to punishing the perpetrator both inside and outside his social circles.
The family and the society from which the criminal hailed are regarded as a sort of ‘tertiary perpetrator’, and are punished with a fine and social stigma that can only be absolved by many years of demonstrating unhu or ubuntu.
A leader who has unhu is selfless, consults widely and listens to his subjects. He or she does not adopt a lifestyle that is different from his/her subjects, but lives among them and shares what he owns.
A leader who has unhu does not lead but allows the people to lead themselves. Forcefully imposing his or her will on his people is incompatible with unhu.