RESEARCH carried out by the Zimbabwe Heritage Trust (ZHT) concludes that while the skin colour of blacks has remained dark, the mentality and view of the world of some of them is purely Western, it is white.
One of the main strategies the West has used to dominate the African was to introduce an education system and religion that transformed Africans to ‘self-haters’.
The local religion was the early target of demolition as Christian missionaries were deployed decades before the colonialists arrived to set up their administration.
After the demolition of religion, missionaries introduced an African education system whose main objective was to undermine all aspects of the African culture.
Missionaries were the experts in turning African minds, and schools in Rhodesia were first set up by missionaries.
At independence in 1980, Zimbabwe, like other African countries, inherited the colonial system of education whose objectives were to undermine the African personality and the African culture.
When it became obvious the white-settler government would eventually fall, Western countries offered massive numbers of Zimbabweans scholarships to study abroad (in their countries).
It is some of those people, until today, who see nothing wrong with the continued use of the colonial education system and have tried to resist changes in the new curriculum.
However, the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education has developed a new educational system which will provide today’s generation with knowledge, skills and a hybrid of attitudes that will drive the country‘s socio-economic growth.
And, to breed a generation that appreciates and cherishes national identity, a curriculum that will manifest patriotism, recognises and values national symbols has been launched.
The new education curriculum has the potential to mentally liberate the African, particularly the Zimbabwean.
Coincidentally, the new education curriculum dovetails into ZHT’s quest to liberate the mind and make the black people love their identity.
It is against this background that the ZHT held a workshop to pool together writers who will ensure that the African identity is restored and maintained in the new education curricula.
Speaking at the workshop, ZHT Chief Executive Officer, Cde Pritchard Zhou, said ZHT believed development came from self-knowledge as well as appreciation of one’s culture.
“Our projects (The Patriot Newspaper, Heritage Publishing House (HPH) and Heritage Advocacy Programme) seek to liberate the mind and to make black people love their identity, believe in black people’s capacity to tackle science and develop the African continent,” said Cde Zhou.
“We believe development comes from love for self, culture and country.”
Cde Zhou said HPH’s guiding philosophy is producing books that expose the greatness of the African ancestors in agriculture, mining, engineering, science and governance, which seek to inspire Africans to appreciate themselves.
All educational books, said Cde Zhou, including science must be written or translated into local languages.
“The reason our languages lack science vocabulary for example, is because they were deliberately excluded as languages of instruction, research and science by colonial governments,” he said.
“Language is a major tool in the thinking process and as long as we continue to teach our children in English or any other foreign language, mental liberation will take longer to achieve or materialise at all.”
Speaking at the same event, director in the Curriculum Development and Technical Unit (CDTU) in the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education, Dr Arthur Makanda, said education was fundamental to personal and national development.
“Education is fundamental to personal and human development and provides a myriad of life opportunities,” he said.
“It also underpins the development of a highly skilled and innovative workforce which is critical for social, cultural and economic growth.
“The Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education remains committed to fulfilling the potential of learners in Zimbabwe.
“Emphasis will be given to providing improved access and quality education to every learner.
“This will subsequently contribute to bringing about meaningful transformation in the lives of ordinary Zimbabweans.”
Dr Makanda said patriotism and ubuntu/hunhu were some of the key elements of the new curriculum and the introduction of the National Schools Pledge was a summary of the values.
He bemoaned the perpetuation of the colonial history and values through names of schools, languages and beliefs which are revered by some schools and added that it was time for a change of mindset.
Celebrated author, Aaron Chiundura-Moyo, said while as writers they promoted the use of the mother languages in their literature, some schools were sabotaging those efforts.
“I want to highlight that there are some schools that punish children for speaking in vernacular language because they are only allowed to speak in English in the school premises,” he said.
“So we urge you to look into all those issues because it erodes the purpose of instilling national pride, values and ethos because language is the primary mode of identification.”
In his presentation, Dr Augustine Tirivangana said the purpose of education was to transmit the accumulated wisdom and knowledge of society to generations.
“Education systems differ within societies and whether formal or informal, it has a purpose,” he said.
“That purpose is to transmit from one generation to the next the accumulated wisdom and knowledge of the society, and to prepare the young people for their future membership of the society and their active participation in its maintenance or development.”
Education in the African context, said Dr Tirivangana, was ‘informal’ because every adult was a teacher to a greater or lesser degree.
“But this lack of formality did not mean there was no education, nor did it affect its importance to society,” he said.
“Indeed, it may have made the education more directly relevant to the society in which the child is growing up.
“In Europe, education has been formalised for a very long time.
“An examination of its development will show, however, that it has always had similar objectives to those implicit in the traditional African system of education.
“The content of education is somewhat different from that of Western countries, but the purpose is the same – to prepare young people to live in and to serve society and to transmit the knowledge, skills and values as well as attitudes of society.
“Wherever education fails in any of these fields, then society falters in its progress, or there is social unrest as people find that their education has prepared them for a future which is not open to them.”