THERE is an insidious misrepresentation of heritage-based education, one that seeks to relegate it to a relic, a mere memory of the past to be occasionally unearthed, dusted off, and returned to the shelves of history.
This misrepresentation is not accidental. Heritage-based education, or Education 5.0 as it is now known, has reignited a revolution in the way education is envisioned and practised in Zimbabwe.
It is this revolution that threatens the colonial, Western-oriented status quo and is, therefore, being fought with increasing desperation and hostility.
Because the fire ignited by heritage-based education cannot be ignored, the forces that oppose Zimbabwe’s full emancipation have rebranded themselves. They now pretend that they embrace heritage-based education, hailing it as a charming aspect of cultural nostalgia, but only as decoration; an accessory to a modern, Westernised Zimbabwe.
They reduce it to music, dance and traditional dress: visual and performative elements that can be paraded, but not taken seriously as the foundation of national development.
We reject this reductionism because it is a tactic of our enemies. Yes, our music, our dance, our dress are important, but they are only the surface. Heritage-based education is not about the past; it is about vuZimbabwe, the soul of Zimbabwe, which has evolved over centuries. It is a dynamic inheritance, not a museum piece. It must be mined systematically as we build a Zimbabwe that is not only new but deeply rooted in who we truly are. It must be a deliberate and strategic effort. Modernity is not a universal concept; it is someone’s idea of progress. It is not inherently ours.
We must not blindly adopt what others call ‘modern’. What is truly ours is what strengthens vuZimbabwe. We possess moral, ethical and aesthetic values that have matured through our own historical experiences. These values are not borrowed; they are part of our identity. Heritage-based education insists that we live by these values, not someone else’s.
To speak of ‘modern’ without asking: For whom, by whom and to what end? is to speak without meaning. The concept is hollow if it lacks cultural context. Heritage-based education demands that Zimbabwean children know what it means to be Zimbabwean, not just in language or geography, but in attitudes, values and feelings. There is no such thing as neutral or global values; these are rooted in history, culture and experience.
The religiosity of our people, our understanding of personhood, and our criteria for what makes a decent human being are all distinctly Zimbabwean — hunhu/ubuntu. These must guide us. Our language, our sense of community, our definition of humanity must be taught and lived. Children must grow up to become maDzimbahwe, not cosmopolitan ghosts chasing identities that do not belong to them.
There is no such thing as international peoplehood. The Japanese are Japanese. The Chinese are Chinese. They succeed because they know who they are and act from that foundation. So must we. We can learn from others, yes, but not to lose ourselves; not to sell our souls for a bowl of soup.
There is no old culture and new culture. There is just our culture, our identity, purposefully evolved through the ages. When we embrace our moral, ethical and aesthetic selves, we embrace our ideology. We define ourselves.
Our way of life is centred on production. We are agriculturalists, herders, miners and producers. We believe in the dignity of labour, in self-reliance. Our ancestors were respected for being great farmers (hurudza), hunters and miners. Hard work has always been honourable. In our society, laziness, vagrancy and dependence were never celebrated. They were considered signs of failure not because of cruelty, but because there has always been land, livestock and means to survive.
But today, we have alienated our youth from the paths of our ancestors. We have taught them to scorn the land and the values that once upheld our dignity. We have fed them dreams of city lights, without the tools or means to survive there. We have convinced them that it is better to live in squalor in the city than in prosperity in the countryside. This is a betrayal.
Heritage-based education aims to reverse this alienation. It teaches our youth real values. It teaches them to take the hoe and rule themselves, tora badza uzvitonge.
Let education be about productivity, not dependency. Let it teach our youth that the soil beneath their feet is their greatest inheritance.
You can study mathematics and English for a lifetime, but without production, you will still starve. You will still be homeless. Colonial education was designed to produce labourers for the colonial economy. Its goal was not to empower but to exploit.
Today, that same system tries to preserve its dominance by portraying the colonial model as the only path to progress. Heritage-based education challenges this narrative. It says: No, our wealth is in our land, our hands, our minds. We must harness our natural heritage to create our own means of livelihood.
This is the same spirit that was kindled during the liberation struggle. Schools in the camps taught not only reading and writing, but also agriculture, animal husbandry and survival skills. The goal was self-sufficiency, not subservience.
Remember the Ndebele herd, the largest south of the Zambezi, numbering a quarter of a million! The colonialists took it all. They took the fertile lands, the mines and the rivers. They took our means of survival. How do we reclaim it without teaching our children that the land and its wealth belong to them?
They must know that jumping the border to chase a burger is not the solution. There is no dignity in living as a beggar in foreign lands while ignoring the wealth of your own. Our people must rediscover the value of owning and cultivating what is theirs. To run away from one’s inheritance is to choose bondage.
We are a proud people. We have fought off the Portuguese. We fought the British for over 90 years and won. Yet those same forces are now trying to reimpose their control through education. If you do not own your education, how do you sustain your political independence? If another people govern your mind, how can you govern your economy?
This is why the West has placed a choke-hold on our education system. They want Zimbabwe to produce workers for Western interests, not builders of Zimbabwe. They want our youth to believe that it is better to be ruled by outsiders, to be grateful for crumbs. But real education teaches self-rule. It teaches ownership. It teaches that Zimbabwe is for Zimbabweans.
Our schools must teach our children to be heirs of Zimbabwe. Not in name only, but in reality, owning, developing, and protecting their land, resources and culture. That is the true meaning of heritage-based education.
The struggle for liberation was not only a political one, it was as economic as it was cultural. And that struggle continues. Victory over colonialism must now become victory over dependency.
The Western model wants us to talk about heritage-based education as a museum piece: nice for holidays, traditional ceremonies and cultural showcases. But we say no!
Heritage is the foundation for transforming Zimbabwe’s future. It is not something we perform; it is something we live.
The West will fight heritage-based education with all it has because it changes the balance of power. It threatens their grip on our resources. But our duty is to educate our children to take back their birthright and use it for the good of all Zimbabweans.
Aluta continua!