THE idea of paying for the science education of Zimbabwe’s young is commendable.
Many Zimbabweans are gifted though sometimes they cannot pursue their studies because of financial constraints.
Many of the multiple ‘A’s come from former Education Minister Dzingai Mutumbuka’s Upper-tops, deep in the rural hinterland and the STEM scholarships are poised to sniff them out so that their potential is not put on the back-burner and forgotten.
With the government assistance for science education at ‘A’ Level, all those students gifted in the logico-mathematical realm get a super boost and we need this, for science is the wheels of society’s material sustenance.
When children learn things that are not related to their lives, they do not feel good, they feel hurt, it is like they are learning someone else’s discipline only so they graduate and get employed.
How sad it is.
Children don’t make it if what they learn does not speak to the problems they face in their daily lives.
The majority of our children live in the rural areas where they face survival problems everyday.
Simply getting a bath is a serious problem; do you go to the river, bath behind the bush, near the well, behind the kraal or in a makeshift bathroom of thatch?
The toilet; is there a Blair toilet, an ordinary pit-latrine or do you go behind the bush?
Fortunes are dicey, will there be sufficient rains this season, will drought relief get to us on time, will the bus get to our area this week since the roads have been washed away?
How to iron clothes; shall we iron at all, perhaps use a charcoal iron, but then it so easily wreaks havoc on the finer fabrics?
How to light at night; do we have candles tonight, or paraffin or maybe we have to rely on the fire?
Charging the phone; oh I don’t know!
Forget about cold water to drink in these heat waves, keeping meat and vegetables fresh, preserving fresh milk, the list is endless and these are basics.
So, when they go on to learn their mathematics, biology, physics and chemistry, they are aware of the potential of these subjects, so they do not understand why they are not taught to use this to produce solutions to their problems.
Some of them wake up every morning from these circumstances and go to school and learn the sciences.
When they go home, they cannot even do homework because there is no lighting, they can’t wash off the dust from the trek from school, and they probably have no cup of tea in the morning or a bowl of porridge because it is raining and the firewood is not behaving.
How much invigorating, consoling if the mathematics, biology, physics and chemistry was related to these daily problems, how to solve them and actually engaged the youngsters in productive activities which actually solved these problems.
This would give them a positive attitude about themselves, their lives, families and their future in Zimbabwe.
Those in modern boarding schools with all the amenities, they can have a warm bath or shower in the morning, breakfast, lunch and supper are assured, light to study, for recreation, the generator runs as soon as the lights go off, life is normal.
But it does not mean they are not conscious of where they come from, that their siblings at home might not bath some mornings water is scarce, that they will probably carry mangai to school, that they cannot read at night and that using the toilet is not so easy for them, especially at night; they think about these, they feel the contrast and when nothing in their studies teaches them how to solve these, then it is like they are learning a strange discipline, someone else’s science.
And when the school term ends they will go back to their daily grind.
They love their homes, but it does not help that their schooling does not equip them to eradicate these problems at home.
It is hollow to say to them it’s only five years to go enduring all this, after, their STEM degrees will give them nice jobs in town and they never have to go back to this ‘backward’ life.
They might get jobs yes and this might come true.
However, this is not the way we want to educate our children, that they should endure their hardships because after five years they too can get out of their unfortunate circumstances and secure a niche for themselves and their nuclear families and the rest of Zimbabwe can continue as they always have, eking out a living under difficult conditions.
When we educate our children this way, we are priming them to forget Zimbabwe, telling them transforming Zimbabwe is not the focus, but to survive in Zimbabwe despite everything that is not working around them.
These children are the heirs of Zimbabwe and whatever ails Zimbabwe is their very own business.
Science teaching and learning is about understanding the laws that govern the natural world and how to use them to transform man’s material reality to meet his needs for life.
Science therefore is the means to transform man’s material circumstances, but if it is divorced from the children’s material reality, then what is the point?
Can the children really feel normal that their learning does not have to help them to solve their problems because one day when they graduate they can walk away from it all?
Is this the kind of hope that we want our children to hold close to their hearts as they study?
STEM disciplines should be taught in the Zimbabwean context, their ideological axis should teach the youths that they are Zimbabweans, owners of a rich, beautiful country which they have to help to transform for the benefit of each Zimbabwean.
This way they will never be doctors who run away from where they come from.
They will not shun to work at the local clinic where they were born, to serve in government hospitals without worrying about profiteering through multiple private clinics.
They will be engineers who will remember that there should be clean water and lighting at home.
They will be scientists committed to solving problems related to drought.
They will be patriotic physicists who will not be daunted by the problems that bedeviled their childhood.
They will be scientists for transformation, who cannot rest until each Zimbabwean enjoys modern amenities and lives a decent life.
The children of Zimbabwe can do this.
They did this in the past when they left home in their thousands to go to Mozambique and Zambia for military training so they could liberate their Zimbabwe.
Let us educate our children to achieve something special for Zimbabwe, to transform their country for the benefit of all.
As we celebrate the President’s birthday, let us remember, it is essential to educate our young to fulfill his wish of a Great Zimbabwe for all.
Dr Mahamba is a war veteran who holds a PhD from Havard University. She is currently doing consultancy work.