IN a previous article in this series, I promised to share with readers my experience at a Careers Day to which I was invited as a guest speaker.
I was introduced as a professor of agriculture at University of Zimbabwe.
It was a good opportunity to touch base with Ordinary and Advanced Level candidates from 16 high schools in Chitungwiza, the third largest urban centre in Zimbabwe.
Conscious of Zimbabwe’s agriculture-based economy, I tried to find out how prepared the soon-to-be school leavers were in terms of potential contribution to agriculture.
After all, they say education prepares us for tomorrow.
Were the pupils prepared to play their part in building our agricultural economy?
By interacting with the scholars, I identified three clusters of school subjects.
The ‘Arts’ including English, Shona and Ndebele, Divinity and Geography.
The next group are the so-called ‘Commercials’ that include Accounts, Economics, Commerce and Management of Business.
The last group are the ‘Sciences’ that include biology, Chemistry, Physics and Mathematics and Computer Science.
Agriculture is the new addition to the Science cluster although its status is still not clearly defined in admission criteria among several universities.
I then told the gathering of pupils (‘O’ and ‘A’ Level) and their teachers that I was a professor in the faculty of Agriculture at University of Zimbabwe and looked forward to meeting those pupils who made it to the University’s agriculture faculty.
Keen to find out whether the pupils appreciated the link between their school studies and agriculture, I asked pupils in each subject area whether they felt that their studies were relevant to agriculture.
First I approached the Arts cluster.
The students unanimously pointed out their school studies had nothing to do with agriculture.
I turned to the teachers and the answer was the same, Agriculture had no links to the Arts subjects, they said.
Undeterred, I turned to the Commercial subjects cluster.
This group had by far the largest number of students, a vociferous lot who made it sound like they were in the ‘best’ cluster in terms of job prospects.
Did their commercial subjects have anything to contribute to agriculture, I asked.
The answer was a resounding ‘No’, no connection at all.
Their teachers echoed the same sentiments.
I asked what jobs the commercial subjects prepared them for.
Accountancy, business management they responded excitedly!
“So you will be looking after the wealth of Zimbabwe?” I asked.
“Yeh!” was the loud reply.
I then asked rather cynically: Whose wealth will you be looking after and who will generate that wealth?
Dead silence.
The students were at a loss as my question seemed out of step with the careers’ day mood.
I then turned to the ‘Science’ subjects group.
It was numerically smaller.
I then asked if any of the students thought they would come to the university to study agriculture based on their ‘A’ Level science subjects.
The unanimous answer was a ‘No’.
The teachers also did not see how physics, chemistry and biology could have anything to do with agriculture at university.
Advanced Level Agriculture, maybe.
I must admit I was shocked by this turn of events.
Clearly agriculture was off the screen in terms of school-leavers expectations for a higher education qualification.
In a country where we maintain a refrain about agriculture being key to economic growth, virtually all Chitungwiza schools are not preparing pupils for careers in agriculture.
Both pupils and teachers do not see the connection between the subjects being taught and agricultural disciplines.
The above observations point to the need for a thorough curriculum review.
Primary and secondary school curricula must be synchronised with university curricula to ensure that graduates from these systems contribute to economic development in agriculture.
The various ministries involved with education, science and technology need to work together with economic ministries to ensure that schools are preparing pupils for a science-based economy.
Recent observations by Professor Jonathan Moyo, about the scarcity of science students in universities of technology agree with my observations at the Chitungwiza Careers day.
Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Mathematics, the traditional science subjects, are the essential ingredients for agriculture.
Curriculum review must go beyond cosmetics.
Zimbabwe must put its educational money where its mouth is.
The critical element is correct ideological orientation of teachers who in turn guide students.
All subjects have a link with agriculture, our key economic pillar.
Teachers, parents and pupils must appreciate this fact.
It is not just political ideology, it is the economy.