Patriot Reporter

ADVANCED Level Literature in English students and 30 of their teachers were accorded a rare opportunity when they converged at Chegato High School in Mberengwa recently for a seminar facilitated by the Zimbabwe Heritage Trust (ZHT).
The high schools represented include Chizungu, Chegute, Funye, Mabika, Masase, Musume, Mnene, Mpandashango, Mposi, Makuva, Mbuya Nehanda, Vubwi, Vurasha, Zvomukonde and Chegato.
Chegato, the host school, is the oldest Secondary School in the district and was built by the Swedes of the Lutheran Church in 1957.
It has produced luminaries such as July Moyo, a former Cabinet minister, ZANU PF Chief Whip Joram Gumbo, Professor Makhurane, the former Vice-Chancellor (VC) of the National University of Science and Technology (NUST), Professor Ngwabi Bhebhe, the VC of Midlands State University and Professor Sheunesu Mahembe Mpepereki, Dean, UZ School of Agricultural Sciences, among many others.
The seminar was divided into two parts.
The students were first treated to a highly informative lecture on Zimbabwe’s heritage by ZHT’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Cde Pritchard Zhou.
The thrust of the lecture was to inculcate in the audience the necessity to respect and value their black identity by practising and respecting African culture; recognising the superiority of the indigenous African religions over foreign ones; and seeking to know and understand the achievements of African ancestors.
He enlightened students on Africa’s greatness and said civilisation, which has been appropriated by the white man, in actual fact began in Africa along the Nile River in the area now known as Egypt.
He noted that ancient Egypt, the country of the Pharaohs, was populated and governed by black Africans.
“That is where writing, mathematics, astronomy, arts, medicine, philosophy and many other fields of study were invented,” said Cde Zhou.
Commenting on the country’s minerals, Cde Zhou said Zimbabwe has an exceptionally huge reserve of highly valued minerals, a fact which explains the gluttonous interest that the Anglo Saxon countries display for Zimbabwe.
He said Zimbabwe is the richest country in terms of mineral wealth per capita with 67 discovered minerals, has the largest reserve of methane gas in Sub Saharan Africa and is estimated to be the largest reserve of iron ore in the world.
In addition, Zimbabwe hosts the second largest deposits in the world of platinum, corundum and caesium.
Speaking at the same occasion, Dr Augustine Tirivangana, an expert in Literature in English, took a few minutes to buttress Cde Zhou message and urged students to develop an African ideology because, without it, education is meaningless.
For about three hours, the students were taken through a gold mine of techniques of answering and analysing Literature exam questions.
Apart from teaching literature at university, Dr Tirivangana started as a teacher in the subject at secondary school and, over the years, blossomed into a guru on the subject.
Currently, he is the chief examiner for Paper Four.
The Headmaster of Chegato High School, Reverend Tangawamira, in his vote of thanks, expressed gratitude to Cde Zhou and Dr Tirivangana for imparting their invaluable knowledge to students and teachers in the district.
If students are taught to interpret Literature from a Western ideological orientation, they become ardent stooges of the white man even in his absence.
In this respect, it is worth noting that Literature in English at ‘A’ Level is a prerequisite for admission into Law School.
And who do these students find at Law School?
The likes of Professor Geoff Feltoe who have produced lawyers like Welshman Ncube and Tendai Biti among others.
No wonder our lawyers from the UZ Law School show no particular affinity to their country and continent.
The damage starts at ‘A’ Level.
We hope that the future lawyers from Mberengwa will successfully resist the neo-liberals and outright reactionaries waiting for them at university.