IN Part A and B we already outlined that the ideological axis of a curriculum is the determinant of both its pedagogic and scientific axis, that this ideological axis derives from the national vision.
Thus we underlined that the first premise of any curriculum is the nation’s vision, the political, economic and socio-cultural definition of a nation and the goals and purposes that derive from it, the ideological identity of a nation, the who we are, what we are, what we want to achieve and what we want to mature to be.
We said that ours is the vision of a society that has its foundation in a heroic liberation struggle, which came into being because thousands willingly sacrificed their lives for the sake of justice and equality under sovereign rule, for all Zimbabweans.
This week we focus on the scientific axis, which constitutes the body of knowledge that the curriculum is composed of.
We examine it in relation to the ideological axis outlined above.
We have said earlier that the commencement of the armed struggle against colonialism was the origin of everything correct for this country, for every facet of life.
For Comrade Sheba Tavarwisa, faced with the task of establishing the first ever ZANU School, in Chifombo Zambia in 1973, there never was any equivocation as to what the curriculum should be like.
They had no books, they had no syllabi, this is how they tackled the problem:
“The two of us sat down to recall what used to be taught back at home.
“This was jotted down as a draft syllabus for each of the subjects.”
But did it mean that recalling what was taught back home meant teaching the comrades that Benny and Betty go to town?
Benny and Betty are boarding the train?
No!
There was no train in Dande, what was there?
What were these sacred few in the jungle thinking of?
What vision did they have of the future country we hoped to create out of Rhodesia?
Thus we had to teach: “Rujeko and Hondo are in the bush.
“They are fighting the Boers, they want to free our country from udzvanyiriri, (colonialism and oppression).
“Therefore the content of what was taught had to change drastically.”
There was perfect congruence between the purpose of the struggle and what was taught in the schools in the liberation struggle.
The body of knowledge selected for the learners during the liberation struggle was unmistakable, it was about liberating Zimbabwe.
A passage from a Grade Four reader used in schools in the struggle reads: “When the settlers began to rule our country, the people of Zimbabwe were like slaves. “They were very poor because the settlers took away their land and their cattle. “The settler government forced them to pay many taxes.
“The settlers sent policemen to arrest them and put them in jail.
“The people of Zimbabwe were not happy at all.
“They were very angry.”
They said, “We must fight the settlers.
“The settlers must not rule us because they are very cruel.
“We must rule ourselves.”
ZANU Education Department 1979
The curriculum developed during the liberation acquitted itself very well with respect to the goals of the liberation struggle.
The groundwork was done during the liberation struggle about what we should teach our children today.
And it certainly is not about teaching our children about silkworms, when they don’t know kuti kwaChiendambuya kunorimwa chii, or that it should be the norm to wear leather shoes and not the exception because we are a cattle country, or that we should wear gold earrings not gold plated earrings because we are a land of gold and have been so for centuries.
An heir is taught everything about their history.
An heir is taught about the wealth in the kingdom, about all the strategies of protecting, consolidating and growing the wealth.
An heir is taught all the skills of defending his kingdom.
An heir not only graduates from the nation’s School of Economics, but more than anything graduates with distinction from the nation’s Military Academy, and with honours from the School of Ideology and Leadership.
“Where is the book?
“Where is the pencil?
“Where is the classroom?
“All these questions including many others had to be asked and answered in establishing the first school during the struggle.
Self-reliance?
In concrete terms that’s what it meant, to have had to answer those questions, in the midst of a jungle of a home.
Comrade Sheba Tavarwisa explains the challenges which faced this very first ZANU School in the bush and how these issues were addressed.
The decision taken was to produce all the needs themselves.
It was said let us rely on ourselves, improvise, make our own blackboards, benches tables, beds, even mattresses,build our own barracks, postos and grow our own food.
It was never said let us wait for someone to make it for us.
That was the genesis of education with production.
So the children were taught how to produce their needs of survival.
The teaching and learning directly addressed what was needed for life to be possible in the camps.
But here at home we need transport, cars, buses, lorries, but we do not produce a single one of these.
Thirty four years after independence, the science and technology taught in our country has not produced for us a Zimbabwean car.
So many other countries have done it, can it be so impossible?
Shall our gold continue to be consumed by foreigners while we use the US dollar they pay us to purchase their cars?
Is that the logic?
How can we be masters when we depend on others for something so critical?
What preoccupies most rural families, each rural mother every morning when she wakes up is ferrying sufficient water for the family to use for the whole day.
She worries about firewood, she is concerned about food storage and how the children shall do their homework in the evenings, candles are too expensive, and zvibhani cause eyesore and can cause deadly fires.
The sun shines 365 days a year in Zimbabwe.
It had to take Econet to popularise solar lanterns.
Did it have to be a private company when there is such a dire need and we have so many institutions of science and technology in the country?
Is it so impossible to have solar power in each rural home?
Where is the evidence that the science and technology taught in our schools, tertiary institutions and universities is pre-occupied with what is needed to make life possible for ordinary Zimbabweans.
Why should a mother in the rural areas and her children not wake up and take a shower every morning?
Why should she not be able to turn the tap in her kitchen to make breakfast for her children?
It is not impossible, 32 years ago we observed children in Form Two in the Democratic Republic of Korea making television sets and transmitting their class proceedings live.
The question is: What is the body of knowledge that is taught in our institutions of science and technology, what are the priorities and what is the focus of this body of knowledge?
School uniforms are very expensive, parents struggle to raise money to buy them, why is uniform making not part of the core teaching and learning activities in schools so that schools make their own uniforms and ease the burden on the parents?
Are parents paying for the uniform or the label?
Surely if schools in the struggle could make their own uniforms, it is more than possible to do so in independent Zimbabwe.
During the armed struggle it was decided and implemented to have an education that met the need to liberate Zimbabwe and to build a Zimbabwe that would take care of everybody, that education is the answer to Zimbabwe’s problems.
Dr Mahamba is a war veteran and holds a PhD from Havard University. She is currently doing consultancy work.