ONE of the areas where Zimbabwe continues to stand tall and proud and deservedly so is in education.

Today Zimbabwe is regarded as the most literate nation on the African continent with statistics indicating that 92 percent of its population can read and write.

What such figures do not reflect is the epic scale and passion of efforts which were deployed to revamp and expand the educational system soon after 1980.

In his article entitled Educational Provision in Zimbabwe: Issues and Challenges, Professor Charles Nherera gives us a hint of what was involved.

In 1979, Rhodesia had a total of 2 400 primary schools earmarked for African education, but by 1985, the figure had risen to 4 200 while by 1999 this had again risen to nearly 5 000.

Corresponding to the massive expansion of primary schools were the enrolment figures themselves which in 1979 stood at 820 000, but had ballooned to over two million by 1985 and over two and a half million by 1998.

The figures for secondary schools are equally stunning!

In 1979, Rhodesia had a total of 177 secondary schools for Africans, but by 1981 this figure had risen to over 690 and by 1997 again to 1 500. Enrolment figures at secondary school level stood at just over 66 000 in 1979, but by 1981 this figure had risen to 150 000 and by 1997 to just over 800 000.

The raw statistics cited here pertaining to expansion of educational infrastructure and enrolment, although now out-dated, dramatise in a forceful way the single-mindedness and tenacity with which the Zimbabwe Government tackled the question of illiteracy which, ironically, remains a serious problem in most African countries today-that is, notwithstanding the fact that most of those countries attained their independence much earlier than Zimbabwe!

Put differently, Zimbabwe is today a powerhouse in the field of human resources so much that other countries in Africa and the world have been accessing those human resources for their own benefit.

Why?

Because Zimbabwe invested heavily and more or less unreservedly in its education sector!

One way of underpinning this claim is to conduct a panoramic survey of some of the top and strategic personnel in South African banks, in schools and universities, hotels, research institutions, telecommunication and power companies and even on farms etc to realise the extent to which Zimbabweans are involved in the development of other countries.

And South Africa is just one example of many other countries in Africa and beyond which are generously making use of Zimbabwe’s educational investment, but without bearing the attendant training costs.

No one in his right senses would like to deride or indeed undermine in any way the painstaking and costly efforts which Zimbabwe deployed to create what with hindsight looks like an educational miracle which others in Africa might wish to emulate.

Through education, the majority of Zimbabweans have been transformed from being either illiterate and or semi-literate marginalised subjects of the British queen into being fairly well educated citizens with the potential to define and defend their interests in the context of what is turning out to be a hostile and exploitative global environment.

Notwithstanding the success story in the educational sector time has come for us to ask questions about the nature and orientation of our education so that as a people we can move beyond mere issues of literacy and derive maximum benefit from our education system.

And some of these questions are painful and discomforting, but unavoidable especially taking into account shameful experiences to which most Zimbabweans were subjected during the last 14 years or so—when Zimbabwe was economically strangulated by the West and demonised non-stop by the same West.

A few of these many questions are as follows:

How did it come about that Zimbabwe with such a reputable education system produced people who claimed to be intellectuals, but who, in their wisdom, genuinely believed that they should align themselves with the British, get financial, diplomatic and political support from the same and indeed implement whatever the British demanded of them as long as this enabled them to grab state power to run the country?

Each time intellectuals like Tendai Biti, Obert Gutu, Douglas Mwonzora, Nelson Chamisa, Welshman Ncube etc stood up to speak on behalf of their MDC party, it was as if all of them had never come across let alone become exposed to our colonial and liberation history as blacks and its implications in regard to our destiny as a people!

Most of us could forgive Morgan Tsvangirai for mistaking the British as the godfathers and funders of his party.

After all, as a Grade Seven drop-out, the poor fellow could not be expected to master key lessons from our past in order to shape our future!

But what about all those lawyers who flocked to join the MDC who by virtue of their education and status should have known better?

Instead of guiding their party and ensuring that it became a credible Zimbabwean party, almost all were simply content to obey and follow British instructions as outlined to them by Rhodies!

What does this say about the shortcomings of our education system which seems to produce very ambitious intellectuals whose vision and principles seem completely divorced from the implications of our history?

Or to be more specific, if the likes of Biti and professors like Ncube are simply content to parrot platitudes on human rights and democracy as direct imports from the West, what does that say about our tertiary education and its capacity or lack of it in shaping original and creative minds?

The fact that these intellectuals did not see anything wrong in regarding the British as their friends and sponsors and in fact enjoined them to impose sanctions against their own people speaks volumes about our education and its failures.

How else can we regard this other than saying that the country is educating its citizens for purposes of destroying society?

In other words we should be candid enough to examine critically where our education system needs repair?

There is no doubt that MDC intellectuals are just a small fraction of a bigger problem in the larger society out there.