IN the last quarter of 2015, the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education committed to transform our curriculum in line with the country’s revolutionary goals, to culture young people imbued with the spirit of the revolution, patriots who can defend Zimbabwe no matter what it takes.
The ministry committed to linking education to practice and production in line with the nation’s economic goals of industrialisation in the context of indigenisation, employment creation and empowerment.
The year has started, the school term is almost halfway and there have been no workshops to train the teachers in these critical areas and yet the curriculum changes were scheduled to start this January. There are many workshops taking place in school districts throughout the provinces but none of them are about bringing the ‘new’ ideological orientation to the teachers or to train them in education with production.
Even if the correct books are written for the new syllabi, teachers have to be equipped to teach the new syllabi and to understand the thrust of the new teaching and learning materials.
The white elephant that our education system is today does not serve the needs of our people. If the proposed changes are not adequately prepared for, they will not take place. Then it will seem like it is the changes that are difficult to realise whereas it is because there never was adequate preparation for the changes; for, what can it mean to say that ‘implementation of the new curriculum is under way’ when teachers across the nation are not being trained for the new curriculum?
There are certain things that are ‘academic’. The issue of transforming our education system so that it serves the needs of the majority of Zimbabweans is not one of those.
It is one of the goals for which thousands of Zimbabweans laid down their lives. It is therefore not up to anyone to side-step the issue, the decision was made on the battle field.
When Zimbabweans, young and old, offered to die for this land and triumphed against British terrorism, the decision was sealed, this victory defined the fate of Zimbabwe which no one can change.
When they gladly laid down their lives for Zimbabwe and passed the mantle on to us so that we can fulfil what they died for, we should not be found wanting.
Actually it is a great honour to be tasked to implement such an illustrious legacy. This goal is inscribed on our flag, together with everything else our people died for.
When the Ministry made the commitment to transform our curriculum in line with Zimbabwe’s revolutionary goals, it galvanised a great deal of revolutionary support. When it challenged people to write to the new ethos, there was an answering chord.
This fervor should not be allowed to dissipate or sink to despondency and disillusionment because it will not be easy to pool this positive force again.
It will only make the work of the Ministry harder when it eventually decides to implement these changes, as it must. Many felt this is the moment they have been waiting for, they are waiting in the wings but most of all, the people of Zimbabwe have been waiting for the last 35 years.
Justice delayed is justice denied. It is the right of Zimbabwe to have the correct education for its revolutionary purposes so that it can effectively serve its people. It has waited long enough.
The interim has been very costly. There can be no justification for further delays.
Schooling since the early 1990s has been bereft of correct ideological orientation. It has created young people who are easy prey for our enemies; Tendai Biti and his ‘clan’ being the best examples of such, it has created youngsters so alienated from Zimbabwe they believe their destiny is in the so-called Diaspora, even it means working as a slaves instead of striving to be the Zimbabwean princes and princesses they are born to be. It has produced youngsters who believe in the so-called ‘peace studies’ of George Soros and his Zimbabwean accomplices.
Our young, in their thousands, are holders of white collar degrees which we cannot use, never mind the millions that Zimbabwe has invested in their education.
The mothers and fathers, the grandmothers and fathers out in the rural areas have been waiting for the education that addresses their needs and the wait has been at least a quarter of a Century longer than it took us to liberate our country.
When our war of liberation could achieve the liberation of Zimbabwe in 16 years of bitter struggle, why can we not transform our education system in peace time when there is no physical threat to anyone?
It is the will of the people of Zimbabwe that such an education be implemented. It is the will of the ZANU PF Government that education be an effective instrument for the transformation of the lives of Zimbabweans, for the upliftment of their standard of living.
It should be the wish of everyone who loves our great, beautiful Zimbabwe.