– The Minister stuns us with another Animal Farm scenario, “dem kids learn in Inglan, whilst ours learn at Mvimvi Primary School.”
Aaron Gono
We grew up in a newly liberated Zimbabwe in 1980, where education was a must to every Zimbabwean.
Free education and health care was guaranteed to us. Lever Brothers company, producer of Colgate by then moved from school to school around Zimbabwe marketing its products of maintaining good dental care. We were given teeth-brushes, colgate and lifebuoy soaps for free.
But most of the time we would forget to clean those teeth or bath despite hoarding lots of toiletries. You would be reminded of them when one teacher takes a jibe at our bad odour mouths or dirty necks. We were given free pens, text and exercise books at school, anytime you need them. The system was not open to abuse because we were afraid of our teachers or defrauding our schools.
When the Economic Structural Adjustment programs came into Zimbabwe in the 1990s, it stopped all these freebies as wasteful expenditures. Students began paying fees, although it was a pittance, our parents were not used to it; they struggled to pay it. We only had former group ‘ A’ schools as elite. Schools like Victoria High in Masvingo, Chaplin in Gweru, Mutare Boys and Girls, Harare Girls, Oriel, etc. Private schools like Peterhouse, Lomagundi, etc didn’t mean anything to us. Mission schools were our private institutions by then, Gokomere, St Augustine, Dadaya, Kutama, Musiso, etc.
Zimbabweans used to joke at Masvingo province as its landmark were schools everywhere. Dzingai Mtumbuka, our first free Zimbabwean education minister was a man who expected every Zimbabwean citizen to be well learned. Then came Fay Chung, she was our iron lady. These two former ministers of education didn’t wake up every day and stun the nation like what we are witnessing these days. The Dokora administration was also good at making diktats every academic term. Now the current administration is doing the same without quoting Dokora (plagiarism).
Firstly, it banned students for not writing more than 9 subjects at examinations this year. No valid reason was given but some lame ones like; what is the use of writing 12 subjects? Many students had to drop subjects and focus on what the Ministry wants them to focus on (Thought Police). Some decisions which should be made in a five year review are made overnight and sealed, and nobody disputes it. Even if you do, nobody listens. Why ? Because we got the power. That is the only answer I have deduced.
If a ministry can reach such a conclusion without the parents’ input, then it is ” command education.” It benefits nobody but satisfies the ego of one man ” Ndini ndiri patsono”. As it is not enough the recent announcement by the Minister of Primary and Secondary Education, Mr Torerai Moyo needs scrutinization again.” No going back on ZIMSEC for all learners beginning 2027.” This is not consultation at all but someone’s opinion or diktat . ” Abaiwa ngaabude” approach (if you can’t take heat, get of the house).
Zimbabwe is now a country with many private than public schools. And why such a scenario in a country with a low growth domestic product. Our GDP is above our Gross National Product (income from abroad) by not more than a half. And why parents move their children from public schools to private ones. They have no faith with ZIMSEC, “rabuda, ravhagwa, rabuda, ravhagwa” (leakages).
Heritage based curriculum is not bad at all, but it must not constrain our children to Zimbabwean industries alone but the world stage at large. That’s why parents sacrifice the little they earn to make their children sit for Cambridge examinations. It resonates well with the global trends. ZIMSEC to be real it was another Robert Mugabe’s vengeance of going solo. He left the Commonwealth community in a huff, Cambridge in a huff, seized farms protected by bilateral agreements in a huff etc. Bob was doing it the Trump way.
The Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education must try to get deeper into the effects of AI in our children. Because AI is just a tool to caricature and zombify our kids. Kids who lack critical thinking, who always turn to AI for guidance. I remember growing up in Gutu South in the mid 1980s. The current DSI of Masvingo, Ishmael Chigaba and my aunt Shuvai Gono (sister nurse, Chegutu) and Stephen Chamapanga Chitapa (now a school head) sharing notes during holidays. My aunt was at Mukaro and sekuru Chigaba at Jichidza High and Stephen Chamapanga at Pamushana High. They could spend the whole day debating. It was a battle of wits not ” kurembedza mitirauzi”.
The current school system is fixated on producing long chains of As, in children who lack a reading culture. Kids who struggle to read and spell, who can’t remember the faces or names of their teachers. They don’t even know, who is Torerai Moyo or Taungana Ndoro. So you are chasing waterfalls minister. Build libraries and put books in them, install Wi-Fis at all schools, solarize all remote schools and make them enjoy life as in all well resourced schools. That is what your ministry must concentrate on not reinventing the wheel.
Private school offers a variety of advantages, teacher pupil ratio, good food, good sporting facilities, ethics and integrity, good studying environment and quarters. It is also an industry on its own which the ministry wants to debunk. Let private schools run their affairs privately and public schools, publicly.
