Zim education: can we still afford to brag?

8 Responses to “Zim education: can we still afford to brag?”

1. Rukh on October 27th, 2008 5:18 pm

   I think Zimbabwe’s education system has always been overrated. The curricula has always been focused on rote, cramming and accumulating certificates rather than on analysis and critical thinking. This explains why Zimbabweans are ‘hard-workers’ but not ‘hard-thinkers’. Zimbabwean children are not taught to think outside the box and to discover their talents, strengths and passion but simply to pursue careers that have traditionally been seen as the epitome of success. The economic crisis has simply added another dimension to a system that was never truly well designed.

2. Emmanuel Sigauke on October 27th, 2008 7:45 pm

   @Rukh: I agree with you on the necessity for a critical-thinking model in our educational system; we were never really taught to challenge the authority of our teachers, books and other resources. The situation is not always better elsewhere: in the Unites States, for instance, college professors are usually shocked at the increasing level of unpreparedness the students come in with. Soon as you start teaching the new college students you notice quickly what Paulo Freire has called the “banking concept” of education, in which the students crams and keeps information as vault in a bank would keep money; then when exam time comes, the teacher withdraws the information. This happens in high school worldwide.

   I found, however, that my education at the university of ZImbabwe was strong, putting me at a great advantage when later I attended graduate school in the US. I was more prepared than most of my peers were, having already read and critiqued key texts that some of my peers were learning for the first time.
   However, I now appreaciate the American education’s geneneral education requirement during the first two years of college education. In Zimbabwe we specialize too early and miss out on expanding our prospects in pursuing other areas of study if a need arises.

   Good article.

3. rmupfudza on October 28th, 2008 2:13 pm

   The farce that charcterises every facet of our lives nowadays has also contaminated our education system. It was never perfect, as Rukh, pointed out, unless you were lucky to get teachers who thought outside the box and taught you to do likewise- but once upon a time it worked…

   Someone who was in Masvingo was telling me the other day, that teachers in his rural area are asking pupils to bring a bucket of maize/ groundnuts, etc or whatever quantity they can afford. This quantity is then registered and the child is informed “With this I will be able to teach you for only a week” or two weeks whatever the case may be. Once the alloted time has passed the pupil is sent home.

   Those who cannot afford to bring anything are driven out of the classrooms. In other schools, the students are lucky if the teachers are there at all. And in some, even headmasters are occassional visitors…

   Amidst all this there this great fury and mobilisation of resources and funds to make sure that Grade 7 exams are written…In a year where precious little was learnt… Where was the fury and sense of urgency when teachers were complaining about their remuneration…?

   Non- teaching staff, undestandbly with central banking skills, are invigillating the exams. Will they also mark them? A generation is being murdered right before our eyes- and don’t blame sanctions! This is the end result poor policy planning and implementation; the callousness of those who can afford to sent their children to private schools at home and abroad even as they talk about patriotism and the evils of the West, is responsible for all this.

   This frenetic response to symptoms of he deeper malaise will not do, has never done us and will never do us any good whatsoever. As long as the fundamentals remain askew…entire generations are going to be crippled.

4. Brian Gondo on October 28th, 2008 10:15 pm

   So guys whats the solution?

5. Emmanuel Sigauke on October 29th, 2008 2:34 am

   Zimbos at home and abroad need to begin to think of ways of helping younger generations receive the advantages they deserve. On a small scale, organizations like Munhu have begun to send children to good schools.

   We have to desire to be the solution to our problems.

6. Brian Gondo on October 29th, 2008 6:37 am

   @Emmanuel do you think any of these initiatives are viable & sustainable given the state of the Zimbabwean economy? Would Zimbos abroad for instance be willing to participate in something like this given their separation from the issues on the ground?

   So many questions. I agree though that it’s far more productive and fulfilling to be focused on what you/ we can do rather than simply pointing out the problems. To be honest I don’t have too many thoughts about this issue but one of my colleagues at work has been affected by this. His children are not at school at the moment because there are no teachers there.

   I suppose as you indicate Emmanuel if individuals get in touch with an organization like Munhu then they can be part of a solution. Are there other organizations that you know that are engaged in this sort of exercise?

7. Liberty Chirove on October 29th, 2008 9:01 am

   Not focusing on the students directly, | would like to begin with the tutors/ lecturers themselves. Gone are the days you would find ‘educated’/ mature tutors. I believe the more we have good tutors- the more chances of having brighter generations. I have heard rumours that some employers are not employing those who were in school from around 2004/5 to date.

   When I was in college, our lecturers had PHDs/ Masters, and I believe we all experienced that, and respected them. Now, they are all gone.

   Like business- agriculture; mining; manufacturing, let’s invest in education. Tutors need to be given more money, and incentives so we can have a good grade of them. Everyone who wants to learn should have access to quality education regardless of the cost.

   We have killed the kids who are in school right now, and the idea they have of school is a ‘playground’ where teachers are always absconding because they don’t have food on their tables.

   Lastly, on a lighter note, I asked my little brother (when he was in Grade 1) what he wants to do when he finishes school, and he said he wants to be a President. I asked him, “What does a President do?” He said, “He boards planes.”

8. Brian Gondo on October 29th, 2008 9:52 am

   @ Liberty In as much as we would like to have those experienced PhD’s lecturing it’s probably safe to say with the current Zim situation it unrealistic. We have to get the best from what we have. I reckon using those newly minted PhD’s & Masters grads is not a bad idea. We could have a specific program that identifies talented scholars and researchers and provides them with a stipend to pursue their research work while their also teaching.

   The young grad students interested in being academics need somewhere to start and there are ample colleges here for them to do that. Although they will be cheaper than more experienced lecturers they still need to be provided with a viable income. Colleges, students, stakeholders need to find a new way of remunerating these guys otherwise the colleges may as well shut down. Govt certainly is not in a position to provide the kind of income lecturers need so another solution has to be crafted and implemented and since it’s the students who directly benefit from having lecturers in lecture theaters then they have to pay the freight.

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