Lessons for Zimbabwe

Woolman (2001:39) and Pearce (1990:111) concur that some of the concerns and problems affecting schools in Africa, Zimbabwe included, provide insight about need for educational reconstruction. Woolman (ibid) categorises the insights into five: policy reform, access, materials and facilities, methodology and relevance. Problems bedeviling each of them are spelt out as:

• Policy reform has been hampered by resource insufficiency;

• Access in Africa has been met by continued /reproduced western-type class structure;

• Materials and facilities have been affected by misplaced priorities;

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• Methodology in formal African schools continues to be characterised by limited verbal interaction and therefore encourages the rote learning or memorisation;

• Relevance has been watered down by minimal inclusion of African language in curricula.

This study sought to use these insights in advocating educational reform in Zimbabwean education.

As has already been noted in section 3.1, reconstruction philosophy is concerned with the role the schools as an agency for social improvement. However, Woolman (2001:40) warns that the Reconstructionist approach to education is experimental because,

…it first tries to foresee future social directions by analysis of the past and present trends. It then defines the type of social order needed to preserve fundamental human ideals in the context of the changing future world… the objective is adaptation to modern life without disruption of traditional culture and community.

This should be borne in mind as suggestions for Zimbabwean educational reconstruction are made in this study.

Brameld (1971:425) notes that educational reconstruction is a process of the restoration of basic values from the past, transmission of culture and crises. It is therefore necessary to examine the Zimbabwean educational policy and consider what kind of a future society is being nurtured. Globalisation, modernisation and industrialisation need to balance with opportunities to the future youth and utilisation of local resources.

Schools must be restructured to focus on greater learner and teacher participation,

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critical thinking, problem-solving and revival of the informal methods of traditional African education.

There is need to restore the role of the community if most children are to be considered as educated in the strictest sense. Vocationalisation has been used to respond to unemployment of school graduates in Zimbabwe and other countries soon after independence. Aids Education and Environment Education have also been employed to deal with the HIV/Aids pandemic and resource depletion respectively. In the same vein, language of education policy has considerable influence on educational reconstruction in curriculum content.

Woolman (ibid: 41- 42) and Mavhunga (2008:44) maintain that the cultivation of oral and written fluency in local African languages is important in building self-esteem, preserving culture, and advancing the literacy output and identity of African peoples. Africa must understand that early nation-building in Europe was closely attached to the cultivation of local languages and literature. Similarly, African/Zimbabwean education should “…

define and balance the equation of cultural transmission” (Woolman, 2001:42).

Due to a breakdown in family and community life today in the West the education system is heavily concerned about teaching human relations, team-work and interpersonal skills. This is exactly what Africa/Zimbabwe also needs. Modernisation has ushered in a new wave of individuality which needs to be balanced with bonds that preserve family and community, and this can only be done through compulsory inclusion of African languages in the curriculum. Schools should incorporate ATE

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processes by teaching students to value and honour both tradition and modernity.

Fafunwa (1982:10) reiterates that educational objectives should focus on the following:

• Character development;

• Respect for elders and authority;

• Positive attitude toward work;

• Acquisition of a vocation;

• Cultivation of a sense of belonging;

• Active participation in community and family life;

• Appreciation and understanding of local heritage.

Basing on these objectives, Zimbabwean education should nurture programs that are more inclusive of all sectors of the population so as to meet the demands of a frail social fabric. Such a strategy enhances and preserves traditional life while allowing for development in economic growth. There is need to safeguard the Africanness of people that has been eroded by colonial and post-colonial practices. Kenyatta (1965:123) encourages educational practitioners to promote progress and preserve all that is best in the traditions of African people by creating a new culture which is able to meet demands of modernisation. This research sets out to ascertain exactly what should be done in reforming Zimbabwean education in order to meet such a condition.

115 3.6 Conclusion

This chapter had one major area of concern, the theoretical framework underpinning the study. The chapter opens with a brief description of Reconstructionism, the theory on which the study is grounded. As the discussion unfolds on the major tenets of Reconstructionism, the chapter proceeds to inform on educational reconstruction in Africa in general before focusing on what the Zimbabwean education system can borrow from some of the critical perspectives presented. The discussion has also established that language is a central factor in the acquisition of culture, power and knowledge. The role of language in education becomes a controversial issue which is met by resistance and rigidity. The mandate of this study to find out how such perception and attitude toward the study of African languages implicates on human resources development and management becomes pertinent. Thus through the study it is hoped that ways of awakening the Zimbabwean education system from the slumber of cultural alienation may be suggested. The next chapter elaborates on the appropriate research methodology in data gathering towards the achievement of what the study aims.

116 CHAPTER 4