Heed Mwalimu Nyerere’s Prophetic Call
- Category: Education
- Date 28-11-2004
- 515 views
The great and perhaps most celebrated teacher of contemporary Africa, Julius Kambarage Nyerere (1922-1999), forewarned the nation against irrelevant education. On its popular memo, HakiElimu prominently quotes Mwalimu’s words, “For a poor people like us, education should be an instrument of liberation: it should never be so irrelevant as to become an instrument of alienation.”
Press reports show that what had touched the Father of the nation long before he succumbed to the funeral mat is taking its toll in the employment world, with employers accusing graduates of “… low problem-solving ability, insufficient innovativeness and lack of creativity …” (See: Employers not impressed with UDSM graduates, The Citizen 15th November 2004)
One could ponder Mwalimu’s colourful statement about the purpose of education regardless of the fact that being a philosopher, his rhetoric bears more than meets the eye. Nonetheless, it is a simple fact that Africans are receiving education that is both irrelevant and an instrument of alienation. Ironically, we have been party to the numerous statutes, conventions and declarations signed and proclaimed worldwide, to underline the right of every child, therefore every person, to attain education.
The 1989 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child declares that children have a right to education, and this stance is echoed in the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child. Several other declarations, such as the 2001 UN Special Session on Children, reaffirm this concept; moreover the slogan “education is a right” is not strange in this country either.
These underlie the world’s commitment to deal illiteracy a deadly blow and cause development. Every country now prides itself in the high percentages of school-going children, as an indicator that children will fail at anything else, but intellectual development. But what is education if it cannot be applied to solve our problems?
In Mwalimu’s call lies a serious challenge to the worthiness of the efforts invested in education, which, as "an instrument of liberation”, presupposes a people’s right to an education that develops personality (mentally and physically) and prepares individuals for active adult life. Education must not be a formality but a system designed to instil values and accelerate progress by moulding personality and breeding vitality, dynamism, and overall development. An education that fosters respect of family, cultural identity, and language – that which endows an individual with the potential for integral growth, and developing a sense of identity, belonging and self-confidence.
Yes. Children are going to school en masse, yet they are possibly getting education that alienates them from their own setting. True liberation through education comes with the development of problem solving potential. A liberated child, African or human being is he who is equipped with Life-Skills to understand and appreciate his circumstances, adjust to them and make the best out of them for personal and communal advancement.
Education for self and national liberation should prepare individuals to appreciate the need to strive and improve the existing social, economic, political and moral conditions. Education becomes a tool of liberation when it gives individuals a sense of pride in their identity and history. Meaningful education should help an African to understand the unique problems and challenges facing Africa and prompt them to devise appropriate solutions.
Liberation is an illusion with the current education system which is promoting rot learning in schools, with the curriculum becoming increasingly, crudely examination-oriented, rather than skills focused.
Perhaps, Mwalimu was not referring to political liberation, even from colonialism, for "the educated" to pick guns and wage a liberation struggle. Even if it were the case, a country that whose educational orientation sidesteps its needs is sure to remain colonized whereas the colonizer is physically absent. The sense of nationalism will consequently suffers, as people become strangers to their circumstances, and entirely adopt whatever comes from the domineering Western World as is witnessed already.
Every new school year sees children promoted to the next level through incompetent examinations at both primary and secondary levels, while every parent hopes that education will make the children useful with their school knowledge.
Surprisingly, students and parents will not complain when a tutor does not do his work, if he can simply devise a way to ensure that the children score high grades, say by cheating. Many teachers have experienced the rude reality of learners and parents abandoning institutions for others simply because the teachers in those preferred can "help pupils pass". Learning is not a question, but passing is.
Such an education cannot and will never be an instrument of liberation. Certainly, it is difficult to blame learners or their parents for the educational flaws because they are mere consequence and victims of a faulty system. The authorities in all spheres of influence must rise to the occasion and face the challenge
By Venansio Ahabwe
Source: Peering Eye, Sunday Citizen