Maravi

(TALKZIMBABWE) Align book donations with local education needs

Align book donations with local education needs
By: Sihle Dube
Posted: Thursday, September 23, 2010 4:14 am

I commend the recent statement by Virgin boss Richard Branson regarding opening up investment in Zimbabwe. This goes a long way to rebranding Zimbabwe and telling the true story about that country, not what we have been hearing in the news lately.

Mr Branson recently revealed that his charity Enterprise Zimbabwe helped Minister David Coltart take millions of textbooks into Zimbabwe. We were not aware that it was Mr Branson's charity, which was launched a year ago, but also recently relaunched on the sidelines of the ongoing UN Summit on Millenium Development Goals under the Clinton Global Initiative.

While I would like to express my gratitude to Mr Branson, however, worry that much of the help that is afforded to the country might not be aligned to our needs and aspirations.

We need to make sure that donations are aligned with the aspirations of our people; not aimed at "McDonaldisation" of our country; i.e. the perpetuation of a different culture apart from ours.

South East Asian countries like Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, etc have embraced donations, but have made sure they are aligned with their own culture: as expressed through symbols understood by young Asian people.

While I commend the efforts by the Educational Transition Fund (ETF) and/or Enterprise Zimbabwe in giving millions of textbooks to Zimbabwe, I would like to know whether those books are in line with the curriculum in Zimbabwe and whether they are aiding the development of an indigenous education system for Zimbabwe; or merely perpetuating a Western-style education system.

I understand and appreciate that 20 per cent of the textbooks are being printed in Zimbabwe; but that does not say anything about the content of those books and 20 per cent is still a very small percentage. We should have over 90 per cent local production of education materials.

Countries like the US and Britain have 100 per cent local content in their texts.

Dumping of textbooks will not help local bookstores and publishers. We should align the content of those textbooks with our own needs -- languages, customs and practices.

Zimbabwe overtook Tunisia this year as the country with the highest literacy rate in Africa, according to the UN Development Programme statistical digest published in July 2010.

The country now has a 92 percent literacy rate, up from 85 percent.

This is commendable, but this statistic is does not say much about what we are literate in. It is not just literacy that matters, but an understanding of our own history and ability to use acquired knowledge to become responsible citizens and develop our country.

This is only possible if the symbols and the messages in those textbooks enhances our national pride; and not denigrate our own culture and customs.

As someone who went to school in Zimbabwe in the 1970s-80s, I am very much aware of the absence of African symbols in textbooks and the focus on Europe, especially Britain in national curricula.

I sure hope that this is now not the case.

Most of the books that we read had faces of people from Europe and other parts of this world. The subliminal message in these books was the glorification of everything Western at the expense of our own images.

Minister Coltart did a great job in getting the books to Zimbabwe, but I think he should expand that programme by making sure that donors provide funds to help generate our own textbooks with symbols that our own young people can identify with.

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*Sihle Dube is a lawyer and banker. She is a regular TalkZimbabwe.com contributor and she writes from the United Kingdom. She can be reached via sihledube@hotmail.co.uk

Labels: BOOKS, EDUCATION, NEOCOLONIALISM, SIHLE DUBE

posted by MrK @ 5:59 PM