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Dear
JCTR Bulletin Readers,
“People Without A Vision Perish” (Proverbs 29:18), is the Bible quotation used in a Pastoral Letter From The Catholic Bishops Of Zambia On Education entitled EMPOWERMENT THROUGH EDUCATION of 2004. This quotation highlights the importance of a vision for the society. We have a lot of visions and one of the visions of 2015 for Zambia is universal primary education. The Zambian government has removed user fees in primary education. This is the good step that would help the country to achieve its vision of universal primary education.
But what kind of universal primary education are we visioning? Is it just quantity at the expense of quality education? Or is it just formal education without any regard for informal education? And who is responsible for this universal primary education?
The education system we should be visioning is the one that addresses the whole person. It should have the aesthetic, creative, critical, cultural, intellectual, moral, physical, political, social and spiritual components. These factors have the capacity of producing a well formed and responsible person. They would help not only to develop the individual but society and the nation at large. An introduction from a Zambian NGO publication, “Will the Poor Always Be with Us?” sums up this need of good education: “One clear lesson for truly sustainable development – in Zambia or in any other part of the world – is the need for a good education system. There is simply no possibility for a country to develop unless it has a solid resources base of educated citizens, with skills, experience and motivation to build the country. It is clear that pre-school and primary education are the foundation for building the edifice of human capital that is required for both growth and poverty reduction”.
The education system we should be advocating for is one that will change structures. It should go beyond education for all, just as Charles Chilufya is emphasising in his article. There should be quality education that will give direction to Zambian development. This quality education can only be meaningful to the pupils if its foundation is very solid. Parents need to educate their children right from their childhood stage. They also have to co-operate with teachers by making sure that pupils study hard while at home. The monitoring by parents makes it easy for teachers to help them while at school. Parents can make sure that their children do not spend too much time watching television or playing video and computer games. A reasonable time should be apportioned for serious studies. Parents have to teach their children some basic household duties. These duties have to be well planned, leaving pupils with ample time and energy for their personal study while at home. Children can learn to do their own laundry and cooking while still young. This promotes the spirit of self reliance. A good home prepares the children to be responsible citizens when they grow up.
The government should not only preach free education, it should provide good learning environments. There is a need for building appropriate infrastructures. For instance if the existing classrooms are not expanded, we risk having big classes of pupils that will end up compromising the quality of education we are visioning. There should be enough and motivated teachers to teach in these schools. The government needs to provide good working conditions to the teachers. There should be a good policy for furthering teachers’ education, enough resources to plan for their retirements and also be satisfied in their job as educators of the nation.
The pupils need to be motivated as well. Apart from good classrooms, pupils need recreation facilities like playing fields. It is good that the government has reintroduced physical education that would help the physical body of the pupils. It is unfortunate that in most towns and cities the playing fields have been taken up and houses or shops have been built instead. I hope administrators of schools will find alternative fields so that our dear children would continue to exercise their bodies while at school.
Moreover, there is a need to introduce feeding programme in our primary schools. This programme would help the pupils to be attentive while in class. Most working places including schools have tea breaks for staffs, so if this initiative is spread to the pupils, the quality of the education will increase. This would also reduce the pressure on households that is already finding it difficulty to cater for other school needs.
The letter of the Zambian Bishops makes it clear when it says “Everything we are saying is aimed at helping create an understanding that education cannot be reduced to the function of the economy or to the utility of the marketplace. Education is about opening minds to a life long search for wisdom that is deeper than information, for an understanding of life that goes beyond knowledge, for an appreciation of the dignity of each and every member of society and for respect for others”. I hope the education we are envisioning by the year 2015 will reflect these qualities for our children.
Bboloka Bubala Nchimunya, S.J.
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