The Sunday News
I sat for Grade 7 examinations in 1975 in a war zone.
I used to walk a total 16 kilometres to and from school, had one set of uniform, no shoes, no jersey, no tuck money or packed lunch, no juice and let alone, drinking water.
We used to pick wild fruits as we came back from school. That was our lunch or dinner.
As we passed through the velds, we would round up cattle during the off agriculture season.
Our lessons began at 07:45 and ended at 16:45. From thence we would start walking home.
We had no extra lessons, no homework, we shared books and pencils.
Some of our classes were held under trees.
Our sports fields were dusty patches behind the school.
Sometimes we would use a neighbouring villagers’ fields as a soccer pitch. We were 47 in our class. Our teacher (MHSRIP) used to come from his own village.
Our school was close to a rifle range where the Rhodesian soldiers took shooting practices.
There was no electricity at our school. But out of 47 pupils, 39 passed to qualify for high school. Whether they managed to go is another issue, but I know a few of us went as far as university.
I passed with 5 units and 3 of my friends scored straight 4 units.
That was in 1975 and thousands of my generation went through the same experience.
For us Africans, the economy was non-existent. We had nothing, absolutely nothing.
Now we have extra lessons, homework, modern teachers and teaching aids.
All we had were dedicated teachers who knew what it was to teach and make us understand. They were not mercenaries.
Their first interest was the pupil.
Today, the reason why there are so many failures in our schools is mainly because the teacher is no longer the dedicated professional whose pride rested on how many of his or her students passed.
The teaching profession has gone to the dogs. That is the main reason for the poor pass rates.
Masaisai, Harare.
