The Sunday News
Tinomuda Chakanyuka
IN March 1967 Tanzania’s founding father Julius Kambarage Nyerere published a policy booklet titled, Education for Self-Reliance where he argued that the education offered during colonialism was not relevant to the kind of society that existed in the country or to the aspirations of building a self-reliant society.
He argued that the kind of education that was being offered “was elitist”; it was bookish in a sense that it fostered the belief that “knowledge which is worthwhile is acquired from books or from “educated people.” He said colonial education was individualistic in that it encouraged students to only care about themselves and not others and that it fostered “subservient attitudes and white collar skills” and was “taking out of productive works some of its healthiest and strong young men and women,” just to read and contributing nothing in terms of production.
In other words, the education system was training the young people just to consume and not to produce or as Nyerere put it, “they do not learn as they work, they simply learn.” In his view the education system of Tanzania was supposed to emphasise cooperative endeavour, not individual advancement . . . in particular. He advocated for an education that countered the temptation to intellectual arrogance saying it leads to the well educated despising those whose abilities were non-academic.
In more practical terms and according to Nyerere, “All schools . . . must contribute to their own upkeep; they must be economic communities as well as social and educational communities. Each school should have, as an integral part of it, a farm or a workshop which provides the food eaten by the community and makes some contribution to the total national income.”
Perhaps mindful of the Nyerere policy booklet, Lobengula Primary School in Mzilikazi, Bulawayo stands out as one of the few schools in the country that are moving in the right direction in terms of successfully advancing the ideals of self-sustenance by implementing the national schools feeding programme. The Government launched the national schools feeding programme in July last year at Mpumelelo Primary School in Mpopoma, Bulawayo, targeting about 4, 2 million learners across the country.
Under the programme, schools in rural areas are receiving support from the Government, while schools in urban areas are expected to be self reliant. The Government has encouraged schools that have access to land to come up with initiatives that ensure self-sustainable feeding programmes and possibly generate income from selling surplus yield.
Lobengula Primary School has taken heed. Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education, Dr Sylvia Utete-Masango recently lauded the school for setting an example of how the schools feeding programme should be run.
Dr Utete-Masango said the school was on the track in setting up a self sustainable model of the schools feeding programme by establishing a promising banana plantation.
“I was impressed with Lobengula Primary School. Their banana plantation is exactly what we want to see schools doing. Schools should be able to come up with self sustainable programmes. Other schools can learn from Lobengula. Their model is a good example,” she said.
Lobengula Primary School is one of the four schools in Bulawayo that were seconded by the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education to Honde Valley, in Manicaland Province to learn about banana planting. The other schools include Gampu Primary School, Hamilton High School and Barham Green Primary School. All the schools have since set up banana plantations, with Lobengula’s plantation having caught the eye of education officials. Sunday News visited the school last week where the head Mrs Lillian Madzudzu explained how the banana plantation was expected to benefit the school.
“This plantation will help us in a lot of ways. First we are using the plantation for Agriculture practicals. As you know agriculture is now an examinable subject at Grade 7. Bananas are a rich source of Vitamin C. Our children will benefit from that. We are also looking at generating income for the school by selling the fruits,” she said.
The plantation set up in December last year sits on a one acre piece of land with 500 plants with harvesting expected to start in March next year. With a capital injection of about $2 000 courtesy of the School Development Committee (SDC), the school is aiming to reap a lot of rewards from the banana project.
“We hope to expand the project if we get more land. This project has potential to generate a lot of income for us. We can use that money for a lot of pthings, including improving the school’s infrastructure” said Mrs Madzudzu.
The school is worried about shortage of water as the plantation is under irrigation courtesy of a borehole that was drilled by the School Development Committee. Mrs Madzudzu paid tribute to Dr Utete-Masango whom she said encouraged the school to embark on the project.
“We would like to thank Dr Utete-Masango for her encouragement. This was her idea and she facilitated that we travel to Honde Valley and learn on this venture. The SDC has also been supportive. They provided us with the funds to kick start this project,” she said.
Running a banana plantation can be a demanding and delicate venture which requires a lot of labour. However, this is not something that has had to bother authorities at the school as some members of the local community have bought into the project and offered free labour.
“We have 13 members of Vulindlela Gardens who offered to assist us with labour. They come here once a week. Pupils also work on the project as part of their learning programme,” said the school head.
Mrs Madzudzu said the school was also practicing inter-cropping in the banana plantation, where they are planting cow-beans and peas which would be used as relish for the pupil’s meals. Lobengula Primary School is already running a robust feeding programme, providing pupils with one meal (isitshwala/ sadza, beans and cabbage) per day.
The proposed food menu by the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education should have a balanced diet made up of starch, protein, vegetables and a fruit. While other schools are only catering for Early Childhood Development (ECD) to Grade 3 pupils, Lobengula Primary School has already expanded the feeding programme across all grades.
Recently the school held belated Africa Day commemorations, where children came dressed in different African attire and were served African dishes that included mutakura/inkobe made from peanuts, cow-beans, and boiled corn. Lobengula Primary School SDC treasurer Mr Farirai Musasa lauded the Government for coming up with the schools feeding programme and said his committee was committed to supporting the programme.
“This was a noble initiative. As parents we are in support of the programme throughout. We have allocated a small amount of the development levy to the schools feeding programme. Resources permitting we would have loved to commit more funds,” he said.
The schools feeding programme has been seen as having a positive impact on attendances at school, improved learning outcomes, health and gender equity, poverty and hunger reduction. The Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education drew inspiration for the schools feeding programme from the Brazilian model which has one of the largest feeding schemes for learners in the world.
