The Sunday News
Ranga Mataire, Group Political Editor
THE Government recently made changes to the school curriculum making the learning of history mandatory at both primary and secondary levels.
For proponents of Writing Back, this is a commendable move meant to empower the younger generation with foundational tools needed to navigate the vagaries of mediated information.
Mediated information refers to communication through communication technology. The danger of consuming this sort of information without a foundational base is that it can sway someone’s perspective of his or her well-being, which might be detrimental to the sustenance of the broader nation-state.
It was thus gratifying for many that in order to safeguard the possible dangers of “cultural synchronisation” or what others call “electronic colonialism” especially to the younger generation, there was a need to make history learning compulsory.
It is often said that a people without the knowledge of their history are like a tree without roots – they are easy prey for manipulation that comes through various facets of mediated knowledge.
In announcing school curriculum changes after a Cabinet meeting on 27 February 2024, Minister of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services, Dr Jenfan Muswere said the teaching of the country’s history will be done with a view to ensuring sustained transformation of the country’s education system to heritage 5.0. It is envisaged that the teaching of history would be done from ECD up to Advanced Level.
Dr Muswere said; “National shrines and cultural heritage sites will be included throughout the curriculum, and the National Pledge will be accorded special emphasis in order to entrench patriotism, loyalty and respect and thereby inculcate the proper mindset.”
Great Zimbabwe Monuments
Memory institutions such as national shrines, cultural heritage sites, museums, archival facilities, and libraries that house archival collections, are memory custodians that should be carefully preserved for posterity.
It is the view of the Government that products of the education system should know that Zimbabwe comes first. Of course, there is a reason why the Government is implementing such a policy in schools.
For a young country that attained freedom and independence through a protracted armed liberation struggle, it is not only necessary but fundamental that citizens don’t lose track of who they are in relation to global dynamics.
And Zimbabwe is not the first country to implement such a policy in schools. History teaching is a compulsory subject in the school curriculum in many countries that include England (up to Grade 13 or 14), United States, France, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and China.
Without an understanding and appreciation of history, citizens can slide into ideological zombies prone to other people’s interpretations of who they are. Those who colonised Zimbabwe for example, did so under the pretext of a civilisation mission. Their presentation of African societies then was derogatory and they continued to perpetuate the myth of indigenous communities that had no discernible history, culture- political and economic organisations.
These sorts of myths have for long during the colonial era systematically been drummed into the minds of both the white colonials and black subjects. Unfortunately, over time, even some Africans began to believe these derogatory presentations as the truth.
Today, we witness these residual misrepresentations reflected in many narratives peddled on various platforms by some of our compatriots. The “Smith was better” narrative is one such rehashing of history that has found takers in impressionable African minds. Yet the truth is that Rhodesia was no paradise for the majority black Africans who were treated as second-class citizens in their own country.
The idea, therefore, of making history compulsory in schools, is not necessarily to harangue learners into learning a one-sided nationalistic history but to have a better appreciation of where we are coming from, where we are, and where we intend to go.
Such an understanding will undoubtedly equip and empower the learners with the knowledge of all the triumphs and challenges the country has traversed and the inspirational reference point to contribute to the betterment of their motherland.
The learners will have an appreciation of why after independence, the new government embarked on a process of renaming streets, and roads and removal of colonial-era monuments as a way of creating a “liberating perspective” and shaping a new national identity of the country.
Suffice to say, no country has ever made it economically by disconnecting themselves from their own history. In fact, research has shown that citizens with a better understanding of their history tend to be more active in the political, social, cultural and economic development of their respective countries.
Our painful and sometimes unresolved memories of our past, makes many amongst us want to quickly forget our history.
However, we need to be conscious of the fact that no country has achieved greatness by disconnecting itself from its past.
No sane people voluntarily turn their backs on their past.
It is only by facing one’s past that one can accurately perceive reality and determine one’s destiny. In essence, history is crucial in building a complete man. As a former colonised people, we suffer the ignominy of much of our history being destroyed, distorted and historical artefacts stolen and looted to what was then “mother country.”
If history did not matter, there would not have been any need for the colonisers to want to destroy it by imposing their own religion and cultural beliefs. If history did not matter, there would not have been any need for the colonisers to appropriate and attribute the building of the Great Zimbabwe monument to Caucasians.
Steve Biko, that South African thinker and champion of black consciousness once said, “the greatest weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the minds of those whom they oppress.” Given the mental genocide inflicted on black folks and the subsequent post-colonial cultural imperialism currently taking place across Africa, Zimbabwe’s position to make history compulsory learning in schools must be applauded.
It must be understood that education should not just be concerned with teaching specific tasks but must entail forming and informing the whole person, for and through the experience of living through time.
The study of history is critical in ‘rooting’ people in time. People who are rootless often cause a lot of damage to themselves and others in the process. They lack a sense of belonging and are prone to other people’s characterisation of themselves.
