ZAMBIAS BIGGEST FAILURE AFTER 50 YEARS: A FLAWED EDUCATION SYSTEM In my book GETTING THE ECONOMICS RIGHT, I stated that it is not natural resources, copper, oil, diamonds, water that will determine the position of a country in the 21st Century and each country providing easy living for its people. Rather it is knowledge to drive the knowledge economies of the future. I state that it is the countries that are at the knowledge frontier that will claim the next century and those at the tail will continue to be colonized and their future generations dependent on others. I look back as Zambia turns fifty next October and I am counting the economic costs. As an economist, the worst misadventure and miscalculation and I guess arising from lack of knowledge itself is the failure of successive governments in Zambia for five odd decades to get the education right. And I wonder, did we have leaders, thinkers, ministers and permanent secretaries all these fifty years? If we did how come they have totally failed the children of this country? Did they think about the children of Zambia in 2014 and beyond? Of course I know they read speeches that were broadcast, opened meetings, toured the world, got the famous Per Diem... but what else? I would be totally embarrassed to be in their shoes and at the end of the day to have virtually nothing to show for it. Many have the odd house and a non-functional farm but cannot talk about what hey achieved in education because there is none. Today the Zambia National Education Coalition, a body of education NGOs, were quoted by QFm radio that only 53% of all children who start school complete primary school, that is grade 7. This is really shocking and sad even though it does not surprise me; the statistics just confirm my worst nightmare. The implications are so enormous. Yet this is on top of an experimental Basic School system that government introduced twenty years ago that condemned children from poor families to a cycle of poverty; because the system was non-functional. Yet this is on the back of a Community School system that was introduced decades ago that had the same effect as the Basic School system. Over the years, the children of Zambia have become even more illiterate and this shows all the way to colleges and universities with regard to standards. Kids in public schools, the majority from poor families, can hardly speak English let alone write it, so how can they acquire knowledge to be competitive in the future? Then, misreading the situation, the new Minister of Education introduces learning in vernacular! really putting the last nail on the coffin for these poor children. No, the reason is not English, the reason is a flawed education system governments have failed to get right. From how to learn to read English, to how to write it; from a neglected formative years to a non-creative and thinking system throughout the education years; from a rather less than well trained teachers (some can hardly express themselves in English) to kids growing up without education toys; from no investments in school transportation system (like all the civilized countries) to governments that have failed to invest in laboratories, libraries, sports facilities and even flush toilets. There is more. But the cumulative effects of all these is huge on the economy and on the families of largely poor families. Vernacular is not the solution, in fact it condemns poor families. I certainly would not allow my children to learn maths and biology in Lunda. It is even my mother language but it has no more value than a cultural and sentimental one. Lunda is of no use beyond my family, friends and tradition. And no language in Zambia is. Everyone is going for English the world; over or at least Cantonese (the Chinese language). English is the language of the internet where knowledge is. What use is a Zambian language beyond the village or a drinking place? No parents in Lusaka at the many private schools would dare allow their children to learn in vernacular; after all for many of them, they are preparing their children for higher education abroad. So this vernacular teaching needs to be discarded immediately before more children from poor families are condemned to even more poverty. In the circumstance, the Ministry of Education ha no idea how to design a functional and efficient education system, they should stop attending workshops and get a write up from me. A local language would have been relevant if it also had a script and a critical mass; like Amharic in Ethiopia. Lets use our languages for culture and music and family an friends. Not school. At this rate, Zambias future generations will continue to live 19th century lives in the 21st Century. We need Smart thinking, Smart choices, Smart Economics
Posted on: Wed, 03 Sep 2014 12:18:14 +0000
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