Written by Chris Kaumba
As an African, I’m not blind to the problems we face; I’m not blind to my needs and those of my kind.
Many though, these problems are, I wish to talk about one:
THE QUALITY OF MY COUNTRY’S EDUCATION!
Much cogitation is going through my mind as I see little fellows carrying their bags to school:
Should education be limited only to the classroom?
Should I learn the same things odd and old ages learnt in school?
Should I learn them in the same way?
I want to make a positive impact in my country but,
Do I have the tools to do that?
Can I learn basic, yet important, survival skills in the classroom?
It embeds a lot of fears!
Why am I, a high school student, unaware of how to manage waste?
Why am I, a student in an exam year, studying only to pass?
Why am I, a student in university, studying to beat my mates?
Why am I taught to pass only so that I can have money…?
All this is my thought. Quite sadly, that is all it is: a thought.
How I wish someone would listen. Maybe they would be courageous enough to add sound to it. Maybe then, someone can hear, comprehend and implement.
Honestly, that is what I want: to be heard.
Perhaps, others have taken notice of this problem:
They send students to study abroad. However, there are fears of brain drain. Though required to return to their countries once they complete their studies, many agree just to have an opportunity to disagree.
Others are advocating for more people in the classroom but that means more people joining the same cycle of thinking which has not, for most, done us any good. The increase in quantity only deprives quality because as it is, we cannot handle both. Quality, however, will definitely help quantity.
Some have provided libraries but how many Zambians (Africans) will trade a movie for a book chapter. Certainly not many, if any.
However, I have pictures in my mind of a learning arena that is conducive.
E-learning introduced in schools. While not every learner can afford a tablet in class, the tutors can and could use more updated information to teach the learners. The government could make one compulsory and have some tablets specially designed for learning and place a discount for the learner. Everything, always remember, is deliberate.
I should keep a clean environment because I have been taught why not necessarily how.
I should be taught to study so that I can have knowledge. I should pass an exam because I know.
And because I know, I can influence my community rightly.
All my learning in university embraces cross-learning and together with my mates, I think and provide solutions to my country’s problems.
I do not work on having but on being.
This is my picture:
Everyone employs getting knowledge as a culture.
We only have power over what we know.
Knowledge is essential.
The classroom should not be a place where visions are blurred. Rather, they should be more focused. It should be a mind opening tool.
Are we too lazy to change direction?
Laziness is a slippery tree. A tree planted in the waters of ignorance occupied by the beasts of pain, suffering, poverty etc.
Success is not by accident.
And as an African, I’m not afraid to take the turn.
Because only if we will, can we.