When Education minister Lazarus Dokora’s tenure at the helm of the ministry ends, he will have done so much irreparable damage that his successor could probably be unable to undo.
Source: Save education from disruptive Dokora – NewsDay Zimbabwe January 24, 2017
NEWSDAY COMMENT
Dokora has overseen the biggest changes to the ministry in the shortest possible time, but instead of the changes being good, they are to the detriment of the education system.
At the end of 2016 and beginning of this year, Dokora has introduced a new application system that is clearly not fit for purpose and disadvantages thousands of students, particularly in rural areas, where simply going online is a novelty.
The minister also introduced a new syllabus, which at face value is not bad, but in reality cannot be implemented, as it was introduced hurriedly without teachers being prepared for it, which can only be disastrous for the pupils.
But the introduction of seven compulsory subjects — which include physical education, sport and mass displays — surely takes the cake.
How mass displays are made a compulsory subject is beyond belief and every right-thinking person would ask if this is necessary at all.
Mass displays sound like a remnant of the Soviet or Communist China eras and there is little or no value that they will add to our education system.
Instead, Dokora could have made computer science compulsory while mass displays — if it is a necessary subject — would have been elective.
Yes, sport and physical education are important, but making them compulsory ahead of computer science is surely shooting ourselves in the foot.
Then there is the introduction of heritage studies, which could be nothing more than a mass indoctrination exercise.
Although not compulsory, most schools were already teaching history and one wonders what the point of heritage studies is.
Geography has also seemingly been relegated to the elective category, yet it has been a staple for decades, but at the stroke of a pen, Dokora has diminished its importance.
Dokora must think he has to reinvent the wheel, but the changes he seeks are not in any way going to improve education in the country.
The education system needs saving from Dokora, because if he is allowed to continue running over best practice that could spell doom for the much-vaunted literacy rate that Zimbabwe boasts of.
If Dokora is desperate to implement changes, then he should go the evolutionary route, where change is gradual, not where change is sudden and unpredictable.
He may think his changes are for the best, but because of the manner of the way they are introduced, he is certain to meet resistance.
COMMENTS
MR PRESIDENT, FIRE THIS DOKO LENNU BEFORE HE DESTROYS EDUCATION IN ZIMBABWE!
Cde Dokora….please ndapota. Nzwirai Zimbabwean learners tsitsi. Some of the decisions you are making are devoid of any sound reasoning. Remember we are not an Island, we are in a region and our education should compete with our counterpart. Why not make mass displays a topic in PE and make Heritage Studies a topic in history? Geography, Computer Studies, English, Maths, Accounts, Economics are the courses that may reasonably be compulsory. In a world of choice….Cde Dokora is denying Zimbabweans choice (where we should be moving forward Cde Dokora is taking us backwards)…a pity! Decisions affecting millions cannot be made by one of two persons. Let us not do things out of emotions or to please Zanu PF. Zimbabweans are entitled to choice, this is a matter that must be put to a vote.
Agreed, this minister is a ganderhead of note. We seem to be cursed with dubious Ministers of Education. Another one no so long ago wanted to have a uniform uniform accross all schools in Zim. I have a child in a mission school and would want another of my daughter there. If that fails, Dokora will hear from my lawyers.
Newsday Comment is right about heritage studies being nothing more than a “mass indoctrination exercise”. Indoctrination already exists. Schoolchildren from all over Zimbabwe are bussed by the 100s to view fake heritage in Nyanga introduced by British archaeologists. Namely hypothetical cattle permanently stallfed to produce manure for growing millet on anti-progenic stony soils! Eurocentric input, not Heritage. National Museums is evaluating the recent direct evidence of gold-mining. Ancestral heritage.
This shows how shallow minded those in decision making positions are. They cannot reason beyond continued stay in power. Today Zimbabweans are marketable through out the world because of the kind of education the received, because of the syllabuses they learned. Dokora do you think if you had been taught mass displays, heritage history and those valueless subjects you are intriducing you would have been able to go and study in Cuba. Do you think all Zimbabweans in the diaspora would have been accepted wherever they are. You want to disadvantage our children and kill their future while your kids and those of other Zanu pf pple are learning outside and getting what will make them valuable in the world. All these changes never went through the parliament, old Mugabe just gave them a nod. Parliamentarians please wake and fight for the people who voted for you. Zimbabweans we should say no to all these unworthy and unplanned changes being made by over zealous Dokora.