via Govt faces litigation over ‘national pledge’ – NewsDay Zimbabwe April 5, 2016
GOVERNMENT’s decision to impose upon all schoolchildren a “national pledge” to be recited before classes or at regular intervals is a fascist idea and could infringe on the rights of children, legal experts and opposition parties have said.
BY RICHARD CHIDZA
Secondary Education minister Lazarus Dokora last month announced all children would, from next term, be expected to recite the “national pledge”.
People’s Democratic Party leader Tendai Biti, who is also a lawyer, was scathing in his attack of the pledge, offering to take up the matter in the courts if someone comes forward to challenge it.
“All fascist regimes do that. Adolf Hitler (former German dictator) forced people to do the same.
It must be challenged in the Constitutional Court and I am willing to take that up,” Biti said.
He argued not all children in the country’s schools are Zimbabweans and some are not Christians.
“This so-called pledge infringes on the children’s rights to conscience. Children have a right not to do or sign anything they do not believe in or agree to. And their parents or guardians have a right to protect them against such abuse,” the former Finance minister said.
“It is reminiscent of autocratic regimes and does not add any value to the people.”
According to Dokora, schoolchildren would henceforth recite the pledge as a way of engendering a sense of national pride in them.
Repeated efforts to get comment from Dokora were fruitless.
University of Zimbabwe lecturer and educationist Fred Zindi said it was difficult to tell whether the introduction of the pledge was a Cabinet decision. “It is difficult to comment on government policy decisions. These could be a result of a consultative process or just at the whim of a minister,” he said.
Namibia-based legal expert Sunsley Zisengwe said it could be argued that the pledge “amounts to placing an onerous condition on a child, for instance, who may not be Zimbabwean”.
“A pledge, as a precondition for receiving education, should not be allowed, because the very idea is inimical to the concept of educational freedom itself as it seeks to engender a culture of submissiveness and unquestioned deference to authority.
“It may even lead to political zealotry and fanaticism and we have seen all too often in other countries what that may result in. It may breed all kinds of intolerance with dire consequences,” Zisengwe said.
He said while there was nothing wrong with instilling a sense of patriotism in children, “it is the coercion to recite pledges that is fundamentally wrong as it is tantamount to indoctrination and brainwashing”, but queried the motive behind the pledge.
“One, therefore, wonders whether forcing a child to recite such a pledge before being allowed to receive an education is in the best interests of the child. I cannot fathom any rational excuse how reciting such a pledge can possibly be construed as being in the best interests of the child.”
MDC-T spokesperson Obert Gutu said Dokora’s pledge flew in the face of the country’s Constitution.
“We cannot have a so-called national pledge that is totally out of sync with the dictates of our founding values and principles as a nation,” he said.
“One can safely argue that the so-called national pledge violates the right to human dignity as espoused in Section 51 and it can also be viewed as some form of torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment in violation of Section 53 of the country’s supreme law.”
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