Academics urged to publish works

Nqobile Tshili Chronicle Correspondent
ACADEMICS have been challenged to contribute to the education sector by publishing their works if the country is to move away from colonial narratives.

Addressing delegates during the 1st Academics and Teachers Conference at the National University of Science and Technology (Nust) in Bulawayo yesterday, Great Zimbabwe University senior lecturer in the Faculty of Education, Francis Dakwa, said the country was lagging behind in research.

He said academics were “very shy” to publish their works and were dying with their knowledge.

Dakwa said the country’s students continue to use books from the western world as local scholars have not published any meaningful researches.

“When they come to the polytechnics they quote books that were written in Britain, West Germany and even the United States.

“They don’t quote local scholars because local scholars aren’t publishing anything. We’re training a practitioner who isn’t home based but who’s foreign based or who doesn’t have data about his country,” he said.

Dakwa called on academics to add to the body of knowledge saying it was important for cultural preservation.

“Let’s go to the villages and tap knowledge there and come and write articles and books about what’s happening there so that they are read by our students in colleges and universities.

“Old people are dying in Nkayi, Tsholotsho and Buhera among other villages but we’re not tapping into them. Are we not eroding our culture?” he asked.

Dakwa said the country’s knowledge system is under threat because of academics who have excluded themselves from publishing.

Last year, the Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development, Professor Jonathan Moyo, condemned the education sector saying the country has useless academics who were conducting researches that are not being published.

Prof Moyo said there was a rot in the education sector resulting in none of the country’s universities being in the top 50 of the Africa Universities’ rankings.

The 1st Academics and Teachers Conference ends tomorrow.

Today, the Minister of Primary and Secondary Education, Lazarus Dokora, is expected to address the delegates.

The Deputy Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development, Godfrey Gandawa, is expected to join academics from across the country at the conference.