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ZIMBABWEAN schools are set to benefit from the Book of African Records national high schools quiz tournament, set to take place next weekend.
The tournament will see more than 200 Advanced Level students taking part in the televised edition of the quiz. Speaking at the official launch of the Book of African Records in Harare last week, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education Dr Washington Mbizvo said investing in appreciating Zimbabwe and Africa demonstrates commitment to youth orientation and education.
“This initiative will help foster an African perspective and centred approach in the learning process,” he said.
Dr Mbizvo said developing the youths is important and takes centre stage in contributing to the sustainability of the Zimbabwean economy.
“We are happy to have activists for pan-African perspectives. It is important to embrace and adopt pan-African initiatives because the orientation within our schools system has not quite changed. You will find that children have been schooled towards the Eurocentric approach; they know more about Europe than they do about Zimbabwe and Africa,” he said.
He pointed that the history and geography that is in the textbooks is based on studies that are not African, such as the cases of the Canadian railroad system, cotton fields in America, the Boston Tea Party and little on our rich history. “It was only when I was older that I realised that we had stalactites and stalagmites at Chinhoyi Caves and the beautiful gorges at Boterekwa which I had studied about in European textbooks,” said Dr Mbizvo.
He said that there is a lot that needs to be introduced and taught to the young people about Zimbabwe and the African environment and geography. “Most important is that the young people need to be taught about the history of our country, the heritage of our nation, where we came from and then we can start to develop certain objects and elements that we can utilise even developing our own technologies and sciences, using our own indigenous resources and materials,” said Dr Mbizvo.
He said it is the vision of the ministry to work with more youth initiatives that are in the business of generating more knowledge, mobilise skills, galvanise the proper attitude and ultimately produce human capital that must develop the country.
Editor-in-chief of the Book of African Records Errol Muzawazi said the initiative is a milestone in nurturing students to accept and embrace their African heritage and help cultivate a pan-African approach to education.
“This initiative will help foster the afro-centric approach in development of the participating students to help our young people compete effectively on the global front culturally, traditionally and top most, academically.
“Developing the youth is important to the sustainability of our growing economy and the Book of African Records is glad to be working with other like-minded organisations, to provide youth with the inspiration to start this journey,” said Muzawazi.
The televised edition comes nearly a decade after the number one edutainment programme had exited the television screens.
Muzawazi noted that it was encouraging to note that there is remarkable female representation in the programme with a quarter of the total number being female students.
“This is a clear indication that as society the full potential of students is not being curtailed by gender stereotypes and as an organisation we are committed to investing in generating knowledge for academic institutions and support initiatives that will empower all students both girls and boys alike.”
The quiz is meant to encourage students at a young age to uphold the pan-African ideology and celebrate the beauty of the African continent.
Online Reporter
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