adminFreedom Mutanda
As the world marks Teachers’ Day, it is time for the nation to reflect on the significance of the ‘noble’ profession inasfar as the search for national identity and development is concerned. While some miscreants contend that the oldest profession is flesh peddling, it is my considered view that teaching is older than the prostitution career that some among us venerate to high heaven.
In the beginning, the good book, the Bible, says, God gave the earliest inhabitants, Adam and Eve, instructions to follow if they entertained any hopes of living in Eden forever. From then onwards, Jehovah remained the teacher of mankind. Subsequent ties that Yahweh had with the Israelites had rabbis who were highly regarded throughout ancient times.
God is the father of teaching. A rabbi is a teacher.
Greeks came with their philosophy proponents, chief among them being Socrates. Plato’s seminal work, “The Republic,” is a masterpiece that is still relevant in the Information Society today.
Anyone who passed through a Teacher Education Department, whether at a teachers’ college or university will testify that he read about Plato and his works with particular reference to Didactism which is a synonym of the word ‘teaching.’
Interestingly, teachers-cum-philosophers had friends and detractors in those days in the same way in the modern society several people disparage the noble professionals. It is said that Socrates committed suicide as a direct result of persecution by people.
A question of History repeating itself, isn’t it? So much for those people who believe that History is a useless subject. We learn from History.
Seeing the Zimbabwean dollar plummet in terms of value between 2007 and 2008, the makorokozas and traders popularly known as goronyeras boasted for anyone within earshot to hear, “Today, I have been very unfortunate. Only a teacher’s salary was all I sweated for the whole day.”
On the other hand, there were members of society who would give teachers buckets of maize or any other foodstuff to stem the tide of poverty that stalked teachers. These people felt that the dignity of the teaching profession had to be restored.
Teachers mould society. Children spent more time at school than at home. Because of that, teachers deserve respect. Before independence, a family assumed a good status once a member trained as a teacher. If there was something to be discussed, the murairidzi had to be called and his contribution was valued greatly.
I would like to take you back to the time that you went to school for the very first time. Sheepishly, you followed your elder sibling to your class and the female teacher smiled at you as she welcomed you. Those days were sweet.
She made a tag with your name scribbled neatly on it and to cap it all, once you were able to write, a pencil would be with you always as it was tied onto you for the rest of the day lest you would lose it.
Rewind to the day you were able to write and spell your name.
Isn’t that production? Many times critics question the productive nature of teaching. Need I say more? Teachers produce experts in many fields and of course they are unsung heroes.
The President, Cde Robert Mugabe, has always spoken glowingly on the quality of the education system in Zimbabwe and last year at the National People’s Conference urged the Minister of Finance to mobilise resources to pay teachers and other civil servants a living wage.
I remember reciting the poem, “This is our school…let peace dwell here…let the room be full of contentment…let love abide here…” We had to recite the poem at assembly.
To imagine that I went to school without knowing how to write and now I can write using all kinds of sentence structure is truly amazing.
Our teachers have made us perform such miracles. Many years ago, I read a story entitled “Who survived?” In it, an aeroplane was about to crash; there was only one parachute. There were many professionals inside the plane.
The pilot invited every person to reason out why he/she had to be given the one parachute that would ensure her/his survival. Medical doctors, architects, astronauts, scientists, economists, politicians, accountants and a plethora of professionals pleaded their cases.
Up stepped the teacher. He said, “I am happy that I taught all the people who plead to be given the lone parachute. Give me the parachute and
I will continue to churn out all the professionals you need in this world.”
Suspense filled, the story is a reminder of what an important job the teacher does every day as she continues to be an unsung hero. The writer
of the story did not tell us who survived the ordeal but your guess is as good as mine.
Interacting with my former students makes me realise how in a way the bond with those students does not peter off so easily.
Has the society turned its back on teachers? Based on facts on the ground, it may appear so. However, closer analysis reveals otherwise.
Government realised its teachers were the lowest paid. Under extreme circumstances that include liquidity challenges, a depressed fiscal space and economic sanctions, government is able to pay its workers and teachers are part of the civil service.
During the hyper-inflation days, the Government never failed to pay teachers. For that, teachers are grateful but more needs to be done.
Housing for teachers
As role models, teachers deserve houses as part of their fringe benefits lest they continue to be duped by the ever- present housing consortiums. Anyone who dreams big and comes out with a brilliant plan targets teachers for his plan to succeed. It is because teachers look ahead to a time they will retire that makes them fall to manipulators and business upstarts.
It does not need one to be a nuclear scientist to design a scheme that would accommodate all teachers in building them houses with the Government acting as a guarantor to the implementing partner. A father or mother starts providing for his or her family first and foremost. Therefore, the Government can do the same thing to its teachers; soft loans can make a difference to the suffering teachers who earn notoriety when they die.
It is not everyone who attends a teacher’s burial who commiserates with the family of the deceased. Some mourners want to see what kind of house the teacher built. At times, there won’t be any house to write home about except a hut that belongs to the parents of the deceased.
It is mind-boggling but true that some teachers retire without a house in the urban setting or the rural areas. Cases have been tabulated of a coffin failing to lie in state as a result of the small entrance into the hut that doesn’t allow the dome-shaped coffin to pass through.
In its infinite wisdom, the Government can facilitate the granting of housing loans to the teachers that are payable over 10 or so years. By so doing, the very best teachers remain in the teaching service.
Teachers look at the profession as noble. Now that there is a gradual implementation of the Nziramasanga Commission recommendations, it is incumbent upon the officials to have in-service training for teachers to be Information Technology compliant in this age of computers.
Through the Presidential Computerisation Programme, many schools have received computers. Coupled with the ongoing rural electrification process, the future looks bright for Zimbabwean education.
In the colonial era, African trade unionism was anathema to the authorities. However, Gideon Maforo Mhlanga was one of the leading lights of teacher activism and became the first president of the African Teachers’ Association.
He subsequently built a school for the African child in Chipinge district called Gazaland Secondary School.
Today, it has an ‘A’ Level and is called Gideon Mhlanga High School.
Lest we forget, teachers are the building blocks to development and their input into national development and the search for national identity cannot be over-emphasised.
Online Reporter