Religious studies and indigenous knowledge in secondary schools in Zimbabwe: Bubi district case study, Matebeleland North.
Bekithemba, Dube ; Mufanechiya, Albert ; Mufanechiya, Tafara 等
Background
The arrival of the missionaries in Zimbabwe since 1859 is an
important factor in understanding the character of education (Ndlovu,
2004:48). Christian missionaries played an important part in the
development and history of Southern Africa, including Rhodesia during
the 19th century (Ndlovu, 2004:45). The colonial government established
formal education which was dual in nature. Missionaries through the
religious studies (RS) were not only harbingers of the new religion but
were also carriers of Victorian values that were consonant with the
imperatives of industrial capitalist culture (Ndlovu-Gatsheni 2009: 17;
Mapira and Mazambara, 2013: 90). In fact, conversion was necessary
before enrolment. It is in this regard that missionaries were credited
with introducing religious studies into the secondary school curriculum
(Ndlovu, 2004:50) which was then known as Religious Instruction (R.I.).
During the period between 1896 and 1942 there was no unified
syllabus for R.I. The lack of a unified syllabus was attributed to the
fact that there were many missionary groups which occupied Zimbabwe with
different theological aspirations and religious ideologies such as the
London Mission Society, Mennonites, Roman Catholics, Lutheran, Dutch
Reformed, Methodists, Anglicans and others. These different groups meant
different doctrines and dogmas infiltrated the teaching of R.I. The
underlying assumption of the above denominations was to change African
people from vestiges of traditional life and religion to Christianity.
The essence was that R.I as a subject had multi-purposes for the
colonialists and these included evangelization, colonization, and the
eradication of African beliefs among many other things. Concurring with
the above assertion, Zvobgo (1996) argues that religious education was
introduced into the formal secondary school curriculum during the
colonial era of proselytizing instrument, hence its cultural bias and
prejudice.
Between 1930 and 1940 there was still no official R.I syllabus for
use in the secondary schools in the then Rhodesia and as a result it was
up to the clergy to design their own curricular (Ndlovu, 2004:58). It
was not until 1942 that Cambridge introduced religious education which
marked the beginning of an official syllabus to be used in learning R.I.
Ndlovu (2004:101) argues that from 1942 to 1980, the greater part of the
colonial period, religious education was known as Bible knowledge or
religious knowledge. The syllabus was structured into two major
components, syllabus A comprised the teaching and the life of Christ as
contained in the synoptic gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke. While
syllabus B focused mainly on Luke and the Acts of the Apostles. It is
interesting to note that the syllabus format crafted in 1942 still
influences the current Religious Studies syllabus in secondary schools.
The current Religious Studies (RS) curriculum has also two components
which are syllabus A and B, exactly like in the colonial period; hence,
it becomes critical to assess its impact in terms of content and
practice in relation to Indigenous Knowledge (IK).
Hence, throughout this discussion, Indigenous Knowledge (IK) via
Warren (1991) is the local knowledge that is unique to a given culture
or society, thus the base for local-level decision making in
agriculture, health care, food preparation, education, natural-re source
management, and a host of other activities in rural communities. And
more broadly via Flavier et al (1995: 479), it is the information base
for a society, which facilitates communication and decision-making, and
thus, indigenous information systems are dynamic, and are continually
influenced by internal creativity and experimentation as well as by
contact with external systems.
And in contrast, the colonial syllabus was largely Christocentric;
as a result, it greatly impacted on pupils in adopting Christianity as
the sole religion for salvation. This led to the demise of the once
treasured and tested values of IK of the local people, and thus
non-Christian religions were considered irrelevant. Yet the majority of
the learners are from an African traditional background (Ndlovu,
2004:3). The teachings of the missionaries were designed so that pupils
lost confidence in their own religion and anything to do with
traditional life. Missionaries made deliberate attempts to denigrate
anything traditional labeling it superstition and pagan. Thus, the
colonial assumptions that prejudiced the Shona people as reckless and
irresponsible with regard to the use and conservation of natural
resources were very superficial (Rusinga and Maposa, 2010: 202; Mapira
and Mazambara, 2013: 90; Puffer, 1995: 1). Concurring the same notion,
Breidlid (2012: 7) argues that this denial of epistemological diversity
and the privileging of European epistemic monoculture is still hegemonic
and perceived as a sign of development and modernity whereas it in
reality upsets the relationship between people and nature through
ecological degradation, seeking to possess the earth in the same way as
a master exploits a slave.
Zimbabwean independence in 1980 meant a change of the colonial
educational system which was segregationist and oppressive to the
majority of the Zimbabweans; hence curriculum change was inevitable in
order to align pupils with the new ideology of scientific socialism,
which unfortunately largely became a theoretical endeavor evidenced by
the current structure and nature of Religious Studies. Shedding more
light, Marashe, Ndana and Chireshe (2009) argue that soon after the
attainment of independence, the Zimbabwean government, through the then
Ministry of Education, Sport, and Culture, recommended the teaching of
African Traditional Religion (ATR) in the schools. The rationale was in
recognition of the multi-religious nature of the new sovereign and
democratic society and to champion the teaching of African cultural
beliefs and practices. The recommendation of teaching of African
Traditional Religion was an attempt to reverse a purely Christocentric
approach to the teaching of RS at 'O' level (an examination
taken by secondary education students in the United Kingdom and
Commonwealth countries or regions associated with the British
curriculum) and to accept the complex religious nature of the Zimbabwean
society and the need to align pupils with their cultural heritage.
A religious consultative conference was held in 1981. Participants
mainly Religious Studies teachers agreed that the subject should
incorporate the teaching of other religions besides Christianity
(Religious Education Consultative Conference Report, 1981:13).
Therefore, the Zimbabwean government through the Ministry of Education
in 1984 made an attempt to broaden the scope of the subject, using the
life experience approach, where learners were expected to study beyond
the Bible and interrogate religious concepts in their own community
(Ndlovu, 2004:97).
Attempts have been made to incorporate indigenous religion and some
aspects of general living together within traditional communal life.
Thus, there have been some noticeable changes in the teaching of
Religious Studies in the Zimbabwean schools since the 1990s, with the
inclusion of the small fractions of IK. However, despite these efforts,
Christianity still dominates the teaching of Religious Studies in
secondary schools to an extent that it is the only religion that gets
much coverage in the curriculum compared to other religions. Indigenous
Knowledge has aspects taught in the RS syllabus although with very low
proportion as compared to Biblical stories, and the 'O' level
RS examination has further worsened the situation by allocating very few
marks to IK compared to Biblical related concepts. This implies that the
RS curriculum from the colonial period to the present day has largely
changed its name but not in content, and thus, it is still largely
Bibliocentric at the expense of IK. It is against this background that
the research examines the impact of Religious Studies on IK at the
secondary education examination in Bubi district Matabeleland North in
Zimbabwe, a culturally rich Ndebele district.
Statement of the Problem
Juxtaposing Religious Studies and Indigenous Knowledge in the
classroom at 'O' level has negatively affected student's
perception of their traditional culture, values and beliefs as all
efforts to include IK in the RS syllabus have been cosmetic despite that
the complexion of the Zimbabwean society has changed to embrace and
tolerate all religions.
Research Questions and Methodology
The research herein was guided by research question such as: what
is the 'O' level students' understanding of religious
studies and IK; and how religious studies has impacted on secondary
education students' perception of an Indigenous Knowledge system?
Hence, this research employed a mixed methods design; the researchers
used both qualitative and quantitative research paradigms (quantitative
and qualitative paradigms are empiric, but collect different kinds of
information using different methods). The use of mixed methods was an
attempt to legitimize the use of multiple approaches in answering
research questions, rather than restricting or constraining
researchers' choices (Onwuegbuzie, 2004:17).
This study also employed purposive sampling and simple random
sampling (purposive sampling involved choosing participants considered
as knowledgeable and well informed) which involved four schools offering
RS and four RS teachers as well as ten students who were interviewed.
Simple random sampling was used in this research to select students to
write an exercise on RS and IK, the scores from the exercise were
analyzed using the Pearson Product Moment Correlation, a statistical
tool used to understand the relationship between students'
knowledge and performance in RS and IK.
Findings
The research found that the concept of IK was new to the students
despite the fact that it is part and parcel of the RS curriculum. In
general, pupils limited IK to the people's beliefs and customs such
as burial practices and marriages only. Some further associated IK with
ATR, and when such an association is perceived, the tendency was to
negate IK by labeling it as 'demonic epistemologies'. Further,
the study also found that teachers have difficulties in explaining and
understanding IK concepts to the learners. The study found that such
situations impact negatively on IK in the Zimbabwean secondary schools.
In short, pupils remain rooted in Christian beliefs which receive
seriousness in both the examinations and by teachers compared to IK
practitioners.
The 'O' level Religious Studies examination plays a
subtle role in empowering Christianity while at the same time negating
IK of the Ndebele people by allocating very few marks on the concept. A
closer analysis of 2012/1 paper as shown below clearly indicates how far
unprepared the item writers are in to seriously include IK.
[FIGURE 1 OMITTED]
Little allocation of marks by the examiners to IK indicates that
the item writers do not add value or see no value in IK. This is further
passed on to pupils who have realized that one can pass with flying
colors without having to answer the IK concepts. So unless and until the
examination begin to award IK an equal share in the examination, IK will
remain an optional component which a student can or cannot answer
depending on one's interest. In essence, the teaching of IK is left
to chance instead with deliberate efforts to ensure the survival of what
once was valued knowledge base for the local people.
In addition, the study found that ATR is a very broad concept which
has a lot of variations. Pupils come from different background, thus,
they may have different interests when it comes to IK. The researchers
acknowledge that the interests revealed by students indicate to some
extent the interest of teachers and their capabilities in handling the
area of IK.
From all the traditional issues related to IK, students were more
conversant with very few aspects that they witness most of the time like
marriage customs and burial rites, although they did not have a deeper
understanding of these issues. Some of the pupils have participated in
some rituals without a full understanding of what they were doing, thus,
they turn to RS to gain understanding on this issue. While students may
have some knowledge and interest in issues of marriage and burial
customs in traditional African society, they were not convinced that it
could be relevant academic knowledge, the study found. Seemingly,
traditional leaders have performed rituals without explaining the
rationale behind the ritual; leading to a consensus attitude that IK is
of value on certain occasions, rather than being a lifelong experience.
Students and teachers who took part in this research indicated that
they faced challenges in the teaching and learning of RS. The study
found that they relied only on the use of the Bible, thus they become
well conversant with Biblical stories. Students further noted that
aspects taught in the IK were very challenging since they had to bank on
the teacher to explain the concepts to them. Apparently, there are no
textbooks that extensively covered IK in the secondary schools, thus,
making it very difficult for pupils to have in depth knowledge of IK.
The problem was further worsened by the fact that some of the practices
were very difficult to articulate especially when one had to write an
examination in English. Both teachers and students found it difficult to
translate ritual names and practices from Ndebele to English. The
situation made it difficult for the effective teaching and learning of
IK concepts.
Teachers indicated that the elderly in the community, the
custodians of most cultural values, found it difficult to articulate
some concepts largely because some did not originate from the area. Only
two pupils indicated that they did not have challenges in learning RS
largely because they only concentrated on the material that appeared to
have much weight in terms of mark allocation in the final examinations,
which are the Biblical stories. The study found that students were
worried about those components which would make them pass RS rather than
concentrate on knowledge for the sake of it.
This research also investigated ten students' responses who
wrote a test on the Biblical stories and Indigenous Knowledge concepts
to ascertain whether or not there is an association in performance
between Biblical stories in RS and IK. The Pearson Product Moment was
used in this section largely because it uses all the scores in the
distribution. The following table shows the performance of ten students
in BS and IK.
Null hypothesis: There is no correlation between students'
performance in Biblical Stories and Indigenous Knowledge in RS.
X Y x2
23 69 529
14 78 196
35 74 1225
30 78 900
40 66 1600
20 72 400
08 75 64
26 81 676
33 77 1089
17 80 289
[summation]246 [summation]750 [summation]6968
X y2 xy
23 4761 1587
14 6084 1092
35 5476 2590
30 6084 2340
40 4356 2640
20 5184 1440
08 5625 600
26 6561 2106
33 5929 2541
17 6400 1360
[summation]246 [summation]56460 [summation]18296
[MATHEMATICAL EXPRESSION NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]
Scale for Pearson Product Moment Correlation.
Value of [rho] Strength of relationship
-1.0 to -0.5 or 1.0 to 0.5 Very Strong
-0.5 to -0.3 or 0.3 to 0.5 Moderate
-0.3 to -0.1 or 0.1 to 0.3 Weak
-0.1 to 0.1 None or very weak
Comment
There was a very weak negative correlation between marks obtained
in Biblical stories (BS) and Indigenous Knowledge components. High marks
in BS were matched with low marks in IK. The written work showed that
students really struggled with IK related issues while being conversant
with BS. Thus, we failed to reject the null hypothesis noting that there
is no correlation in performance between BS and IK.
Discussion of Findings
Indigenous Knowledge to begin with, did not have adequate place and
space in the current RS syllabus in the Zimbabwean secondary school
system. Pupils were immersed into Christianity. From the students'
responses, it was clear that IK was not an important element in their
lives, thus the traditional practices of the Ndebele have taken a back
seat among the owners of the knowledge due to the influence of
Christianity through the RS curriculum. In support of this, Mehta,
Sharma and Negi (2010: 547) aver that the dominance of the Western
knowledge has led to a prevailing situation in which IK is grossly
ignored and neglected. The Western form of education with its influence
has displaced local knowledge despite the known value of this local
knowledge to child moral development. Everything was interpreted along
Christian faith lines, thereby relegating the IK to the periphery of
important academic knowledge. This concurs with Eyong's (2007:89)
views that IK has suffered for decades from several strategies of
disinformation embedded in Western religion, and colonial and
post-colonial education practices. Furthermore, Everts (2013: 5) argues
that IK is often perceived as an alternative to the overpowering,
ubiquitous economic and moral system of the West which is blamed for
damaging our planet and undermining not only the quality of life of
future generation but even their survival. This problem was exacerbated
by many factors which were operational via teachers and students'
negative attitude on IK, through the lack of textbooks.
One of the major problems that continue haunting the RS curriculum
in the secondary school is that the syllabus used in colonization is the
same syllabus currently in use in secondary schools with superficial
changes, maybe to appease a few dissenting voices. The implication was
that RS philosophy has remained the same despite attempts to change the
subject. This notion concurs with Zvobgo (1986) who argues that RS has
only changed in its name but not in its content and methodology. Museka
(2012:57) further avers that the teaching of RS has seemingly undergone
numerous changes from the pre-colonial period to the present, yet in
reality the changes are cosmetic as ideological of liberation
development, African nationalism, renaissance and Black consciousness
have failed to a larger extent to exorcise RS from the colonial jinx.
The responses from teachers indicated that the RS curriculum
attached value to the multi-faith approach, yet in reality, little or no
attempts are put in place to incorporate IK and other religions. The
inclusion of the Muslim Qua'ran and African Traditional Religion in
the aims of the syllabus, not in content, was a clear indication that
these religions do not have space in the Zimbabwean secondary
curriculum. Furthermore, no attempts have been made by the Ministry of
Primary and Secondary Education to provide Qua'ran or textbooks
which cover IK in Zimbabwean secondary schools. It was clear that
curriculum planners had problems with IK and other religions' share
in the curriculum. Dealing with issues of religion and IK seemed to
evoke emotions which translate to political issues such as the powerful
and oppressed people.
IK as it stood was a contested pedagogy which unfortunately might
be fighting a losing battle given that students and teachers had little
or no interest in IK. In other ways, IK has suffered displacement in
favour of Christian approaches impeding the politics of identity and
recognition among secondary pupils of Bubi district.
Since the syllabus did not indicate what was to be learnt and to
what extent it could be learnt, it left some students not clear about
the rationale of teaching IK. Other syllabuses such as in Integrated
Science and History were clear on the content to be learnt and the
extent. It is for this reason; we strongly felt a relook into the
syllabus was necessary to synchronize it with practices in other
subjects in the secondary school curriculum. An ideal syllabus must have
clear aims, content and methodology rather than leaving teachers and
students to speculate what must be taught and learnt. In this regard,
the syllabus has a weak frame which allows teachers to interpret and
apply content subjectively making RS curriculum prone to abuse by
churches, teachers, and educational stakeholders to push their personal,
political and ideological agenda, and thus, IK becomes relegated in
curriculum mainstream practices. Hoadley (2006: 4) shades light on
framing by noting that it is through interaction (framing) that
boundaries between discourses, spaces and subjects are defined,
maintained and changed.
The rise and influence of radical Pentecostalism has rendered all
prospects of reviving IK a futile exercise in that direct attacks are
directed at IK, and all what it stands for, hence the greatest pitfall
that African children face is the dichotomy of knowledge acquired from
religious institutes and that of school. In essence, curriculum efforts
to empower IK for now are met with resistance the through strong
opposing messages sent by the church and the school. Lack of relevant
literature went a long way to show the lack of commitment of preserving
and transmitting IK by educational stakeholders. Relying only on living
libraries, the traditional leaders in the community, short changed
students in the understanding of their own cultural heritage. The
question which was critical was why so little or nothing has been
written on IK? Why would educational technocrats at Curriculum
Development Unit (CDU) and the Zimbabwe School Examinations Council
(ZIMSEC) want IK to be taught in schools when little or no efforts to
develop literature on IK and content related to IK is present? In an
attempt to answer the above questions, we contend that educational
stakeholders have seriously thought about accommodating IK in the
curriculum, maybe are still grappling about the fundamental question of
who's IK?
Learning of cultural issues should not be left to chance given the
value embedded on IK. There should be deliberate attempts to teach IK in
every possible place of the secondary school curriculum, it is against
this reason that the research disagrees with Rogers (2003:17-18) that
most of the learning we do is the acquisition learning, that traditional
lifelong cultural learning takes place in societies regardless of its
inscription in texts.
This kind of learning is voluntary or within the parameters of a
task, the learning is concrete, immediate and confined to a specific
activity. Rogers (2003:17-18)'s view is the fastest way of
slaughtering IK in the Zimbabwean schools given that teachers and pupils
have little or no interest in the teaching and learning IK, hence when
learning is left to voluntary basis, it will be a recipe for disaster
which makes Zimbabweans lose their identity and cultural heritage.
Indigenous Knowledge is a very important aspect in people's
lives as it provides the framework for problem solving strategies with
the context of local communities. The quest for this research was that
IK be given a rightful place in the curriculum given its importance. If
this is not taken seriously, IK in the curriculum hangs by a very thin
thread, thereby producing children who by birth are Zimbabwean, yet by
conduct are Western minded. IK endeavors to unite pupils with their
cultural heritage which is part and parcel a quest of identity and
recognition among the Bubi pupils. Just a tree has roots for its
survival, IK plays an integral part in community sustainability in the
use of local remedies which have been tested and passed through
generations as a valid science for survival the people.
Conclusion and Recommendations
This study concludes that along the line of Gupta (2011: 60) who
eludes that IK is nowadays considered very critical because it provides
so much information about traditional environmental techniques necessary
for sustainable development. However, it is sad to note that IK in the
secondary school curriculum does not have adequate space for its
recognition among students, and faces a brutal end due to a lack of
interest and knowledge among students and teachers, as the availability
of literature, and a general Christian background of most students and
the examination system that has allocated very few marks to IK
components. And most interesting, the Ministry of Primary and Secondary
Education has not helped matters either, as most teachers have no
requisite qualifications to teach RS as they were trained in English,
Ndebele, Geography and other subjects, yet the Ministry of Education
expects them to teach RS.
Further, the situation has been worsened by the fact that the
syllabus is silent about what must be taught in RS. It is only through
the examination that one notes that IK has to be taught. Such an anomaly
affects the teaching of IK in the secondary schools in Zimbabwe. Without
a stipulation of what must be taught and the extent, it means that IK
remains an optional component in RS, thereby affecting the adoption of
IK in the curriculum. This may explain why RS has been used to meet the
needs of particular groups of people, depending on who is controlling
the teaching and learning of RS.
The recognition that IK is crucial for economic and cultural
empowerment of individuals (Domffer, 2007: 41) this study recommends
that:
* Curriculum planners should think about introducing IK as an
independent subject at the secondary school level, given its importance
to child and societal development.
* The Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education should provide
people to effectively teach IK in secondary schools in the same way they
did with National and Strategic Studies. The idea is to have a secondary
school graduate who can easily be integrated in society.
* Textbook writers should be identified and funded to produce
requisite literature in IK so that the subject can be taught
effectively.
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by
Dube Bekithemba
bekithembadube13@gmail.com
Inyathi Mission School, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe
&
Albert Mufanechiya
mufanechiya66@gmail.com
Great Zimbabwe University, Masvingo, Zimbabwe
&
Tafara Mufanechiya
tafaramufanechiya76@gmail.com
Great Zimbabwe University, Masvingo, Zimbabwe
Table 1: Mark allocation in 'O' level RS examination
Exam concepts Gospel stories General Indigenous Other
Christian Knowledge religions
Mark allocation 12 3 3 0
Table 1: Performance of ten students in BS and RS exercises.
Pupils A B C D E F G H I J
IK 23 14 35 30 40 20 08 26 33 17
B.S 69 78 74 78 66 72 75 81 77 80
