Introduction

The paper sheds some light on white collar jobs in Zambia education in Zambia during the colonial era and the subsequent challenges that the country faced upon attainment of political independence. It is divided into four sections. The first section is the introduction which provides brief information on Zambian education and the definition of white collar job. The next section discusses the main features of both pre-colonial and first republic in the education sector in Zambia. The third section, which is the main thrust of the paper, discusses the origin of white collar syndrome in the education sector during the 1960’s and attempts made by the first republic in addressing white collar syndrome. The conclusion is the last and final section of this paper.

Definition of white collar syndrome and overview of education in Zambia

The term ‘white collar’ was first used by Upton Sinclair in relation to modern clerical, administrative and management workers during the 1930s. Sinclair’s usage is related to the fact that, during most of the 19th and 20th centuries, male office workers in European and American countries almost always had to wear white, collared dress shirts. In another line of thought, Kabaso Sydney (2002:27) describes the term white-collar worker to refer to, “a salaried professional or an educated worker who performs semi-professional office, administrative, and sales coordination tasks, as opposed to a blue-collar worker, whose job requires manual labor.”White-collar work” is an informal term, defined in contrast to “blue-collar work”.

Features of colonial education in Zambia

During the federation, that is the period from 1953 to 1963, segregationist and inequitable patterns of provision for African and European children persisted. In addition, the focus was on primary education, with only limited secondary teacher education for Africans. Coombe (1967) has reported that through his extensive archival research in the Zambian archives, there were deliberate moves on the part of the colonial administration in  northern Rhodesia in the 1930s and thereafter, to limit the provision of secondary education for Africans. The educational system inherited by Zambia at independence was accordingly underdeveloped. This forced the first president of Zambia, Kenneth Kaunda to launch a scathing attack on the British as quoted by Tembo (1978): As far as education is concerned, Britain’s colonial record in Zambia is most criminal. Her colonizers have left the country as the most uneducated and unprepared colony of Britain’s dependencies on the African content (p. xii). It is, therefore, not surprising that: at independence, only 110,200 Africans had completed six years in primary schools, and only 32,000 had completed the full primary course of eight years. At the secondary level, although over 8,000 Africans were enrolled in schools, only 4,420 had passed the Junior Secondary (Form II) Examination and a mere 961 had passed the School Certificate Examination. Only 107 had graduated from university, of whom four were female (Kelly, 1991: 13).

White collar syndrome in the education sector during 1960’s and attempts made by the first republic.

In Zambia the term was a replica of the Europeans and Americans. In particular the term began to be used in Zambia during the colonial era, when most Europeans started to employ Zambians to work as clericals, typist, office orderlies, cleaners and teachers in schools. The onset of the colonial period in the 1800s marked the beginning of the end for traditional African education. According to Fafunwa (1962) European forces, missionaries, and colonialists all came ready and willing to change existing traditions to meet their own needs and ambitions. Bhola (2000) has also argued that ‘the modern sector of  education may have dismissed the traditional culture of  education out of hand, and without thought borrowed indiscriminately from the West, irrelevant ideologies, missions, and methods of adult education …’. What is implied in this statement is that the current adult education curriculum in Africa is still modelled on the colonial one and as such does not serve the immediate needs of the learner in particular and the nation in general. The replacement of the traditional forms of adult education, therefore, brought about challenges to the education system in newly independent Zambia. How did these changes contributed to the white collar syndrome in the education sector? To answer this question, some historical analysis is necessary. Alexander (1971) observed that it was well known that adult education in Africa had been sadly neglected in the past. In colonial times missionaries and education administrators did not normally see the importance of continuing education. UNESCO (1964) in its report on education in Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) wrote: An education system is a result of decisions made and designs laid down by past and present governments (p.1). Kelly (1991) admits that the above statement remains as true today as when Radford and his colleagues first wrote it in their report on the future development of the education system of what was then Northern Rhodesia. Several of the concerns that beset the demand for white collar jobs were necessitated by three factors. According to the 2000 Census of Population and Housing, Zambia’s literacy level was estimated at 55.3 %. The report further indicated that the problem of illiteracy continued to be more prevalent among females than males. The report further indicated that about 1 in every 2 females (49.8%) was illiterate as compared to almost 2 in every 5 males (39%) of the same population (MOE, 2008). The high rate of illiteracy has seen contributed to white collar job syndrome in the education sector. In that the Government had to encourage and support all those who finished their school certificates into education system, every one started to embrace adult education. According to Fafunwa (1962) “It was surprising to find a 35 year old doing grade  5, in that, Africans received education opportunities with two hands…”

The first factor was that Zambia needed many educated people to fill up positions that had or were being vacated by expatriates. Kelly (1991) explains that the colonial government had a pervasive concern about the production of an educated cadre that could not be absorbed into productive employment. Additionally, (Okafor, 1971), colonial administrators (not only in the then Northern Rhodesia but throughout Africa) generally preferred the uneducated Africans to the educated ones, who, they feared, tended to take educational planner today have their origin in events that occurred years and even decades before. In that regard, the challenges that the newly independent Zambia faced could be attributed to the education system that existed during the colonial era. The second factor was that the new government during its campaign for political independence, promised to provide more educational opportunities. A crisis of expectation was, therefore, imminent as people expected immediate delivery of more education. Thus this expectation motivated many adults to take part in adult education.

The other factor was that, apart from education being a human right, individuals themselves were keen to go to school and learn. These factors put a lot of pressure on the government to create more opportunities for learning. Indeed, the government saw this high illiteracy rate as an obstacle to economic development (Mulenga, 2000).

The third challenge was relevance of the adult education curriculum. Even after independence, the adult education curriculum available was based on the colonial model. This was the same curriculum which was said to be alienating students and stifling critical and creative thinking. In this curriculum, what was emphasised was the teaching of literacy where people learnt reading, writing and later simple arithmetic. As it has already been established, missionaries educated adults for liturgical purposes. Hence, the emphasis on literacy. Nafukho, et al, (2005) explain that the education system was changed to reflect the European social process. Colonial governments were interested in adult education in so far as they produced literate people who were used as collaborators and workers for their colonial enterprises.

According to Kabaso Sydney (2007:12) as reflected In “History of Education in Zambia” article as published by article base.com writes,” the Zambians were compared to put on smart clothes, they were put in charge of office work, in which they began to occupy professional, managerial, or administrative position. Such workers typically wear shirts with white collars. Those working in factories or doing manual labour typically had to wear blue collars, working suits and over rows and are therefore became to be called blue-collar workers

Conclusion

It has been established that history has a long lasting influence on what happens in the future. It has been shown colonial adult education positively impacted on post independent Zambia as white collar syndrome is concerned. The first republic worked out hard to fill in the workers in all vacancies that were left by the colonial government and a number of Zambians were employed on white collar jobs, thus the syndrome increased.

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Each and every child has the right to education. Education is the basic tool that every individual should possess. Several NGOs and government bodies are taking up primary education as their prime concern for India. Under this, government has made primary education compulsory for every single student.

The Anganvadis have been set up by various government about private entities in almost all the villages. These are day care centres for working women. Several of Anganvadis are being maintained by the government. These Anganvadis together with NGOs are trying to fill the gap between cities and villages by providing Montessori level education to village kids. They call it “ The Butterfly Project”. This implies not only education for children at the very tender initial stages in their lives, but also gainful employment to women and in some cases even men who not only earn their livelihood but also derive immense satisfaction out of teaching the toddlers and in turn learning from them as well. Thus the concept of Anganvadis is a Career Resources only.

Recently, around 1000 delegates from 120 different countries marked their presence at World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE). The summit was 3 day long held in Doha, Qatar. They drew a 10 point docket carrying a look out for to educate all under “21st Century education”!!

The 2009 budget also involved Education Resources. It is done for the betterment of the country as a whole. Numerous Schemes related to Education have been started in Indian Interim Budget for 2009.

Under Centrally Sponsored Scheme government is trying to universalise secondary education. Major steps have already taken place.

Higher Education (HE) For maintaining and lifting up the standards of living higher education is very important. Government is trying really hard through its various programs to build a knowledge based society. The outlay on Higher education increased by 900% in the Eleventh Five Year Plan. An Ordinance has also published to establish fifteen central universities. 6 IITs are already in function at Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Orissa, Punjab and Gujarat in 2008-2009. In 2009-10 government is planning to set up 2 more IITs in Madya Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh.

Educational Loan Schemes (ELS) has been super simplified, hence the number of loan accounts have increased more than 4 times during March 31, 2004 to September 30, 2008 from 3.19 lakhs to 14.09 lakhs.

ITIs. The budget declaration made in 2004-05. 500 ITIs have been revived for quality performance. Government of India established National Skill development Corporation in July 2008 with initial investment of Rs. 1 thousand crore. This is an extension in the Interm Budget. Measures are being taken up by government to provide better Career Resources. Though there are so many Career options but until and unless Career Resources improve these options cannot be exhausted properly.

Even though this piece talks more about Education Resources, the career resources available here are equally impressive. Whether it is capital intensive industries or regular manufacturing units, India has it all. And in good measure. Be it fertilizers, textiles, leather, cement, paints and adhesives, food processing, automobiles, aircraft, ship building, agro-based industries, jewellery and cosmetics, FMCG, electronic items, household appliances, toy industry, Business Process Outsourcing (BPO), Knowledge Process Outsourcing, Telecommunications, Energy-related industries such as oil refineries, bio-mass plants, solar energy units, hydro-thermal projects, mines, retailing, real estate, the hospitality industry, and so on. The list is actually endless.

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By Sadaket Malik

Gone are the days when improvised areas like of Bhalessa witnessed grim educational face. There is an irreversible tide in the sphere of education right from elementary to higher and technical sectors. This paradigm shift may be due to the upcoming of the institutions of excellence in the area.

The institutions booming in the area are to be credited in this direction.

Bhalessa- nestling amongst high mountainous and cliffy terrain of Doda in Jammu and Kashmir state of India Himalayan region, off shooting high where skies are the limits, it is most prominent township called Bhalessa.
Where spirituality attunes the skies resting aside castes, creed and colours and above all religions, it is here, that is Bhalessa. It is Bhalessa where Ruby Gems on mountainous slopes glows and glitters and marble of Thathri twinkle amidst dense, vibrant, lush green uplands it is here that Perched securely among the lofty snow-sprinkled mighty Himalayan mountain chain, the emerald blue skies peeping through the chinks of the clouds, the tall coniferous trees swaying to the rhythm of the gusts of wind, all condense into a kindly smile, forming the lovely Bhalessa.
Once upon a time, the education was rare, there was a single primary school at Kalgoni Bhalessa where in rare people got enrolled to get education. Ghulam Rasool Azad and Munshi Mohammed Anwer were the first to get education from this primary school. Both Munshi and Azad Munshi Sahib studied at the Government Primary school in Kilhotran and then were sent to Bhaderwah for further studies.
Presently the area seemed full of enthusiasm and attire to recieve education initiated by the state and centre.

Besides this, the tattering educational affairs of the area was shaped by the then Director Education Ghulam Rasool Azad who belongs from the area. Packed with outstanding achievements, Ghulam Rasool Azad left no stone unturned to revamp the education system of the area. As ill luck would have it this legendary man not remained among the people.

At this moment, Bhalessa has been revealed as a hub of education as the introduction of new institutions of higher learning and increases impetus on the information technology and professional education. IGNOU and some other organisations have started churning several industrially employable graduates from the area.

The tattering educational affairs have been altered after G R Azad era. The people seemed interested to access the rural information centres in this hilly terrain.

The setting up of Government Higher secondary schools in Gowari, Sinoo, Jakyas, Gandoh, Malanoo has had its great significance over the past five years as the people of these areas thought of higher objectives.

The local people were demanding immediate setting up of Government Degree College at Bhalessa and the government finally established the same. IGNOU and some other organizations like ITI started churning several graduates in diverse disciplines is an unprecedented growth towards the education of this hilly terrain. IGNOU set up its centre in Bhalessa in the year 2006 and was galvanized by the local masses and administration.

Apart from academic and vocational side, there has been an unprecedented growth of Maddersa’s in this improvised area. There is rising tide in madersa education, as is being witnessed today. The Madersa’s increased in number.

Interestingly, the number rose to 10. Besides nurturing the Islamic clerics from these Madersa’s including Hafiz and Ulema, these institutions seemed increasingly imparting modern education also at the pattern of other government schools under the ambit of the state government.

Innovative madrasa’s like the Jamia Gunyat ul Uloom are increasingly visible today, Jamia Gunyat ul Uloom Bhatyas established in the year 1983 and was named after Hazrat Abdul Gani Sadiqui. The madersa is managed by Gunyat Ul Uloom Trust Bhalessa is the largest Institution imparting Madersa and academic education to the students of hilly terrain of Bhalessa.

It currently has more than a thousand students on its rolls. Patterned on the Dar ul Uloom Deoband model, it is one of the few madrasas in the state of Jammu and Kashmir that provide Islamic education till the Alim Fazil or specialization level.

Besides Jamia, there are several other maddersa’s like Maddersa Asrar Ul Uloom at Neeli Bhalessa named after Shah Asrar ud Din Bagdadi (RA). Other Madersas are:-  Maddersa Anwar-e-Madina Gandoh, Maddersa Aweesya Ameenya Dhraveri, Gulshan-e-Madina at Dhadkai hamlet, Akhyar ul Uloom at Kahara, Gayas Ul Uloom at Gingota hamlet, Inam ul Uloom at Donadi, Ume-Sadiqa at Kilhotran, and Zia-ul Uloom at Thathri.

In these madrasah’s, the academic education envisaged by the state education department is being provided besides the Islamic and Arabic studies like recitation of Quran popularly known as Hifz and Ulema to become isamic clerics.

There were several forces at work help to create educational assess to assess to information to the elites inhibiting the villages nearby,  Such forces include NGOs framed by intellectual strata.

The NGO culture seemed its head high Educational Environmental social sports and cultural society Bhalessa, National Students Welfare Association Bhalessa, Kohistan Association Bhalessa. These NGOs involved themselves in mass cultivation programmes including education I mention here the contribution of these NGOs here,

Over 10 years all these NGOs started free education camping’s/ summer schools for the needy students of the area, NGO- Kohistan Association, NHRDS has to be credited in this direction as the NGO organized six free education camps in Bhalessa in early five years.

NGO National Students Welfare Association Bhalessa is having its big contribution for setting up of an IGNOU Special study centre in Bhalessa and putting forth the demand for setting up of Government Degree College at Kilhotran.

On the other hand, In the summer of 1996, a few NGOs  got together to think of ways in which they could play a role in the development of education in hilly terrain of Bhalessa Doda of J&K state. These young people shared the belief that education is a critical requisite and an effective catalyst for social and economic change in the area. Educational awareness became the agenda for the action group that emerged from this gathering, to represent the hope that had brought these individuals together and the hope that they aimed to bring into the lives of youth of the area.

The organization like Kohistan Association headed by Ghulam Hussain Bhall, National Students Welfare Association and NHRD Society headed by Basharat Hussain Malik managed free education camps for the students who were unable to perceive their education. The camps were hghly endorsed by local scholarly community like Shoket Ali Mattoo and Noor ul Hassan Wani.

As far as primary education is concerned, there are two separate educational zones controlled by ZEO Gandoh covering all area of Gandoh, Neeli, Dudwar, Gowari, Jitota upto Khaljugasar Panchayat, and ZEO Bhatyas covering areas like Malanoo, Kahara, Jakyas upto halaran village.

On being prompted by the Tehsil Administration and Sub Divisional Megistrate Bhalessa, students and teachers of all these Institutions share a single table on the eve of Independence Day celebrations where they deliver patriotic speeches.As per the preliminary survey conducted by local NGO-National Students’ Welfare Association (NSWA) Bhalessa, there are —–schools wherein the students have to stay under open air to get education. Some such schools are either having no building or damaged infrastructure.

Ironically, The Government Middle School in Manoie Bhatyas is the testimony of the state of sorry affairs as the students has to stay under the lap of nature to get instructions from their teachers. The school building is totally damaged and students in a bad weather conditions have to leave their studies. In summer it becomes difficult for innocent poor children to stay in the school owing to the inadequate infrastructure like buildings.

The infrastructure of the most of these schools is in a bad shape. Some schools are without buildings and some are lacking teachers.

Very recently, the government under the leadership of the then Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad and Mohammed Sharief Niaz MLA Bhaderwah sanctioned one Degree College at Kilhotran, that too is confronting inadequate infrastructure facilities like accommodation, the college is being run from single or two rooms vacated by Government Higher secondary school kilhotran, and finally the school has become prey of inadequate infrastructure forcing the students to sit in an open air.

Sadaket Malik is a researcher in Education and can be contacted at sadaketmalik@rediffmail.com

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EDUCATION IN  ZAMBIA

Zambia got independence in 1964, and the country’s first president, Kenneth Kaunda, led the country as a one-party state until 1991, when a multi-party system was introduced. But in reality, Zambia’s democracy is still not working very well. Decisions are primarily made by the ruling party elite, while parliament and district authorities have very little say on matters of planning and budgeting. Theoretically, the citizens have been allowed to influence the planning process through a decentralisation reform, which was launched in 2004, but there is still a great lack of structures that can effectively give citizens a more direct influence on the decision-making processes.

it has been estimated that 34% of seven years old children are denied  admission to primary school each year because of lack of places. More than 600, 000 children between the ages of seven are not in school and the majority are girls.”

Education in Zambia has improved a lot since independence, but a lot more still needs to be done. The growing population from 3,319,538 in 1980 to 10 million people in 2002. It has shown that rapid growth of Zambian citizen has drastically influenced the education sector in Zambia.” The numbers of school places are now no longer sufficient to take in all the children. It’s a big challenge to orphans to orphans and vulnerable children (OVC’s) to access education from time to time as the sector has experienced the disequilibrium. The impact is mainly ignored as its couples itself with economic trends of lack of employment as a source of income to sustain the ongoing school children.

Kabsy Consultancy Services a leading firm academic consultancy firm in Africa has embarked on a programme of helping more African educanalists to realise their full potential. A project was launched in Kabwe, Zambia early October 2009. Kabsy Consultancy services is empowering Zambian companies with development, social work skills and infotech fundamentals. The main aim is in promoting education policy in Zambia and meeting vision 2030.

It’s in this line that the government the republic of Zambia, in 2002 introduced free basic education from grade one to grade seven, so as to allow number of orphans and vulnerable children to access education. Other policy key principles were in decentralization of the education system, building of more schools, and deployment of more teachers who were waiting to be sent in various schools. Improvement of teacher’s allowances, especially housing allowances to teachers working in rural areas setting.

Having implemented the free basic education policy from 2002, what has been the impact on the target group? Studies on the implementation of social policy and its impact on the target group have been done. The reports show that the education system of Zambia has denied access to the orphans and vulnerable children despite introduction free primary education. “The OVC’s’ are still deniable admission in primary school and this forces them to find themselves in community schools. To those that have attended school in available public learning institutions, quality of services being provided still remains very poor. About one third of Zambia’s primary does not go to school. They stay away because school is expensive, or stay away or because they have to work. For those that attend, they drop out rates offering girls in particular after grade 4.

In most rural areas, parent of female children see their daughters as their source of riches. They would rather sell their children, in the name of marriage at an early age in order to lay their hands in the bride price. They do not realize the importance of educating the girl child which is very saddening. There has got to be more awareness made in the rural areas. ”

Civil Society for Poverty Reduction, CSPR (2000: 10) records that, “for those that stay in school, the number of teachers is consistently shrinking, and in rural areas it is easy to find schools with only teachers. Children are often hungry, which reduces learning and development. The schools have little or no funds for books or other learning materials.” In line of the above, it has been observed that there is a need of improving current infrastructure in the country, if development in the education has to be revealed to its maximum potential.

Another factor that hinders the progress of development is HIV/AIDS. This ever-isolating scourge is drawing Zambia back, in many ways. Zambia is suffering from brain drain because most of our education citizens are dying a premature death, which is damaging to Zambia. In addition, the breadwinners of families are being lost and their families left to live in poverty. According to International HIV/AIDS Alliance (2003:6) writes to say; “some children may pull out of school altogether because of fear of getting HIV from their teachers, this is particularly so in rural areas where most children are still be misinformed about HIV/AIDS infection.”

Other side of the picture on HIV/AIDS is that, the children are left homelessly without having anyone to support them and this tend to disorganize a home in the event if the death of a man of the house as the women will not be able to take care of the children without the help of extended family.

According to Mwansa A,C (2004) as reflected in free basic education policy implementation policy implementation assessment, reports that, “ enrolments increased marginally after the introduction of free basic education policy. On the other hand the, applications declined in 2003 especially in rural areas. It would seem that the causal factor was not only major barrier to access. Though the guidelines from the ministry of education did not impose any limit on enrolments, one third of the applicant were turned away , suggesting that are other considerations are equally important in determine access to education. The rate of girls turned away was slightly higher than that of boys. One of the reasons why a third of the applicant re turned away from school is the inadequacy of school infrastructure.”

In view of the analysis presented above, I therefore recommend that, if free basic education policy has to be effectively implemented there is a need of the government to build more infrastructure facilities such s schools, universities, more education colleges. There is also a need of improving teacher’s conditions in terms of housing allowances and salaries, if more graduates have to join the teaching profession.

In the context of poverty and education, the government needs to build more state companies rather than bringing selfish investors, who aim only in making profit and taking t into their respective countries. Companies for Zambian will have a heart for people and hence people will move from being exploited to more empowered with economical resources that will fight poverty, HIV/AIDS and unemployment.

Conclusion.

Social Policy is a system of interrelated principles that are formulated in line with the problem at hand, its aim is in seeing to it that people lives are improved and people re in a state of social and economical dependence. One of such areas is education policies, which re formulated in meeting the needs of people in accessing education for all. However, Zambian education policy has to be clearly articulated and fine tuned so as to realistically meet the needs of the Zambian people.  They must take cognizance of the paucity of national resources, be complotted by professionals such as social workers, and incorporates inputs from grassroots movements.

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Simply, fundamental math agrees with numbers in Algebra 2. Since we are all trained how to count at a young age the concepts of basic math, even though challenging at first, seem to have a practical value even to children helping with the Algebra 2 answers.

We are asked to deal not only with our comfortable numbers but with letters. And it doesn’t stop with Algebra 2 Help. You start seeing parenthesis and exponents, and a whole potpourri of other symbols that seem to make no sense at all. This single fact more than any other turns many people off to learning algebra. At the very beginning you are asked to learn certain rules on how to calculate things in Algebra 1 Help. You must learn which steps are legal to do before others, and if you do them in the reverse order you get the wrong answer!

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India has a high number of highly disciplined educated and professionally competent pool of women and has a law of universal primary education, if focus is given to higher education especially of women will surely give India a bright future. An educational institution has to face global competitions and inter national collaborations.

Education should look into physical, mental, intellectual, emotional spiritual values for growth and development. Though the primary stakeholders are teachers and students, there is an influence on them from the secondary stakeholders they are parents, society, management, government, employers etc

Three important aspects in the quality enhancement of education for women is

1. Confirm to requirements

2. Requirements keep on increasing

3. Quality enhancement is continuous

The education should focus to raise consciousness, motivate, articulate and make women self-reliant to participate. For effective educational work, the teacher and learner should be involved in policy planning and effective execution of development. Gender blindness of most of the decision-making institutions and professional bodies demand intervention, without adequate teaching material has caused lot of inconveniences to teachers and students.

Teachers accompanying learners in their growth and development:

The art and science of teaching should include a worldview and vision of the ideal human person to be educated. The teacher’s primary role to facilitate the growing relationship of the learner to truth, particularly in the matter of the subject being studied. The teacher creates the conditions, lays the foundations and provides the opportunities for the continual interplay of the students’ experience, reflection and action to occur.

A challenge to a teacher is to formulate questions that will broaden students’ awareness and impel them to consider view –points of others. To make teaching learner centered the learning process must include a pre-learning element, that of context, and a post learning element, that of evaluation. Personal knowledge and care of the student by the teacher is equally important as it is the hallmark of good education. A conducive environment and commitment to values, from the learner’s point of view- readiness to learn and readiness to grow should be taken into consideration.

Learning experience should be the development of the more complex learning skills of understanding, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation.

Reflection is the process where by the learner makes he learning experiences her own, gets the meaning of the learning experience for self and for others. A thoughtful reconsideration of some subject matter, experience, idea, purpose reaction, in order to grasp its significance more fully is essential.

If learning were to stop at experience, it would not be integral for it would lack the component of reflection where in the learner are impelled to consider the human meaning and significance of what they study and to integrate that meaning as responsible learners who grow as persons of competence, conscience and compassion.

The term action refers to internal human growth based upon experience that has been reflected upon as well as its manifestation externally. Involving interiorized choices and choices externally manifested. The student’s attitude, priorities, commitments, habits, values, ideals, internal human growth flowing out into action for others is most essential.

Periodic evaluation of a student’s growth in attitudes, priorities and actions consistent with being a person for others is essential.

Thus to conclude the basic elements of cooperative learning are:

·        Positive interdependence

·        Face to face interaction

·        Individual accountability

·        Interpersonal and small group skills

·        Group processing

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EDUCATION in Africa has a history reaching back many centuries. Certainly the achievements of the ancient civilizations of Egypt and Ethiopia are well known. Then, early in the first millennium of the Common Era, the Moors and other peoples on the northern fringe of Africa made notable contributions to world education and culture. And during the past 1,000 years the Saharan and sub-Saharan peoples had several centers of learning—Timbuktu, Agadez, Gao, Katsina and Borno, where books written in Arabic were in great demand.

More than 800 years ago at Timbuktu, in Mali, colleges provided advanced education. Katsina, in northern Nigeria, has been a center of learning since before the sixteenth century. It was there that, about 200 years ago, Muhammed ibn Muhammed became noted as a specialist in numerology.

The aforementioned cities were dominated by Moslem culture, and mosques were the centers of learning. However, the cost of learning under the tutorship of the mallams was very high and so few persons could afford it. The educated minority exercised tremendous influence, and were the key administrators, lawyers and clerks. But the majority remained illiterate.

In the non-Moslem, sub-Saharan cultures, education was largely nonliterate, by oral instruction rather than by use of reading material. Educational systems varied from tribe to tribe, and there were different degrees and levels of training, depending on the social and cultural development of a particular tribe. The training covered a fairly wide range, with specialized instruction at different age levels. Each educational system had specific forms of preparation for the roles of individuals in society. A look at the system of education among the Yorubas in precolonial Nigeria illustrates this.

The Yoruba System

Among the Yorubas, training in obedience, etiquette, speech and counting came early in the child’s life and was given within the family circle. Children quickly learned to express themselves in their language. Progressively, they mastered the proverbs, poetry and folklore of the community or tribe. In this way they learned the history and the moral and philosophical attitudes of their people. They had to learn a variety of greetings, recognition of levels of social seniority and the proper etiquette in connection with these. Religious education included training in rituals, sacred festivals and the roles of diviners.

At an early age, children were taught to count up to 20 on their fingers and toes and to do simple addition and subtraction with the aid of stones. As they progressed in knowledge, they were taught weights and measures, the use of cowrie shells (which served as money) and the art of bargaining.

Specialized training for boys focused on farming, working in metals and wood, hunting and the use of herbs and drugs in medicine. Skills were passed on from father to son. Inclination and natural abilities also were considered, and children were encouraged to develop their aptitudes. Therefore, many were apprenticed to artisans outside the family clan.

Girls received training in weaving and dyeing cloth. They learned to make pottery, to plait mats and baskets and to produce cosmetics for use in beauty treatments and hairdressing. They were taught the art of cooking, of brewing beer and of extracting oil from the kernels of the palm nuts. Thus they were prepared for their role as women in the family and the community.

The tribes that had a rural, pastoral or bush culture concentrated more on farming, herding and hunting or fishing. Some educational systems restricted progress into new fields of knowledge by preserving a closed society. Membership usually was restricted to those of certain ethnic origins or religious beliefs. This circumstance contributed toward a stagnation of knowledge. Nevertheless, the education that was provided amply served the needs of those societies.

The Colonial Era

In the wake of the missionary explorer David Livingstone, European missionaries began to increase their activities in Africa in the second half of the nineteenth century. Mission schools started to be set up in towns and villages, and right out in the bush, where students attended in simple loincloths or were completely naked.

These schools were set up on sectarian lines, with Catholics having their own schools and the Protestant religions theirs. This tended to segment the people religiously, and whole areas came to be regarded as the province of a particular religion. Divisions in social levels developed between the literate and the nonliterate segments of each community, and there was a gradual undermining of family influence. Other imbalances were created because traditional patterns of education were being uprooted and were not replaced by any uniform standard.

Still, a start had been made toward widening the horizons of knowledge in Africa. As more people learned to read and write, the knowledge of the world, contained in books, became available even to the remotest tribes. The literate history of non-Moslem, sub-Saharan Africa began to be revived.

Although the people showed aptitude in learning, there were obstacles to overcome. The missionaries usually had to learn the local languages first. Then they had to teach the children in their own European languages, in which books were available. Some did good work in formulating alphabet systems and compiling dictionaries so that many of the local languages could be put into writing. This provided the basis for translating the Bible into many African languages.

In some areas an obstacle was posed by the custom of barring girls from institutional education. When, over 40 years ago, one of the emirs from northern Nigeria visited England, he was impressed at seeing a large girls’ school. He desired a similar provision for the girls of his people. Since the custom was to keep women away from public life, he realized that this would be opposed. So he told his council that he was opening a school in his palace for educating the girls in his household. Within a year the school had 30 pupils, and many of the leading citizens were petitioning the emir to allow their children to attend. A year later, on the pretext that he could no longer tolerate the noise of a school in his palace, he “turned the pupils, teachers, and equipment out into the open town and lodged them in a house adjoining the boys’ school.” (African Challenge, p. 63) Now every primary school in that section of the country is coeducational.

Since children were part of the labor force in each farm family, there was reluctance to lose them to the schools. Gradually, however, as the people recognized the value of the printed page and the advantages of reading and writing, more children were sent to school. So it was in mission schools that many of the outstanding educators and leaders throughout Africa got their early training.

The colonial governments, and the later sovereign governments of each independent state, encouraged the establishment of mission schools, giving financial and administrative help. Provisions were made for more uniform systems of schooling, and additional public and secondary schools and universities were established.

New Education Policies

Since 1970, in a further effort to ensure a more uniform standard of education, the Nigerian government has taken over control of private schools, including mission schools. This has given rise to the problem of adequate moral education in a totally secular school system. Therefore, the authorities have encouraged parents and teachers to provide moral guidance. Efforts have also been made to coordinate the Moslem and indigenous traditional systems of education with modern methods. It is hoped that this will stem the growing tide of unrest, immorality and drug abuse among youths.

In 1976 the Universal Primary Education scheme (UPE) was introduced to provide for free universal education throughout Nigeria. This will give children the opportunity to receive free primary schooling for six years, as well as junior secondary and senior secondary schooling for three years respectively. More schools are, therefore, being provided, and immediate plans are afoot to increase the number of universities to 13.

Adult Education

Because the majority of the adult population is illiterate, the various governments are giving increased attention to adult education. In Nigeria, where the literacy rate is 20 percent for a population of 70 million, the government has established adult education centers in most villages and towns. Many men and women are availing themselves of this opportunity to learn to read and write.

Much progress also is being made in adult literacy programs operating in Kingdom Halls of Jehovah’s Witnesses. By means of such classes, between 1962 and 1976, in Nigeria alone, 15,156 persons have been taught to read and write. Many of these were elderly and thought that they no longer had the ability to learn. They were mostly people from rural areas—farmers, hunters, fishermen, housewives. Their determination to obtain Bible knowledge and to be able to impart Scriptural instruction reawakened their desire to learn. Now they can read and write, and can help in teaching God’s Word to others in their own language and also often in English.

For example, Ezekiel Ovbiagele was trained according to the traditional system of education, but was not taught to read and write. After he received oral Biblical instruction from Jehovah’s Witnesses and was baptized in 1940, he saw the value of learning to read. He enrolled in one of the literacy classes and soon was reading the Bible to others. With further specialized training, he was qualified in 1953 to serve as a traveling overseer, having the responsibility to instruct many congregations in the territory assigned to him. Many others have made similar advancement.

When Jackson Iheanacho first attended meetings of Jehovah’s Witnesses, he was literate only in Efik, his native language. He saw the need to learn to read in English, too, since the meetings were conducted in that tongue. With the aid of the congregation’s literacy class, he achieved this and went on to learn other languages as well. He is now able to read and write seven languages!

The literacy rate among Jehovah’s Witnesses is better than 77 percent. Most of the remaining 23 percent are attending literacy classes, either at their Kingdom Halls or at government centers, and so are in various stages of learning to read and write. They appreciate this program, which is reaching out to more and more people.

Purposeful Education

The value and necessity of education cannot be denied. An editorial in the Daily Times of December 29, 1976, spoke of education as “the greatest investment . . . for the quick development of . . . economic, political, sociological and human resources.” However, not just education, but purposeful education is essential. Modern methods have tended to establish materialistic goals, rather than productive ones. To many youths, the purpose of schooling is to obtain a certificate that will guarantee a prestige job and great financial reward. Parents should guide youths in carefully evaluating the purpose of their schooling. The goal should be to acquire real skills and thinking ability so as to ensure productivity in their adult careers.

It should be remembered, however, that the period of formal schooling is not all there is to the process of education. Parents can make use of preschool and out-of-school periods to instruct their children morally and in other ways that will build their personalities along wholesome lines. Much good can be achieved by using the Bible in inculcating decency, honesty and loyalty in the children.

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Sir Jim Rose’s April 2009 published report for the government on the overhaul of the primary education curriculum and children’s education highlights the importance of communication.

A focus of the report is on the ability to’ ‘talk’ in primary schools.

This aspect of education is hugely important and of related and massive importance is the ability in later life to take this talk into the public arena.

We are now clearly in the age of presentation and communication and those that can speak in the public in whatever form lead considerably richer lives both materially and intellectually.

It is well known that adults fear speaking in public more than they fear death itself and therefore most do not do it.

So how do you deal with this potential for impoverishment in people’s education and lives? There is provision for the education and training motivated adults but first and foremost we must deal with the matter as early on in children’s lives as we can and this means when learning at the primary school age.

So the question arises; how do you enhance children’s learning experience, provide the necessary education resources to avoid the growth of the fear factor?

The answer has to be based on using a method that employs all aspects of  children’s learning styles using a clear structured approach based on visual, kinaesthetic, auditory, and memory techniques. It is this that will lead to success in their education.

Organisations such ‘The Learning Well’ and ‘The Speaking Well’ and well known individuals such as Tony Buzan, who developed Mind Mapping, have a huge focus in this area providing just such learning techniques, utilising all learning styles, to all those who aspire to give the gift of public speaking to children.

For the sake of our children’s future those now tasked with developing the primary education curriculum must take note of these methods and techniques including the Memory Map and Memory Mapping originated by Tony Lazar and used and spoken about extensively by Alan McMahon, both of ‘The Learning Well’ and ‘The Speaking Well’.

These activities massively boost children’s education and confidence and provide a clear structure for effective speaking, talking and learning

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The origin of the term ‘education’ can be traced to Latin roots from the term ‘educare’ meaning ‘to raise’ or ‘to nourish’. The main purpose of bestowing education is to imparting and development of knowledge and its significant application in life in positive aspects and also in the growth of wisdom and social and cultural consciousness. As a result the process of communicating and interacting with students and therefore the efficiency of the teacher and his skills are equally vital for the spread of education. In fact it is necessary to note that all the countries of the world are pledged to extend the cause of education by reaching out to every nook and corner and ensure that every individual is literate. Literacy is a fundamental right of every human being irrespective of geographical boundaries and every child is entitled to receive basic education. Different disciplines contribute accordingly in the spread of education. Here it is to be pointed out that education begins form the grassroots level at home among one’s family and peers but elementary school education begins in the form of primary education and is followed by secondary education and then higher education. Therefore it is not wrong to refer to primary education as the first step towards attaining a bright future. It is the first stage which every child has to embark on in the beginning.

Primary education more often follows nursery or pre-school education. Primary education is a vital stage in the development of the consciousness and personality of the child as it is at this juncture that a whole new world of bright ideas and knowledge open up in front of their eyes. At this stage children are extremely inquisitive and elementary education must encourage this tendency among the children. As the child attains about twelve years of age, he becomes eligible for high school or secondary education. However there are several educational institutions which provide middle school facilities which make the transition form primary to secondary schools quite gradual. Literacy is one of the most important goals that primary education sets to achieve and primary education concerns itself with introducing the study of history, geography, science and the various social sciences along with the necessary languages that need to be learnt. Primary education also encourages the practicing of the liberal arts like music, dance, fine arts and even facilitates physical fitness along with the development of the mind.

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