Changing education for majority rule in Zimbabwe and South Africa

Comparative Education Review

Volumn 42, Issue 3, 1998, Pages 253-266

  Pape, John ^a  

^a NONE

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EID: 0032357987     PISSN: 00104086     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1086/447508     Document Type: Article

References (52)

1. This is a term popularized by the late Brazilian educator Paulo Freire. For a detailed discussion, see Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1972).
2. For a more detailed discussion of education in colonial Zimbabwe, see R. Zvobgo, Colonialism and Education in Zimbabwe (Harare: Southern African Potential Economic Series Trust, 1994).
3. Roger Riddell, Education for Employment (Gweru: Mambo, 1980), pp. 14-15.
4. Ibid., p. 23. "African" was a formal racial category in colonial Rhodesia and apartheid South Africa. This in no way implies my acceptance of the legitimacy of this and other terms such as "colored" or "Indian." Rather, these categories are used here to demonstrate extremes of inequality. Where such differentiation is not useful, the term "black" will be used to refer to all peoples not classified as "European."
5. South African Institute of Race Relations (SAIRR), Annual Survey of Race Relations, 1995-1996 (Johannesburg: SAIRR, 1996), p. 229.
6. Ibid., p. 240.
7. Ibid., p. 96.
8. A. Lemon, "Education in Post-apartheid South Africa: Some Lessons from Zimbabwe," Comparative Education 31, no. 1 (1986): 106.
9. C. Ota, "Community Financing of Schools in Zimbabwe," Prospects 16, no. 3 (1986): 360.
10. There have been a large number of studies done of apartheid education Two of the most comprehensive and insightful are H. Wolpe, E. Unterhalter, and T. Botha, eds., Education for a Future South Africa (London: Heinneman, 1991); and Mokubung Nkomo, ed., Pedagogy of Domination. Toward a Democratic Education in South Africa (Trenton, N.J.: Africa World Press, 1990).
11. There have been a large number of studies done of apartheid education Two of the most comprehensive and insightful are H. Wolpe, E. Unterhalter, and T. Botha, eds., Education for a Future South Africa (London: Heinneman, 1991); and Mokubung Nkomo, ed., Pedagogy of Domination. Toward a Democratic Education in South Africa (Trenton, N.J.: Africa World Press, 1990).
12. Quoted in ZANU (PF), Rebuilding Zimbabwe. Achievements, Problems, Prospects (Harare: ZANU (PF), 1985), p. 185. For a further elaboration of what may be viewed as the "party line" on education during this period, see F. Chung and E. Ngara, Socialism, Education and Development: A Challenge to Zimbabwe (Harare: Zimbabwe Publishing House, 1985). See also Lionel Cliffe and Colin Stoneman, eds., Zimbabwe: Politics, Economics, and Society (London: Pinter, 1989); K. Hungwe, "A Decade for Science Education in Zimbabwe, 1980-1990: Nationalist Vision and Post-colonial Realities," Curriculum Studies 26, no. 1 (1994): 83-95; and Lemon. A counterview, portraying the Zimbabwean experience as more of a revolutionary process, is contained in R. Zvobgo, "Education and the Challenge of Independence," in Zimbabwe: The Political Economy of Transition, 1980-86, ed. Ibbo Mandaza (Dakar: Council for the Development of Economic and Social Research in Africa, 1986), pp. 319-55.
13. Quoted in ZANU (PF), Rebuilding Zimbabwe. Achievements, Problems, Prospects (Harare: ZANU (PF), 1985), p. 185. For a further elaboration of what may be viewed as the "party line" on education during this period, see F. Chung and E. Ngara, Socialism, Education and Development: A Challenge to Zimbabwe (Harare: Zimbabwe Publishing House, 1985). See also Lionel Cliffe and Colin Stoneman, eds., Zimbabwe: Politics, Economics, and Society (London: Pinter, 1989); K. Hungwe, "A Decade for Science Education in Zimbabwe, 1980-1990: Nationalist Vision and Post-colonial Realities," Curriculum Studies 26, no. 1 (1994): 83-95; and Lemon. A counterview, portraying the Zimbabwean experience as more of a revolutionary process, is contained in R. Zvobgo, "Education and the Challenge of Independence," in Zimbabwe: The Political Economy of Transition, 1980-86, ed. Ibbo Mandaza (Dakar: Council for the Development of Economic and Social Research in Africa, 1986), pp. 319-55.
14. Quoted in ZANU (PF), Rebuilding Zimbabwe. Achievements, Problems, Prospects (Harare: ZANU (PF), 1985), p. 185. For a further elaboration of what may be viewed as the "party line" on education during this period, see F. Chung and E. Ngara, Socialism, Education and Development: A Challenge to Zimbabwe (Harare: Zimbabwe Publishing House, 1985). See also Lionel Cliffe and Colin Stoneman, eds., Zimbabwe: Politics, Economics, and Society (London: Pinter, 1989); K. Hungwe, "A Decade for Science Education in Zimbabwe, 1980-1990: Nationalist Vision and Post-colonial Realities," Curriculum Studies 26, no. 1 (1994): 83-95; and Lemon. A counterview, portraying the Zimbabwean experience as more of a revolutionary process, is contained in R. Zvobgo, "Education and the Challenge of Independence," in Zimbabwe: The Political Economy of Transition, 1980-86, ed. Ibbo Mandaza (Dakar: Council for the Development of Economic and Social Research in Africa, 1986), pp. 319-55.
15. Quoted in ZANU (PF), Rebuilding Zimbabwe. Achievements, Problems, Prospects (Harare: ZANU (PF), 1985), p. 185. For a further elaboration of what may be viewed as the "party line" on education during this period, see F. Chung and E. Ngara, Socialism, Education and Development: A Challenge to Zimbabwe (Harare: Zimbabwe Publishing House, 1985). See also Lionel Cliffe and Colin Stoneman, eds., Zimbabwe: Politics, Economics, and Society (London: Pinter, 1989); K. Hungwe, "A Decade for Science Education in Zimbabwe, 1980-1990: Nationalist Vision and Post-colonial Realities," Curriculum Studies 26, no. 1 (1994): 83-95; and Lemon. A counterview, portraying the Zimbabwean experience as more of a revolutionary process, is contained in R. Zvobgo, "Education and the Challenge of Independence," in Zimbabwe: The Political Economy of Transition, 1980-86, ed. Ibbo Mandaza (Dakar: Council for the Development of Economic and Social Research in Africa, 1986), pp. 319-55.
16. Quoted in ZANU (PF), Rebuilding Zimbabwe. Achievements, Problems, Prospects (Harare: ZANU (PF), 1985), p. 185. For a further elaboration of what may be viewed as the "party line" on education during this period, see F. Chung and E. Ngara, Socialism, Education and Development: A Challenge to Zimbabwe (Harare: Zimbabwe Publishing House, 1985). See also Lionel Cliffe and Colin Stoneman, eds., Zimbabwe: Politics, Economics, and Society (London: Pinter, 1989); K. Hungwe, "A Decade for Science Education in Zimbabwe, 1980-1990: Nationalist Vision and Post-colonial Realities," Curriculum Studies 26, no. 1 (1994): 83-95; and Lemon. A counterview, portraying the Zimbabwean experience as more of a revolutionary process, is contained in R. Zvobgo, "Education and the Challenge of Independence," in Zimbabwe: The Political Economy of Transition, 1980-86, ed. Ibbo Mandaza (Dakar: Council for the Development of Economic and Social Research in Africa, 1986), pp. 319-55.
17. D. Auret, A Decade of Development: Zimbabwe, 1980-1990 (Gweru: Mambo, 1990), p. 19.
18. Expansion at all levels reflected the ZANU (PF) promise to eradicate sexual discrimination. By 1986, 48 percent of students at primary, secondary, and teachers colleges were girls. F. Chung, "Education: Revolution or Reform?" in Zimbabwe's Prospects: Issues of Race, Class, State, and Capital in Southern Africa, ed. C. Stone (London: Macmillan, 1980), p. 127.
19. G. Edwards and C. Tisdell, "Post-independence Trends in Education in Zimbabwe," South African Journal of Economics 58, no. 4 (1990): 476.
20. Lemon, p. 105.
21. T. Nhundu, "A Decade of Educational Expansion in Zimbabwe: Causes, Consequences, and Policy Contradictions," Journal of Negro Education 61, no. 1 (1992): 86.
22. Ota, p. 360.
23. The ZIMFEP schools never became mainstream institutions. Over the years, ideologically committed ex-freedom fighters and refugees became a minority of these schools' populations. With the "normalization" of their student bodies, they became more like the mainstream schools on which they were supposed to have an impact. Education-with-production projects met a similar fate, and disappeared in most schools by the mid-1980s.
24. I participated with parents in such a construction project in the Bondamakara area of Mutoko in 1984, where they raised funds to hire a builder and donated their labor. Work followed a traditional division of labor, with women fetching water forcement and men breaking up small stones with hammers.
25. Ota (n. 9 above), p. 356.
26. For a detailed discussion of ZINTEC and teacher education during the early 1980s, see B. R. S. Chivore, "Teacher Education in Post-independence Zimbabwe: Problems and Possible Solutions," Journal of Education for Teaching 12, no. 3 (1986): 205-29.
27. C. Mackenzie, "Zimbabwe's Educational Miracle and the Problems It Has Created," International Review of Education 34 (1988): 337-53; Nhundu.
28. Linda Chisholm, "A Review of the Year," Wits EPU Quarterly Review of Education and Training 2, no. 4 (1995): 3.
29. V. Govender et al., "Policy Developments and Practical Implementation," Wits EPU Quarterly Review of Education and Training 3, no. 2 (1995): 4.
30. Chisholm, p. 6.
31. This clause, a concession to right-wing Afrikaners, gave everyone the right to "establish, where practicable, educational institutions based on a common culture, language, or religion, provided that there shall be no discrimination on the basis of race." Critics argued that the clause allowed racist whites to set up Afrikaans-medium schools that would effectively exclude blacks on cultural and language grounds, and was therefore contrary to the principle of deracialization, which means removing all criteria based on race.
32. See SASCO (South African Students' Congress), "False Consensus and a Weak State: The Twin Evils of Public Policy-Making and Developmental Governance: SASCO's Critique of the NCHE's Discussion Document" (n.p.: SASCO, 1996). For an account of the criticisms of black academics, see K. Macgregor, "Commission between a Rock and a Hard Place," Sunday Independent Higher Education Review (May 10, 1996).
33. These are but the incidents that were reported in the newspapers. Informal discussions with educational administrators and school principals indicate that a range of disruptive actions frequently occur. Indeed, school boycotts, teacher walkouts, assaults, rape, hostage taking, and property damage are almost normal in many black township schools. While on one level such actions reveal frustration with the educational system, they also reflect the persistence of alienation of the apartheid era. Such deep-rooted sentiments will not diminish until a program of political, social, and economic transformation has taken place.
34. For a discussion of this process, see, among others, M. Tanzer, "Globalising the Economy: The Influence of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank," Monthly Review 47, no. 4 (1995): 1-15. For specific reference to education, see Abby Rubin Riddell, "Globalization: Emasculation or Opportunity for Educational Planning," World Development 24, no. 8 (1996): 1357-72; Joel Samoff, ed . Coping with Crisis: Austerity, Adjustment and Human Resources (London: Cassell, 1994).
35. For a discussion of this process, see, among others, M. Tanzer, "Globalising the Economy: The Influence of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank," Monthly Review 47, no. 4 (1995): 1-15. For specific reference to education, see Abby Rubin Riddell, "Globalization: Emasculation or Opportunity for Educational Planning," World Development 24, no. 8 (1996): 1357-72; Joel Samoff, ed . Coping with Crisis: Austerity, Adjustment and Human Resources (London: Cassell, 1994).
36. For a discussion of this process, see, among others, M. Tanzer, "Globalising the Economy: The Influence of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank," Monthly Review 47, no. 4 (1995): 1-15. For specific reference to education, see Abby Rubin Riddell, "Globalization: Emasculation or Opportunity for Educational Planning," World Development 24, no. 8 (1996): 1357-72; Joel Samoff, ed . Coping with Crisis: Austerity, Adjustment and Human Resources (London: Cassell, 1994).
37. Nigel Harris, The End of the Third World (London: Penguin, 1986).
38. For a critique of this model, see W. Bello and S. Rosenfeld, Dragons in Distress: Asia's Miracle Economy in Crisis (London: Penguin, 1990); Martin Hart-Lansberg, The Rush to Development. Economic Change and Political Struggle in South Korea (New York: Monthly Review, 1993); and Harris.
39. For a critique of this model, see W. Bello and S. Rosenfeld, Dragons in Distress: Asia's Miracle Economy in Crisis (London: Penguin, 1990); Martin Hart-Lansberg, The Rush to Development. Economic Change and Political Struggle in South Korea (New York: Monthly Review, 1993); and Harris.
40. See M. Dawson and J. Bellamy Foster, "Virtual Capitalism: The Political Economy of the Information Superhighway," Monthly Review (July-August 1996), pp. 40-58.
41. For a discussion of the role of the civil service, among other topics of the new dispensation in South Africa, see M. Macdonald, "Power Politics in the New South Africa," Journal of Southern African Studies 22, no. 2 (June 1996): 221-33.
42. African National Congress, The Reconstruction and Development Programme: A Policy Framework (Johannesburg: Umanvano, 1994).
43. Department of Finance, Republic of South Africa, Growth, Employment and Redistribution: A Macroeconomic Strategy (Pretoria: Department of Finance, 1996).
44. Cited in T. C Gwarinda, Socialism and Education (Harare: College Press, 1985), p. 107.
45. For an overview of the education struggles of this period, see S. Randall, "Peoples' Education and 'Nation Building' for a New South Africa," Review of African Political Economy 58 (1993): 43-60; K. Naidoo, "The Politics of Student Resistance in the 1980s," in Nkomo, ed. (n. 10 above), pp. 121-46. Critical analyses of the struggles can be found in N. Alexander, Education and the Struggle (Skotaville, 1990); and G. Kruss, "Peoples' Education: An Examination of the Concept" (University of Western Cape, Cape Town, 1998).
46. For an overview of the education struggles of this period, see S. Randall, "Peoples' Education and 'Nation Building' for a New South Africa," Review of African Political Economy 58 (1993): 43-60; K. Naidoo, "The Politics of Student Resistance in the 1980s," in Nkomo, ed. (n. 10 above), pp. 121-46. Critical analyses of the struggles can be found in N. Alexander, Education and the Struggle (Skotaville, 1990); and G. Kruss, "Peoples' Education: An Examination of the Concept" (University of Western Cape, Cape Town, 1998).
47. For an overview of the education struggles of this period, see S. Randall, "Peoples' Education and 'Nation Building' for a New South Africa," Review of African Political Economy 58 (1993): 43-60; K. Naidoo, "The Politics of Student Resistance in the 1980s," in Nkomo, ed. (n. 10 above), pp. 121-46. Critical analyses of the struggles can be found in N. Alexander, Education and the Struggle (Skotaville, 1990); and G. Kruss, "Peoples' Education: An Examination of the Concept" (University of Western Cape, Cape Town, 1998).
48. For an overview of the education struggles of this period, see S. Randall, "Peoples' Education and 'Nation Building' for a New South Africa," Review of African Political Economy 58 (1993): 43-60; K. Naidoo, "The Politics of Student Resistance in the 1980s," in Nkomo, ed. (n. 10 above), pp. 121-46. Critical analyses of the struggles can be found in N. Alexander, Education and the Struggle (Skotaville, 1990); and G. Kruss, "Peoples' Education: An Examination of the Concept" (University of Western Cape, Cape Town, 1998).
49. Joel Samoff develops this concept in "Chaos and Certainty in Development," World Development, vol. 24, no. 4 (1996), and "The Reconstruction of Schooling in Africa," Comparative Education Review 37, no. 2 (May 1993): 181-222.
50. Joel Samoff develops this concept in "Chaos and Certainty in Development," World Development, vol. 24, no. 4 (1996), and "The Reconstruction of Schooling in Africa," Comparative Education Review 37, no. 2 (May 1993): 181-222.
51. For a provocative alternative view, see Karen Mundy. "Toward a Critical Analysis of Literacy in Southern Africa," Comparative Education Review 37, no. 4 (November 1993): 389-411.
52. Quoted in A. Callinicos, "South Africa after Apartheid," International Socialism (Spring 1996), p. 15.