Teachers are not preachers, says Dokora

PRIMARY and Secondary Education minister Lazarus Dokora yesterday defended the introduction of Muslim and Buddhism studies in the new education curriculum, arguing this would not result in learners being converted to these religions.

Dokora told legislators after a thorough grilling that the idea was to get children to appreciate other religions and understand how they function and exist in the world.

"The responsibility of preaching is for pastors, not for teachers. Pastors are responsible of preaching and converting people to their religions, not my teachers," Dokora said.

"You are responsible for taking your kids to church. You are responsible for converting them to different religions, not my teachers, they are teachers, not preachers."

Dokora's deputy Paul Mavhima weighed in, saying: "Just like we teach different cultures, we are also teaching different religions so that our children can understand different religions without asking them to convert to any other religion because we are not pastors."

Speaker of Parliament Jacob Mudenda urged Parliamentarians to organise fundraising projects in areas that they represent and channel the resources to educational development.

"Teachers must have a good attitude and should be able to teach children in their local languages so that they can understand. As MPs, I also urge you to do fundraising programmes to assist school development committees and the ministry. You should also attend open days for your schools so that you can appreciate the nature of challenges that they have," Mudenda said.

Dokora has come under fire over allegations he wanted to clandestinely have Zimbabwe declared a Muslim State with even President Robert Mugabe revealing he had quizzed the Cabinet minister over the issue.

Mugabe went further to reveal Dokora now carries the moniker "Ayatollah" after Iran's former supreme leader.

The Education minister has consistently argued that his plan is to align Zimbabwe's education system with contemporary global trends.