MDC statement on the proposed curriculum change

THE Government proposed syllabus change which will see foreign languages like Chinese, Swahili, French and Portuguese being compulsory subjects in all government schools is ill-timed and speaks of desperation on the part of the regime.

The proposition is not a discovery and implementing it is not a sign of intelligence or innovation on the part of the minister concerned, consultant and his lieutenants. Zimbabweans have been subjected to several policy experiments since independence most of them totally ill-premised, made out of political expediency and an insatiable desire to maintain power instead of delivery for the good of all. The proposal might sound innovative to those who do not know that is a very old system that obtained before and a few years into independence. But the overzealous and misguided Smith's successor regime bent on experimentation discarded it only to come back to it now after exhausting all the tricks of populist policies pocket. This proposal is basically your F2 system and the ZIMFEP programmes.

The MDC has reservations with foreign languages being made compulsory, especially when the government has done so little to make indigenous languages compulsory in the school curriculum. The irony of it is that this suggestion comes at a time when a majority of indigenous languages in the country face extinction and remain ignored with no clear efforts to make them examinable in our schools. We suggest that these foreign languages be made optional instead.

Furthermore, the constitution provides for the recognition of all languages spoken in this nation state and that the government must promote and advance the use of all languages used in Zimbabwe and create conditions for their development. The MDC believes the importance of language as a carrier and custodian of a people's culture, religion and self-respect cannot be overstated, and introducing local languages in schools is the best way to promote the aforesaid. Stable democracies thrive on a delicate balance of the use and encouragement and respect of the same.

In our view making foreign languages compulsory before satisfactory implementation of the constitutional provision has been accomplished is unwise. Granted that the world is going global and government is in a desperate search for friends all over the world in fruitless efforts to extricate the country from an economic abyss where one has to look up to see the bottom.  One of the miserable efforts would be promising potential investors that we are going to impose their language in our school syllabi. This country has a very strong neck (not sure about the head) which sustains the sudden twists and turns of looking East, West, North and South. What investors are interested in is a stable currency which ensures return on investment.

There are ministries that have failed to function due to fiscal challenges so these project proposals that are made in order to give a semblance of functionality must not be entertained.

Joshua Mhambi
MDC Spokesperson