Citizenship education and its relevance to Zimbabwe

Authors

  • Patrick Sibanda Open University, Zimbabwe

Keywords:

Citizenship, Education, Citizenship education

Abstract

Informal education systems in the traditional African systems were aimed at, among other things, passing on cultural values, norms and knowledge skills from one generation to the next. In addition, the youth were taught to preserve their cultural identity. Owing to fundamental shifts in classical family systems and educational practices in Africa, countries such as Zimbabwe have come to recognise the need for including societal values and norms, ethics, morals and responsibilities in thewhole school curricula in order to inculcate value systems and maintain the national legacy and cultural heritage. One strategy for achieving the desired cultural ethos is implementing a deliberate Citizenship Education programme which should be incorporated into the formal education system. Citizenship Education could also be inculcated through extra curricula activities such as sport.Besides the transmission of the cultural norms and values, Citizenship Education should incorporate humanitarian issues such as inclusion of people with disabilities in social processes. In the same vein, the Citizenship Education programme should be flexible to cater for the needs of learners with special needs. This paper explores the relevance of Citizenship Education to the prevailing Zimbabwean situation. In the long term, Citizenship Education has the capacity to improve the socio-political and economic advancement of a country. The paper concludes that Citizenship Education is relevant to the Zimbabwean situation, despite that it has been heavily politicised and has, in some cases, lost its original intention. In the long term, the programme has a propensity to improve the socio-political and economic conditions of the country. De-politicisation of Citizenship Education could be the first step towards re-aligning it to the intended national ethos and ideals. This should be policy driven.The programme should endeavour to inculcate values and norms that facilitate nation building and should not be used for partisan political orientation.

References

Barker, R.E., 1986. Philosophies in education: An Introductory Course. Harare: College Press.

Channey, D., 1994. The cultural turn: Scene – Setting Essays on Contemporary Social History. London: Routledge.

Cole, M., 2000. Human rights, education and equality.In Cole, M. (Ed.). Educational, Equality and Human Rights: Issues of Gender, Race, Sexuality, Special Needs and Social Class, London: Routledge.

Fenton, E., 1967. The new social studies. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.

Ford, L.E., 2002. Women and politics: The pursuit of equality. New York: Houghton Mifflin Co.

Nziramasanga, C.T., 1999. Report of the presidential commission of inquiry into education and training. Harare: CDU.

Parsons, T., 1977. The Evolution of societies. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall.

Rose, P., 1967. Study of society: An Integration Anthology. New York: Random House.

UNICEF, 1989. Convention on the rights of the child. New York: UNICEF.

Usher, R., Edwards, R., 1994. Post-mordenism and education. London: Routledge.

Valk, M., Cummings, van Dam, H., 2004. Gender, citizenship and governance: A Global Source Book. Amsterdam: KIT Publishers.

Published

2015-10-29

How to Cite

Sibanda, P. . (2015). Citizenship education and its relevance to Zimbabwe. Scientific Journal of Pure and Applied Sciences, 4(10), 180-184. Retrieved from http://sjournals.com/index.php/sjpas/article/view/283

Issue

Section

Social Sciences

Most read articles by the same author(s)

1 2 3 > >>