THE following news item appeared on the front page of THE DAILY NEWS on Wednesday, October 12th, 2022:-
“As part of the efforts to fulfill Mwalimu (Julius) Nyerere’s vision on education for self-reliance, the government is mulling over reviewing the education curricula, towards obtaining skilled and competent graduates who can contribute in the socio-economic development of the country”.
The said item quotes the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, Dr Francis Michael, as having said that “time has come for the country to shift from creating graduates who are only job-seekers, to skilled and competent individuals; which is a fulfillment of the late Mwalimu Nyerere’s vision in promoting its socio-economic development.”
Nyerere’s vision on education for self-reliance.
Mwalimu Nyerere’s vision on ‘education for self-reliance’ was first given expression in the TANU’s policy document titled “The Arusha Declaration on Socialism and Self-reliance”, which was promulgated on 5th February, 1967. This was during the first decade of the country’s independence, which has been characterized as the ‘period of vibrancy’; in terms of ‘resolution, action, and bold attempts at innovation’
In the present day political environment, the Arusha Declaration’s policy of Ujamaa is hardly ever mentioned; and, as a consequence thereof, it is very little remembered, or perhaps not at all! It is therefore most refreshing, that the Ministry has decided to pay new attention to one of the important aspects of the Arusha Declaration, namely, the genesis of this philosophy, or concept, of ‘Education for Self-Reliance’.
Mwalimu Nyerere’s philosophies, ideas, and/or theories, were not simply impromptu pronouncements made by the Head of State and Government. They were the result of his deep personal beliefs and convictions. It has been said that people are more the products, rather than the creators, of history. Nyerere must, presumably, have thought and acted the way he did, essentially because of, or in reference to, the historical circumstances of his time during that “period of vibrancy” mentioned above. For example, the speed with which the events occurred was indicative of how the wrongs wrought by colonialism were to be corrected in a demonstrable hurr Indeed, the government Three-Year Development Plan (1961 – 4), which was put in place immediately after the achievement of the country’s independence, recorded no less than six practical decisions affecting the Education sector alone. They included :- The racial integration of the school system; the rapid expansion of Secondary education, by establishing more schools and increasing student enrolment; the expansion of teacher teaching programmes; and the termination of parent payable school fees; among others.
These were Mwalimu Nyerere’s initial tasks after the achievement of independence; which centered primarily on “building a new country which is distinctly different from that which we inherited from the colonialist”. The tasks involved , were, of course, were very many, varied, and extensive. He therefore had to decide on the priorities, on the basis of which these all important tasks were to be implemented. The education sector was one of the areas that were given high priority.
The development of Mwalimu Nyerere’s ideas, or philosophy
The fact that this major policy was formulated by the ruling party TANU, rather than by the government , is a manifest demonstration of President Nyerere’s unique leadership style; one of whose prominent characteristics was his inclination to use the ruling party platforms for making all major policy decisions. But he used these platform only as a vehicle for conveying his ideas to the public; for he was always the initiator of the ideas that required decision. He utilized his vast intellectual capacity to do all the initial thinking on the relevant issues; and then used his rare ‘power of persuasion’, to convince his colleagues (or the majority thereof), in the meetings of the relevant party organs, to accept his ideas.
And this is precisely what also happened also in relation to the Arusha Declaration policies. The party’s policy-making Organ was, and still is, the National Executive Committee (NEC); which consists of elected representatives of the ordinary members of the party. He had earlier made use of this NEC platform, in the making of the major constitutional reforms and development, first from ‘Dominion’ status to the ‘Republican’ Constitution in 1962; and again from the ‘Multi – party’ to the ‘single party’ constitution in 1963.
However, the adoption of the Arusha Declaration Ujamaa policy was not an easy ride; because there were some among the delegates to that particular NEC meeting, who had their personal doubts about Ujamaa’s efficacy; and these included the party’s Secretay General himself, Oscar Kambona; who, only a few moths later, fled the country in disgust, and went to live in exile in London. These initial difficulties must have contributed to the subsequent failure in implementing this Ujamaa policy.
It must be honestly admitted, that the Ujamaa component of the Arusha Declaration eventually ended in what Kenyan’ Professor Ali Mazrui protectively described as a “brave failure”. But it still was a failure. However, since the ‘Ujamaa’ doctrine is a distinctly separate component of the Arusha Decraation; it deserves a separate presentation, in order for it to be given its deserved proper treatment. Thus, in this presentation, we will focus only on the ‘Education for self-reliance’ aspect of the Arusha Declaration.
The aspect of ‘Eduation for Self-Reliance’.
The general topic of ‘Self-Reliance’ is, in fact, what occupies the largest part of the Arusha Declaration policy document, of which the aspect of ‘Education for Self Reliance’ is only a subtopic. Mwalimu Nyerere himself found time to write and publish a book bearing that title (Government Printer, Dar es Salaam, 1967). In that publication, Mwalimu says the following :- “Our education must inculcate a sense of commitment to the total community, and help the students to accept the values that are appropriate to our future, and not to our colonial past”.
By this, he meant that our education must be consistent with, and complementary to, the ambitions of a society aspiring to a socialist mode of existence, characterized by respect for human dignity, equality, participation in cooperative endeavours, and, above all, commitment to hard, productive work. In his own words, he said this:- “Our schools must become communities that actually practice the precept of self reliance. The teachers , the other school workers, and the students, must be members of a social unit in the same way as the members of an Ujamaa village are expected to be, namely, a social unit consisting of “people who live together and work together, for the benefit of all”. (This was the formal definition of an Ujamaa village).
All schools, but especially secondary schools and other institutions of higher education, must contribute to their own upkeep. In addition to being educational communities, they must also be economic communities. Each school should have, as an integral part of it, a farm which provides the food eaten by the school community, and makes some contribution to the total national income” . This sounds more like a ‘tall story’’ (something that is difficult to believe because what it describes seems exaggerated and not likely to be true). But it was, actually, so scripted; and a handful of Secondary schools did manage to embark on model and manageable farms, or other viable projects; but more often, with direct or indirect high-level official facilitation.
At the Primary education level, the principal actors were the teachers and the pupils themselves in the relevant schools. Virtually all primary schools engaged themselves in economic ‘self-reliance’ activities of one kind or another. In the majority of cases, these were agricultural projects, with pupils occupied in tilling the land, and looking visibly occupied. While the assigned teachers helped in the areas of project conceptualization, project planning and organization. But the pupils were the major role players in the actual project execution.
The implementation of this policy appears to have produced the desired positive results; specifically because the ethos of ‘education for self-reliance’ positively affected many people’s attitudes, as a result of the intensive sensitization that was carried out through the teaching of a new school subject called ‘political education’ , which focused primarily on inculcating the tenets of socialist culture, particularly the obligations which a school has towards the larger community.
Among the practical steps taken in the implementation of the education for self-reliance policy, were a review and revision of the school curricula, syllabuses, and text books; the development and production of new text books; the re-design and expansion of of the evaluation scope concerning pupil progress and promotion.
A lasting, indelible imprint.
Mwalimu Nyerere’s philosophy of ‘Education for Self-Reliance’, remains as an indelible, lasting imprint of his innovative thinking and actions. In his address to the National symposium organized in September 1988 by the Tanzania Professional Teachers Association (CHAKIWATA) to evaluate “Twenty years of Education for Self-Reliance”; Mwalimu Nyerere is on record as having said this:- “except for two typographical errors, he would not change a word in the text of that policy statement, if he were called upon to re-write it”.
The situation at the level of University education.
There were obvious limits to the application of the education for self-reliance policy at the university education level, that were dictated by the ‘Charter’, and philosophy, of University institutions, which spell out the goals for which such institutions are established, and about what they can and cannot do.
The University of Dar es Salaam, in particular, was established for the basic objective of training minds and producing the high-level manpower requirements for the many occupational fields in the national economy. It was very difficult for the University to combine its curricular obligations with such extra-curricular productive activities.
The reality is that University education could not be made genuinely self-reliant, mainly because they lack the essential pedagogical tools that are needed in order to create an effective institution capable of contributing fully to national life, in the context of the ‘Education for Self-reliance’ policy. His earlier writings, which were produced even long before independence, such as his ‘Uhuru wa Wanawake’ essay (which he wrote while he was a student at Makerere); and his other essay titled ‘African Socialism’, which he submitted to the Tanganyika Standard; give us the impression that he was already developing what was to become his vision for the country after independence.
It would appear that Mwalimu Nyerere was developing a “rallying system” of ideas, or ideology, which would give meaning to the nationalist struggle for independence; as well as giving a ‘sense of purpose and direction’ for the new independent nation. It is these philosophical ideas which he concretized in the document titled “ Arusha Declaration, TANU’s policy ion socialism and Self- Reliance ”, which provides minute details on TANU’s pathfinder policy on socialism and Self-reliance. ‘Education for self-reliance’ is an aspect of that policy; which we have chosen as the subject matter of today’s presentation.
But there is also a negative side, which is that many of the schools implemented these projects haphazardly. As a result, their ‘self-reliance’ activities remained largely marginal, extra-curricular digressions; commanding no professional respectability, or academic recognition within the overall educational system, which continued to respond to the immediate demands of school tests and examinations, before anything else.
piomsekwa@gmail.com / 0754767576.
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