Understand the Grand Plan First, Before Anything Else

By Ndaba Sibanda

ECD materials resonate with the play
and learn approach and one’s culture.
She finds tongue twisters like Peter Piper fun.

Her name is associated with a cute cultural
tongue twister too. It goes like: qum’ qethu
gecu qethu … But her teacher cannot articulate it!

She wants to find out yet her grandad merely says:
suppose it’s year 1979 and some odd chaps come up
with their old grand plan. Plan too. Chart your way out.
This isn’t just a plan, but a grand one. An imposing one.

What’s granddad saying?
She tries to process this,
to figure out what he means.
Her name is Qethu,
but her birth certificate
bears a misnomer: Qhethu.

Early Childhood Development
(ECD) curriculum in Zimbabwe
is offered to children from the age
of three to five years. 3 to 5 years.

The country has a national ECD
policy that makes it compulsory
for primary schools to offer
a minimum of two ECD classes
for kids aged between 3 and 5.

Education is a basic right. Qethu
wants to be a well-grounded learner
who will contribute to the development
of her family, community, country and continent.
Qethu has a lot of questions. Unanswered ones.

Isn’t that the kernel and thrust of ECD?
To produce learners who are skilled enough
to contribute meaningfully to the development
of the country while leading a fulfilling and happy
life?

Does Qethu lead a fulfilling and happy life?
Her parents want her to access high-quality,
right and relevant education that reinforces
the cultural, social, economic and democratic
growth of her country. ECD materials should
be in sync with the play and learn approach
and the culture of the kids.

ECD should be a matrix and a program of action
that breathes capacity building, education sector
financing, accountable management, efficient resource
utilization, quality service delivery, research and analysis.
After all, the five key pillars of the curriculum are: the legal
and regulatory framework, teacher capacity development,
teacher professional standards, infrastructure development,
and research and innovation. Qethu is too young to grasp all this.

However, she understands that this is a curriculum whose aim
is to cherish or treasure her identity, her ideals and principles
and prepare her for life and work. She wants to sustain her life,
and to contribute to the growth of her village. Don’t they say:
quality early childhood education generates a positive learning
sequence? At the centre of learning and teaching is the learner.
Qethu. Not the teacher. Qethu is the focal point. Qethu means grass.
This gets one thinking of the proverb: If two bulls fight, the grass suffers.
Of course, some powerful bulls are too arrogant to empathize. Sad reality.

If the ECD curriculum seeks to promote learners who are learning
successfully while leading a fulfilling and happy life, then Qethu
is not one of them. Qethu, might be young but she is observant
and inquisitive. She has been overloaded with question marks.

Why is uncle Ntandane unemployed yet he’s a qualified teacher?
Why was my name misspelled? Qhethu is not me! I’m being destroyed.
I’m being disrespected. Who wrote it like this? Obviously, that person
is either not familiar with such names or couldn’t care less, or both.
I am constantly bullied by that fact. Is that fair, mum? Miss knows.
I told Miss that. She doesn’t only misspell it, she also mangles
it always and in a manner that makes me flinch like I’m being sliced.

Image by Freepik