La distribución de competencias en materia de asistencia y servicios sociales

One boy from the rural school who preferred African tradition and was doing syllabus 2044 claimed that this dimension was good at producing a responsible person. The pupil lamented that African tradition was currently not respected in the school system. He was of the view that Western culture had spoiled the African culture, economy and welfare. He shared what he called a ‘cultural shock.’ According to him, when he went to do holiday tuition at one of the schools near the city, he witnessed a situation where his holiday classmate from the city greeted his father who had gone to visit him by just hitting his shoulder against his father’s and shouting, “Hi dad! What’s up? How is mum?” The boy said he could not believe what he was seeing, especially

79

that the father of that classmate seemed to be at ease with that kind of greeting. “We have lost

respect for elders. We no longer bend when talking to parents!” the boy lamented. When he was

asked what he would do if he had powers to change the syllabus, the boy responded,

I would be happy to include more topics that teach against western culture, unlike now where we learn more about foreign things. I would love Zambian tradition to be emphasised because Africans must abide by African tradition.

The urban pupil, who preferred African tradition, and taking syllabus 2044, explained that he enjoys this dimension because it offers him an opportunity to “learn how my ancestors used to

worship and live and how people in rural areas worship compared to Christianity.”

Of the eleven pupils who saw no need of ATR to be in the syllabuses, there were two pupils who had very strong views against African tradition; a boy from the rural school and a girl from the urban school. Both were taking syllabus 2046. The girl stated:

African tradition is outdated. We do not need it in this modern world. We view most of the practices in African tradition as being against Christian principles, so most of us do not like it. I personally do not like it.

When she was asked if the whole of African tradition was bad, this same girl responded:

Not everything. But they worship ancestors and they also have a lot of practices which are against the Bible; like consulting traditional doctors. Well, it has some advantages like when a person reaches puberty. African tradition is the best in teaching how to become an adult.

Even though the majority of the pupils interviewed claimed they preferred Christianity to African tradition, they, nevertheless, stated that it was necessary that African tradition was included in the syllabus. They gave various reasons some of which are:

In African traditional religion we learn many things like how people in the past trained young girls to live with their husbands and how young men were taught to hunt and how to live with their wives. We also learn a lot of things that are done during leisure time like storytelling, dancing and singing (Girl from a rural school doing syllabus 2044).

African traditional religion teaches us some things which Christianity does not cater for when teaching. It also teaches youths on how to behave and respect

80

elders and to have self-discipline (Girl from rural school doing syllabus 2046).

It helps us to know who we are or to know where we originated from. It can also help us tell people from other continents about our traditions (Boy from urban

school doing syllabus 2046).

From the 24 pupils who were interviewed, 16 wanted African tradition to be taught in senior secondary school RE while 8 said they saw no need for this dimension to be included. Out of the 36 responses obtained from the questionnaire group, 33 wanted African tradition to continue being taught while 3 did not want it.

When the pupils were asked what difficulties, if any, they faced in learning about the African tradition they gave various responses some of which are:

We do not practise what we learn (Girl from urban school doing syllabus 2046).

We do not have enough information about African tradition and we lack books in RE (Boy from rural school doing syllabus 2044).

I have no difficulties. It is clear and straight forward because the things we learn in African tradition are the things that happen nowadays. So it is easy for me to understand (Girl from rural school doing syllabus 2044).

The difficulties are that for you to understand the topic you need explanation from the teacher. Syllabus 2044 needs more explanation, not studying on your own; you cannot understand (Girl from rural school doing syllabus 2044).

It is hard to compare Christianity and African tradition (Boy from urban

school doing syllabus 2046).

African tradition disagrees with Christianity (Boy from urban school doing syllabus 2046).

The ones teaching African tradition are not much specialized because they tend to be Christians, hence they do not know the beliefs of African tradition (Boy from rural school doing syllabus 2046)

Many people do not know what African tradition is all about (Girl from rural school doing Syllabus 2046).

81

I do not face any difficulties. It is only that some activities which were done by our fore fathers have been abolished in some tribes, for example, initiation ceremonies, and going for ‘gobelo’ where men were taught how to handle their families. These days they say technology has taken over these things which they used to do (Boy from rural school doing Syllabus 2044).

African tradition is contrary to the Bible so one can find it hard to decide what to do (Girl from urban school doing Syllabus 2046).

4.6 Views of the RE specialist at CDC on the content of African Tradition Religion in