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Tendai Rupapa-Senior Reporter

TEACHERS for Economic Development, drawn from the country’s 10 provinces, last week invited First Lady Dr Auxillia Mnangagwa to their workshop in Gweru where she had a heart-to-heart interactive session with them, dwelling largely on the need to respect Zimbabwe’s history and work for economic development.

The workshop, which was presided over by Chitepo School of Ideology officials, sought to integrate teachers into the mainstream economy through ideological orientation. 

Amai Mnangagwa praised the teachers for combining their teaching experience with the country’s history to make them wholesome people.

Chitepo School of Ideology principal Cde Munyaradzi Machacha and Teachers for Economic Development national chairperson Cde Amon Chiwocha made presentations at the capacitation workshop, which brought together teachers who are already working and those that recently graduated.

Amai Mnangagwa, who is also a graduate of the Chitepo School of Ideology after receiving thorough training, said the Chitepo School of Ideology was not advancing the Zanu PF’s agenda, but national consciousness which benefits all citizens.

She shared her experiences at the school saying she learnt a lot about the country’s history. 

The First Lady, herself a champion of economic empowerment, expressed willingness to start various income generating projects with female teachers in all the provinces.

“I wish to thank you very much for the decision you made as teachers from our 10 provinces to learn and get an understanding of our rich history. 

“If you follow the teachings you are receiving from the Chitepo School of Ideology, these are teachings which have some people behind them. At one point I visited Mozambique where many of our children perished. 

“There is a great history in Chimoio which is connected to what you are being taught at Chitepo School of Ideology. The first thing is to know the history of your nation. If you do this, you then choose where you fit. This is the history you are being taught today. 

“Moving, staying and working with someone who is ideologically conscious is good because they do not want much, they do not ask much, they do not suffer a lot because their brains were removed from that place and made to move in a certain area. 

“It won’t be nice for you to be taught your history in your country by foreigners because they will miss a lot and distort information.

“You have shown me that you do not want to be lied to, but want to know for yourselves and see for yourselves and live with it in your own country with a rich history. It is important for all age groups to learn and understand our history through the Chitepo School of Ideology. 

“The school is not about Zanu PF, but the history of the country. This country was fought for and many of our children were lost in the war and if they were the ones in the country today we would not witness the challenges we see today that we cannot talk about because they are shameful.

“People should know where they came from, where they are and where they are going. If we say true our people perished there, we now want to know whether we appreciate what they went there for and failed to come back. 

“Do we understand this, do we like this and are we living in it? Teachers, we all came from you, I also came from you teachers, therefore, we thank you and respect you. In teaching you meet those willing to learn, those with the zeal to learn and the naughty ones who do not want to learn, but you teach and keep counselling them because you have a passion to give people dignity through education.

“As teachers you learnt how to teach and came to acquire the history of your nation. When teaching, you are teaching the children of this nation who also need to know where they came from. The aim of this workshop is to build a complete person. A complete person has education and the history and Ubuntu,” she said to applause.

Dr Mnangagwa praised the teachers for their zeal to understand where they are going and where they are coming from through the country’s history.

Teachers for Economic Development sing and dance during their interaction with First Lady Dr Auxillia Mnangagwa in Gweru last week. – Pictures: John Manzongo.

“Education does not end and has no age. You came here to acquire more knowledge to add to the construction of a complete person who is dignified,” she said.

She shared her experiences at Chimoio when she once visited the place.

“There is a way you are welcomed there at the shrines showing there are people but you do not see them. If you arrive at the place ill-prepared you end up not understanding why you are at the place.

“I am talking of my personal experience, not what I heard. If it were possible we would take a few of you from each province to visit the shrine so that you see the situation there and fully cover the teachings from Chitepo Ideology. The teachings require to be covered by a visit there. It’s our history. You also need to go there,” she said.

Dr Mnangagwa implored female teachers to form groups in their provinces so that she initiates various income generating projects for them.

Cde Machacha expressed gratitude to Dr Mnangagwa for her efforts to mentor young men and women who are culturally grounded, patriotic and have the right skills to manage their homes and at the same time taking up leading positions in the workplace while displaying high level of professionalism and competency.

“You are grooming young women who will build a strong Brand Zimbabwe. You have already rolled out programmes targeting women in general and the girl child in particular through Angel of Hope Foundation. 

“The Gota/Nhanga/Ixhiba Programme has been widely received across the country and is impacting in a big way on the lives of the girl and boy child by teaching them life skills that are based on our culture and traditions. 

“You have helped a number of disadvantaged children to go to school and to be productive by training them in various skills such as detergent-making, agricultural production, sewing, etc. 

“These young teachers too look up to you, Your Excellency, as their model. They are anxious to be part and parcel of the programmes that Angel of Hope Foundation is implementing countrywide. 

“Your coming here to meet these young teachers is a never to be forgotten experience which I hope is going to create amongst them and influence them in a very big way so that they can play a positive role in the communities where they come from. 

“We thank you for giving us this opportunity to receive your wise counsel and encouragement. I cannot close without indicating to you some of the hidden talent and potential leadership that is amongst these young people. 

“When we started training teachers two years ago and later on forming teachers for economic development there are people who pioneered that process. These include the current chairman Cde Chiwocha, the secretary-general Matsekeza and a young woman called Mberi. 

“The teachers refer to her as Mr Mberi because of her hard work and never say die spirit. As a school, it’s part of our duty to identify talent and channel such talent in the right direction.” 

“We are therefore, Your Excellency, recommending this young woman to your Foundation for further mentoring and development. We believe in the future she can become one of the good examples that have come out of this effort,” he said.

Cde Chiwocha said nobody had been coerced to join the school but they all came out of their own will and zeal to learn.

Teachers for ED chant slogans during their workshop organised by Chitepo School of Ideology in Gweru last week.

“Your Excellency, we are happy to be with you here, being given this privilege to explain to you the reason behind having this teachers’ development workshop. So far we have inducted 13 000 teachers minus these ones here today. We have not yet included them in our statistics because the training is not yet over. 

“After this session, we will be saying 13 000 plus this number. Our numbers are increasing because we said we want to show that we are never going to wait for anything to stop us. We will push to ensure our plans go out as expected. 

“We have a total of 859 teachers with 200 males and 659 females who are present today. Our objective as teachers for economic development is to impart knowledge and skills to teachers. We want to show them their importance in society. A teacher who was given orientation, and goes to work is not a challenge at work. 

“They would be taught and focused. If someone tries to disturb them they say I know where I am headed. I say congratulations to my fellow teachers you have entered the correct pot. 

“We started this to contribute towards the economic development of Zimbabwe, including social policies to synchronise with the present vision in the education sector and support efforts to empower Zimbabweans. We are also here to conduct teacher orientation of all willing teachers regardless of age and where they come from, to build patriotic and conscious teachers who will be positive to national programmes in line with activities in schools following our Education 5.0 programme,” he said.