By DOMINIC NKHUWA –
A MATHS teacher asked his pupils to subtract how many cows a farmer with 10 cows would have if seven were stolen. Such an example is negative because it introduces acquiring material wealth through theft, to the child’s innocent mind.
A positive example would be to ask pupils to calculate how many cows would remain with the farmer if he gives out five of his 10 cows to his son who has none.
The second example doesn’t only teach subtraction but also introduces the values of love and sharing. It is a better example than the first one that introduces stealing.
The anti-Christian Russian Communists realising the impact of education used it negatively during the days of the Union of Soviets Socialist Republics (USSR) to brainwash citizen that God did not exist.
A famous Russian biologist even announced in the Russian media that measles was more common among baptised children than unbaptised ones!
Despite the world making great strides in education, one thing that is clear is that there is something seriously wrong with modern education with its emphasis on the curriculum and not moulding of the person’s character.
The rift in being educated and being civilised or well-behaved seems to be growing bigger all the time.
Western education is being questioned globally for its failure to shape a person’s character calling for intervention to retrain man through human value-based education.
One school that is doing that is Sathya Sai School in Ndola which has infused the values of traditional Africa into its educational system.
The values were pioneered by Sathya Sai Baba who designed and launched this pilot programme in his schools, colleges and institutes of higher learning (Deemed University) in Southern India.
The governments of Indian states decided in 1983 to implement the Sathya Sai Education in Human Values Programme incorporating it into the school system.
This was a major step forward in the teaching of human values in the world’s largest democracy and saw teachers from schools in Africa, USA, Mexico, UK, Thailand, Malaysia, Latin America and Canada copying the ambitious system.
The importance of infusing human values in education is universal since it stresses the importance of character training and academic excellence and complements spiritual and moral education syllabi by putting emphasis on the orientation of teachers who are in a position to transform a school, with the co-operation of parents, into a garden of beautiful flowering values.
Under this system of education, teachers are provided with a variety of teaching methods in value education in the school environment and in all subjects thereby giving them scope to participate in the character training of their pupils.
The human value-based education programme was launched in Africa in August 1986 when “The African Conference on Education in Human Values and Service” was held in Accra Ghana and was attended by teachers from several African countries.
Successive workshops and seminars on human values were subsequently held in Nigeria (two in Lagos and one in Ibadan), Zambia (Ndola). Kenya (Nairobi). Zimbabwe (two in Bulawayo) and South Africa.
The first tangible fruits of these varied activities are evidenced in the Sathya Sai Boys’ School (Primary and Secondary in Ndola).
This was followed by a full Girls school from Grade 1 to 12 in 1997. It is a model school in Africa from which, it is hoped, others may benefit.
The pioneer of the system in Zambia are the late Victor Krishna Kanu and his wife Genovieve.
Dr Kanu received his BA and MA at the Honour School of Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Oxford University and served as Sierra Leone’s High Commissioner/Ambassador to the UK with further accreditation to Norway and Sweden.
In 1980 he introduced the SathyaSai Education in the human values model of teaching in England, and after 20 years of working with education authorities in London, he returned to Africa and set up a SathyaSaiSchool in Zambia.
He advised UN-HABITAT as a consultant on Education in Human Values, and was responsible for introducing Human Values-Based Water Education in African Cities, about which he had presented papers during the Special Session of the UN General Assembly (2001) and other international forums.
He served as the Director of The African Institute of SathyaSai Education (TAISSE); The Central Coordinator of Africa, Region 93, and as a member of the Sri SathyaSai World Foundation Education Committee.
As a result of this approach, Sathya Sai School in Ndola has become what Munali Secondary school (the first secondary school in Zambia) was in yesteryears in offering quality learning.
The school that is situated in Pamodzi township in Ndola has been producing excellent results annually becoming what Eton and Rugby schools are in England.
With an advantage of infusing human values to enable pupils advance both spiritually and morally to develop self-confidence and self-respect in teaching, Sathya Sai school that was established in 1992 has achieved tremendous results in the academic world.
Since the late second republican president Frederick Chiluba opened the school in 1998, the school has been visited by several local and foreign dignitaries who have paid glowing tributes to the institution.
The third republican president the late Levy Mwanawasa called the school a wonderful school while Mr Thomas Chibanga, the Copperbelt deputy permanent secretary called Sathya Sai the real home of education.
Foreign dignitaries like the High Commissioner of India Mrs Usha K Attre who visited the school in 2000 said she was impressed by the total commitment and dedication of children and staff, sentiments which were echoed by her successor Y Gupta who commended the school for teaching values, morals and ideals to pupils.
An independent research and report by an independent University of Zambia don, Dr Peter Manchishi hailed the school for shaping pupils who were considered incorrigible into good pupils using the human values approach of teaching.
The genesis of the school in Zambia was initiated by the late Dr Victor Kanu and his wife Genovieve the latter who is the school secretary and trustee.
The couple were in London teaching Sathya Sai Baba’s values and was privileged to meet the late Indian mystic during Gurupoornima festival of July 1989.
After some interaction, the couple asked the mystic what they were supposed to do next since they had been imparting human values in their education for many years.
The mystic known as Swami in India ordered them to sell their house and leave London and establish a school in Zambia and spread the message of love through education.
The Christian couple obliged basing the call on the Biblical verse Luke 18:18-24 ‘ Jesus said to him, ‘ If you want to be perfect, go sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have a treasure in heaven; and come and follow me.’
With the death of her husband, Mrs Kanu has soldiered on with work of offering quality education a crusade that started as an ill-formed idea in London.
The school has extended its human value-based approach to the community by service provision especially in rendering help to the needy in society.
The school celebrated 25 years of existence and offering quality education that has made it stand out among institutions offering education in Zambia.