2.3 Historical and policy context of VET provision in Zimbabwe
2.3.2 Colonial VET in Zimbabwe
Britain colonised Zimbabwe as part of the general partition of Africa following the 1884-5 Berlin Conference (Ndlovu-Gatsheni, 2015). Colonisation meant the introduction of colonial education that was informed by British education policies. The earliest attempts at establishing a VET policy in colonial Zimbabwe was the Master and Servant Act of 1891 followed by the Education Ordinance of 1899 (Zengeya, 2007). While the Master and Servant Act stipulated conditions for
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apprenticeship training, the Education Ordinance specified the need for industrial training and laid the foundation for teaching low level skills along racial lines. The Education Ordinance of 1891 set up two separate systems of education for whites and blacks, just nine years after the occupation of Rhodesia. Education for Africans was offered exclusively by missionary churches with minimum government support through grants. The curriculum for African students was purely vocational with half the time allocated to industrial training (Siyakwazi, 2014). The purpose of this curriculum was to make Africans manual workers in the fields of building, carpentry, bricklaying and agriculture and thus prevent them from competing for ‘white jobs’(Mandiudza, 2015; Zvobgo, 1994). African education designed by the colonial government was therefore meant to produce workers who would operate at the fringes of the capitalist system as well as keep the majority of Africans in the rural economy. However, missionaries had a different goal to that of the colonial government. The education that missionaries provided to Africans sought to empower them with knowledge and skills to improve their livelihoods (Dorsey, 1989; Thondhlana, 2018).
The earliest attempt to establish vocational schools in colonial Zimbabwe was through the Jeanes schools. The Jeanes schools in Africa were introduced in 1924 as an initiative to encourage growth of the sector as a result of the Phelps Stokes Commission. Several Jeanes schools were opened in African countries including Kenya, Nyasaland, and Northern and Southern Rhodesia(Brown, 1964). In the then Southern Rhodesia, two Jeanes schools were opened at Domboshawa and Hope Fountain. Training for men in the Jeanes schools focused on agriculture (both crop production and animal husbandry), building and woodwork. Women (in most cases wives of Jeanes students) were also trained in Jeanes schools. They were known as home demonstrators. These women were trained in personal and community hygiene and first aid. The training had both theoretical and practical components needed by all Jeanes students (Brown, 1964).
The vocationalisation agenda dominated debates on curriculum in colonial Zimbabwe. This is evidenced by the several commissions of inquiry set to investigate ways of vocationalising the school curriculum (Mandiudza, Chindedza, & Makaye, 2013).The commissions set up by the colonial administrations include the Frank Tate Commission of 1929, the Fox Commission of
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1935, the Kerr Commission of 1952, the Judges Commission of 1962 (Mandiudza et al., 2013).
The Judges Commission made recommendations that led to the introduction of different technical and vocational education curricula for blacks and whites (Mandiudza, 2015; Nherera, 1994). The Judges commission contributed to the transformation of VET in Zimbabwe. This signaled the start of a practical/vocational curriculum for blacks in the F2 system running parallel to the prestigious F1 ‘academic’ system for whites. The F2 system was introduced under the 1966 Education Plan with a heavy bias towards practical subjects for Africans(Ndebele, 2014).
The curriculum in the F2 schools was not meant to lead to further education. Just like general education, VET in colonial Zimbabwe was racialised. Industrial education (for elementary skills whereas specialist skills were left for whites) was the main focus. Not much progress was made in this sector, however, because of serious under funding (Zvobgo, 1994).
Colonial VET in Zimbabwe was racialised in order to prepare European children for superior positions in industry compared to their black counterparts. The policy ensured that the Africans would not compete with the Europeans for employment (Reinhart & Rogoff, 2010). There existed separate education systems whereby African education was the responsibility of the Ministry of Native Affairs and later the Department of African Education. Kanyenze, Kondo, Chitambira, and Martens (2011) note that a dual system of education existed; one for blacks and the other for whites. The VET sector in pre-independence Zimbabwe operated in the same framework with that of the ‘general’ education sector which was dualised on the basis of race.
There were two separate systems of VET. Whites had the superior system while the blacks had an inferior one. The major motivation for that distinction was to avoid at all costs a situation whereby blacks would compete for jobs with their white counterparts (Kanyenze et al., 2011).
Little investment was made in the area of VET, especially for blacks. Vocational education in colonial Rhodesia was highly stigmatised as inferior to academic education. This label still persists in post-independence Zimbabwe. VET provision for the Europeans (including Coloureds and Indians) was offered in two forms, either as industry-based apprenticeship which took about five years to complete, or institution-based VET offered in schools at secondary school level and credited by professional bodies registered in South Africa and the United Kingdom (Katsande, 2016; Munetsi, 1996).
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