Speech by Senator David Coltart
Greatness Career Conference
Harare: Celebration Centre 10 February 2011
Ladies and Gentlemen, young men and women,
Thank you, good morning to you all. I don’t know about you but I certainly want to be here this morning. This is not a ‘have to’ meeting for me at all. And I have to say as well that I consider myself incredibly blessed to have been given this opportunity at this time in our nation’s history to have this particular job, and to have the opportunity to be able to influence and help the coming generation. I consider it to be a great privilege. And because of that I am very supportive of this conference designed to explore career opportuntities. I am in fact delighted to be here today. And I want to congratulate Rabison Shumba and his Greatness Trust for organising this event. I think that the organisation of this event shows great vision on the part of Rabison Shumba and the team who support him. Because an event like this is incredibly important for the future of our nation. If this coming generation does not have a clear idea, individually and collectively, about what it needs to do for our nation then our nation is lost because it is true that any nation without a vision is doomed.
It is in my experience that children, the world over, battle with what is arguably one of the most important decisions in their lives – namely when they get to the end of their secondary schooling they battle with this decision of ‘what to do with their lives?’ And it can be incredibly confusing decision making process. There is a certainty that we enjoy in school. In primary school and secondary school we have a definitive path set out for us. We have a lot of assistance from parents and teachers who guide us in the decisions that we have to take and often we don’t have to take any decisions at all because those decisions are just made for us.  But when we get to the end of our secondary school education, we are sometimes confronted with a bewildering array of choices, and there is much confusion as a result. Sometimes we make these critical decisions in our lives based on, for example, romantic notions. I have to tell you friends this morning that although I made a decision to become a lawyer when I was just 14, and I had a very clear understanding that that was what I wanted to do, I didn’t make that decision to become a lawyer with any profound knowledge of what being a lawyer entailed. I made the decision on a romantic notion. My father had 2 friends who played Bridge with him every Friday evening and these 2 men impressed me greatly. Simply because of their character, without knowing anything about what they actually did, I decided I wanted to become a lawyer and that was the basis that formed my decision. Thankfully God took that decision and has used it. But I suspect when we joke about children who want to be firemen and nurses that sadly many children actually make their decisions without any real knowledge about what the career they are embarking on entails. And so that is why conferences like this are so important.
If we move away from the individual to the national collective choices facing  Zimbabwe and if we look at the state of our education sector and the role it plays in this process I think that we can all be proud of the education sector. Although it has been battered in the last 2 decades, what was established in the first decade, post independence, was something our nation could be truly proud of. The tragedy however from a career perspective is that what was built up in the first decade was an education system that was almost exclusively academically orientated. What do I mean by that? It was an education system that focused on academic subjects, such as maths, English and science. But it was exclusive in that focus. So what we found as a nation was that by the late 1980s and 1990s our education system was turning out some 300,000 graduates every year. People who had had a wonderful education – we were turning out that highest percentages per capita  in Africa of Maths and science and English graduates. But tragically our country’s economy only had a capacity to absorb a maximum of  some 30,000 of those 300,000 graduates. In other words our education sector was not preparing the vast majority of our children for what our country had to offer. And to that extent  our education system was deficient. And it was intensely frustrating for the vast majority of children who had worked so hard in primary and secondary school because they found that  when they got the end of their secondary education there were very limited opportunities for them. It was also a shocking waste of national resources. In fact the harsh reality if we consider our education system in Zimbabwe today is that we have developed an education system that has benefited the rest of the world far more that it has benefited Zimbabwe. Because the vast majority of children that have been generated by our magnificent schools, that have been nurtured by our magnificent teachers – and mark my words we have some of the best teachers in the world  in this country – still today –have not remained in Zimbabwe, have not benefited Zimbabwe. They have benefited Wall Street and London and Sydney and Johannesburg and businesses elsewhere in the world, not Zimbabwe. In the last 2 years, and it is almost 2 years to the day since I took over this job, we have been consulting widely in the education sector, with our international partners, with our teachers, with trade unions, with businesses, to understand the nature of problems facing the education ministry and the education sector. In the  last year we made some critical policy decisions to address the problem I have just outlined. I want to discuss two of these policy decisions briefly with you now because they are relevant to this conference – young men and women here today, they are relevant to your future and especially to the future of your younger siblings.
The first is that we realised that we have a lot of work to do regarding our current curriculum. It came as a profound shock to me when I took over as Minister to realise that Zimbabwe’s education curriculum has not been comprehensively reviewed or reformed for over 2 decades. We last comprehensively reviewed  our curriculum in the 1980s. Whilst individual subjects have been changed we haven’t looked at the curriculum holistically for over two decades. And we have now committed ourselves to do that comprehensive review and reform and we have started to put people in place to do that. It is going to take at least 2 years to conduct this exercise. But it is necessary and I on this point want to speak not so much to the young men and women here today but to the teachers, to the business community, to the churches, to every sector of society, to say that we need your assistance as we embark on this exercise. We need to build a curriculum in Zimbabwe which will serve Zimbabwe in future, which will be appropriate to Zimbabwe’s needs in future, a curriculum which is responsive to the needs of Zimbabwe, and important and responsive to the needs and aspirations of our young men and women. And so we are now embarking primarily on a process of consultation. We need your input; we need the input from business, from mining, from agriculture. We need input from the church and leaders such as Pastor Tom, whose words today were profound, and profoundly important for our nation, because our curriculum must look beyond just the technical teaching of Science and Maths and Geography. It needs to look at how we produce the coming generation – including what qualities and standards and aspirations that coming generation believes in. Because as Pastor Tom said today if we do not produce a coming generation that believes in tolerance, in non violence, in respect for fundamental human rights, in respect for all our people, then our nation is doomed. We can produce the finest scientists and mathematicians, but without a soul, without deeply ingrained principle, a nation is doomed. So we need your input, and we need your input young men and women here today. You have experienced our education system in the last 10 years. You know its merits, you know its deficiencies, you know what needs to be changed and we need your input.
The second key policy decision that we have taken is that we need to move away from this focus which concentrates on an academic education. We need to balance our education system. We need to recognise that God has given each person different talents. And whereas some people may be talented in Maths, that is not the only talent. Some people have been given amazing talent by God to use their hands, to create beautiful things. And that is an equal talent to someone who is a great mathematician or orator. Our education system at present does not recognise that. Our education system at present holds up people who are good at Maths and Science and English and geography. But it doesn’t nurture other talents as it should. Our great sports men and women, our great artists, our great carpenters, the people, who perhaps don’t use their mouths, but use their hands. And that is what we have to do to make out education system truly world class. Internationally the country which is recognised objectively as having the best education system in the World is Finland and Finland accords equal status to academic and vocational education. And that is what I aspire to in our nation. We need to ensure, for example, that sport and art should not be seen as mere extracurricular activities. Sport and art should be see as business, as careers for the future. We need to develop our education system to recognise that –  to identify all talent, to nurture it because that is the future of the world. Let me say this young men and women, that Zimbabwe in that regard has a unique advantage, a competitive advantage over so many countries in the world because we have some of the most supremely talented artists;  we have a climate and an attitude in our nation that can develop some of the best sports men and women in the world. And so friends a conference like this is so important because it can play an important role in informing that process of reform that we are embarking upon.
So you may say ‘well that’s the future but that about the present what about us today’. All of you here today are not going to benefit from these future plans, and I want to conclude by speaking to you today regarding matter which are directly relevant to you.
I want to start by asking a fundamental question of each one of you here today – and that is “where are you, in terms of geographical position, where are you going to pursue your career and your life?â€
Tragically, so many of our young men and women think that there is no future in Zimbabwe, and think that to pursue a successful career they will have to go elsewhere. It is a fact that in the last 20 years, tens, possibly hundreds, of thousands of our brightest young men and women have left. I understand why that is. I understand that even the most determined people in the last 20 years may have struggled to stay in Zimbabwe and to get appropriate jobs. But I want to speak to you today as a patriot. As someone who deeply loves this magnificent nation that God has given us. For all its troubles, we need to be reminded that Zimbabwe is a country of enormous opportunity. It is a country with wonderful attributes. In fact those attributes are almost un-rivalled anywhere else in the world, in terms of our natural resources and our climate and our soils and our water, but most importantly our people. This country has lacked one ingredient, one vital ingredient since it was founded over 100 years ago. An ingredient that hasn’t just been missing the last 30 years, it’s an ingredient that has been missing for well over 100 years. That ingredient is democracy. When we instil  democracy in our nation, and by democracy I don’t mean something superficial, I mean something that is deeply felt, deeply rooted, that is democracy not just in our parliament, democracy in our homes. When we start to tolerate each other, respect each other irrespective of gender or race or ethnic background, mark my words – this country is going to boom. And I believe that we are now on the brink of that. You never arrive at democracy because it’s a process, a process that takes decades and centuries to evolve. It’s a bit like childbirth  – it’s painful, and even when a child is born it has a life to live, and there can be a lot of pain in that. But we have been through a great trauma in our nation and I believe that we are now on the cusp of the next stage in our nation’s progression and development. And when that happens, when we get to that next stage, mark my words there will be opportunity not just for all of you here today, but for every child in Zimbabwe. If you think that I am overly optimistic I want to challenge you. Let’s say that I am being openly optimistic – that this future is not as rosy as I would have you believe – and if that’s what you’re thinking then I want to challenge you. One of the verses in the Bible that has guided me very importantly is a verse found in 1 Corinthians 7.  Apostle Paul was writing to people in a very difficult situation, and he wrote the following words. “I would rather you remain in the situation God called you inâ€. That applied 2000 years ago but it has equal application today. In other words, our default as individuals should be to remain in the situation God has placed each one of us in. And as Zimbabweans that default is Zimbabwe. It’s not to say that some of us don’t get called to other nations, but our default should be our nation, come what may. Come trials, come hardship, God has placed us here with particular purpose. And yes we may face trials, but there are other verses that say we are to rejoice in our trials. Why? Because those trials refine us, and if we persevere they make us better people, they make for a better nation. Working through a problem is always better than running away from it. And my experience, friends, young men and women today, is that the most satisfying aspect of any career can be in fact confronting problems and working through them and that applies to us individually and to us all collectively as a nation.
So this is the first point I want to leave you with. As you think about your future career, think of committing yourself to Zimbabwe. Think of a career that is going to be the most appropriate in terms of giving back to your nation.
Secondly, and this follows on from the point I have just made about working through problems rather than running away from them.  I was delighted with that you had to say in this regard Pastor Tom. Tragically many of the decisions that all of us make in choosing a career are dominated by what will result in the most comfort for us as individuals. What job will pay the most; will get the biggest car; the biggest home; the most overseas holidays? Those considerations dominating our decision making process. Indeed our nation has been blighted by what I call the ‘get rich quick’ syndrome. We make our decisions not on what is on the basis of the good of the community, but what selfishly is going to be best for me. And we disregard principle and law -nad the interests of others, and especially the interests of the disadvantaged. And in that regard I want to come to what is in fact my favourite chapter found in Philippians chapter 4. The whole of Philippians chapter 4  is a magnificent piece of writing. But in verse 8 there are the following words: “Fill your minds with those things that are good and deserve praise,  which are true, noble, right, pure and lovely.†I believe that those verses, those principles, need to underpin whatever decision you make regarding the choice of a career. I challenge you to think of a career that will noblely help your nation – that will help your family, your community, not just you.
Finally, if you read on in that same chapter you will see the following words – Paul writes “I have learned to be satisfied with what I have. I have learnt to be content whether I am full or hungry.†Now how does this apply to us? That doesn’t mean to say that we should be complacent and be happy with a second rate job or career. On the contrary we need to strive for excellence. But in striving for excellence, in striving for the best possible career, what we need to understand is that the most important thing in the pursuit of any career path is satisfaction and acceptance of our current position. If we seize every opportunity, no matter what the circumstances, difficult or good, and that in that environment we strive for and achieve contentment, then mark my words,  irrespective of the career you chose, you will know happiness and fulfilment and satisfaction.
I wish you well in this conference, in these forthcoming two days. I hope Rabison, that this becomes an annual event that spreads to benefit not just Harare, but schools and cities throughout our nation. Because I have no doubt that if the coming generation understands not just what their career options are, but also holds to these other principles  we have discussed today, the prosperous future of our nation will then be assured.
Thank you.