Festo Michael Kambarangwe

The Ideal Scholar Festo Michael Kambarangwe

If after 50 years of education GDP growth doesn't echo in improved lives of the average citizen i.e. access to electricity' flowing water' housing' health and education; when a nation remains dependent; when produced scholars aren't productive as employees' or successful as self-employed' and therefore remain unemployed vs. persistent low performances in schools' at workplace' or in Olympics; when preferring quick fix our scholars cease reading after graduation amidst rising rates of school dropouts' corruption' religious sentiments' environmental degradation and poverty as the rich families and nations grow richer but fewer and the masses ground in abject poverty while the country is loaded with natural resources; when outsiders fill senior positions locally and internationally as the natives slave in their own country' certainly there's miseducation in this society an indicator that there's more to mediocrity than lack of resources or degree papers. That's why we have made no significant headways for 50 years now. And we can't make significant headways marshalling meager resources toward many battle lines leaving only overstretched resources directed towards education; education which is itself focused on the mastery of the subject matter e.g. botany' bee-keeping or even rocket-science instead of focusing on the mastery of one's person. Introduction of BRN in Tanzania is an admission that skills-based curriculum has failed. Skills-based education is barren when it pays no attention to the Human Factor i.e. a learner's calling or aspirations' culture and history e.g. colonialism, slave trade and socialism which helped to erode a nation's self- esteem' ambition and industry. This explains why we produce illiterate graduates and educated slaves. It explains why a nation is weeping for ideal scholars! To illustrate the Human Factor: Take two persons or teams and give them same-same tools. One will exceed expectations as another will complain of poor tools; one team will be crowned champions and another will sit at the bottom of the table! Likewise, two companies endowed with equivalent resources in selling similar products or services: One will have a constant flow of loyal' patient customers lining-up in queues like ants willing to pay top dollar for its products or services, while next door products decay on the shelves from lack of customers. Take two graduates of finance or economics; give them a million dollar each. One will make a fortune as the million dollar' like water' will' in a twinkling of an eye, filter through the fingers of another fellow! Interesting' isn't it? This illustrates the individual person' school' organization or a nation often makes use of only a small fraction of its physical and mental resources' living far within one's limits. It illustrates we possess a variety of powers which we ordinarily fail to use. This is the handicap of our education, the gap the conventional education has failed to fill. This, Sir, is the gap we fill! This, Madam, is the difference we make.