RUN OR YOU WILL DIE – by Azgard Steven

A death is a death, whether you die or get killed. More than 85% of the world population die before 80, very few people reach 90 and very very few people cross 100. This makes the fact that more than 85% of human population is getting killed; whether by their fellow humans, predators, drivers, nature, germs; but they are killed. If there are killers to be sentenced in the International Court of Justice are bacteria, viruses, plasmodium and their cousins and uncles. Sorry this is just a mere argument, don't take it seriously.

Today the world has a population of more than seven billion people; more than 1.4 billion being Chinese, more than 1.2 billion being Indians, more than 300 million Americans (United States) and more than 150 million being Nigerians. Countries are having a battle on the earth resource to feed their population; no one is at sleep because there is no time for that.

Development is a song to every human being on earth, everyone wants development. People are electing their leaders in the name of development. If you are a politician and you don’t mention the word development in your campaigns, you will never get the chair, it doesn’t matter you are in United States or Somalia.

The world today have divided itself in three categories; the first world, the second world and the third world. The first world and third world are the most popular today due to the fall of communism. All these categories are the result of the level of development; meaning the developed are termed the first world and the underdeveloped categorized in the third world. Development creates the gap between the first and third world.

When the third world countries are pulling themselves to go to the first category, the first world countries are not asleep but keeping moving far and far more. The astonishing phenomenon is that the first world countries are faster than the third world in this race. As a result, majority third world countries end up saying, “we cannot run, we will never catch them”. This is bad for the third world because it erases all the hopes and as a result it creates such fades like corruption, poor control, insecurity, lack of confidence and homicide. Hence the race is becoming more and tenser for the third world.

Every morning in Africa a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed.

Every morning a lion wakes up. It knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death.

It doesn’t matter whether you are a lion or a gazelle; when the sun comes up, you better start running!

Tanzania cannot be safe by watching Western running, it will never be safe. Tanzania should run, and run faster than the first world. Africa has a long way to go, and it must start the journey sooner because it is too late. Industrialization, globalization, civilization, urbanization, commercialization, integration and internationalization are all the tasks ahead of Tanzanian stakeholders being leaders, businessmen, citizens, officials, intellectuals, institutions, politicians and everyone in place to roll the rim. This is very important because whether we like or not, we must run or die. For us we don’t have to wait for the sun to rise, we have to run day and night. Our race is longer than theirs, our responsibilities are many than theirs.

Let everyone wherever he/she is do his/her job, let everyone do something to step somewhere along this run. We need to go somewhere, I hope we have a dream and we have a life we desire to live. We can live that life, we can realize our dream.

We can have good hospitals, good school, better roads, security cameras for security of our citizens, enough food in our stores; we can have better houses, good offices, good communication infrastructure, marine security, sustainable power supply; we can have enough water at our homes, and we can have our dream realized.

This is what we can accomplish if together we aim, mobilize, focus and act upon. We have every resource to do so. We have human resource from unskilled, semiskilled and skilled; we have land which only 39% is used and the rest unused; we have access to every technology in the world, if United Kingdom refuse to sell to us China will, if China refuse Japan will, they must sell to us and invest in our country because we are at peace with them; we have rivers to provide water to our rural and urban, Hydroelectric power and fish to our citizens; we have ocean to unite us to the world, lakes to unite us to the interior Africa; we have minerals to rise our national reserve; we have National Parks, Mountains, Valleys, Craters, forests, to attract tourists; we have colleges and universities to produce our human resources; we have everything. Hence we have every reason to join the race, we have no excuse. We make the best use of our resources, we can realize our dream. What we need is a collective effort, to mobilize our people, to employ our sons and daughters, to organize our resources, to allocate them bravely, and establish a good control system; surely we will make our dream a reality.

Ghana had a better wireless network than United States in 2007; India (partly a third world country) is good at software writing than United States, we can be better if we want to be so. Brazil was the third world country in 1990s, but she is moving to the first world with supersonic speed and no one can stop her; likewise Venezuela.

Development is a market today. A poor cannot buy a Samsung Galaxy notepad or a Dell laptop computer. Poor cannot but pizza at Shoprite, a poor cannot shop a book online. So development of a country is of interest to everyone in the world because the world is in need of market, human resource, security and integration. A poor country has limited market, limited human resource, limited or no security, and weak power to integrate. China is occupied, India is getting denser, but Africa is underdeveloped. This suggests that there is every force that pushes Africa to develop because its development is important to the international community. Everyone outside Africa wants Africa to develop, and to develop faster than a speed of light. This is an opportunity for Africa, it is an opportunity at the right time, let’s get out and start running, faster than the fastest lion. Y2K was a threat to America and Western, but it was an opportunity to India. Y2K liberated India and since then India never looked behind.

Time is up; let us get back to work. The Executive, the Legislature, the Judiciary, the local government, businesses, social communities, and citizens; let’s pull up our socks and get moving. We can do this, we can live our dream.

From: http://sirazgardsite.blogspot.com/

KWA ELIMU HII TUTAFIKA? - Alexander Mtweve

Kama kuna kitu ambacho kinaweza kuonesha mwelekeo wa taifa lolote duniani kimaendeleo kwa miaka kadhaa ijayo, basi ni mfumo wake wa elimu.
Nchi nyingi ambazo kwa sasa zinafurahia maendeleo ya kiuchumi na kiviwanda n

i matokeo ya uwekezaji mzuri uliofanyika hapo awali katika elimu, na suala linakuja siyo tu elimu, bali elimu bora ikiwa na mfumo unaochochea ukuzaji wa vipaji na uwezo wa wanafunzi.
Kwa upande wa nchi nyingi za kiafrika ambazo zimerithi mfumo wa elimu kutoka kwa watawala wetu wa kikoloni, suala la kuwa na mfumo mzuri wa elimu bado ni ndoto, kwani mfumo uliopo umewekezwa kwenye itikadi ileile ya kuwalisha watoto matango pori.
Ninachokimaanisha hapa ni kuwa, mwanzoni wakoloni waliwapa elimu waafrika wachache ili waweze kuwasaidia katika shughuli zao za kiutawala na kuendesha uchumi wa kikoloni, cha ajabu ni kuwa hata baada ya kupata uhuru nchi nyingi za kiafrika zimesalia kuutegemea mfumo ambao muda wake umekwisha.
Siyo kitu cha ajabu kumsikia mzazi akimwambia mwanae “soma kwa bidii mwanangu ili uje kupata ajira nzuri utusaidie sisi wazazi wako”. Jambo hili linajengeka kichwani mwa mtoto na kuona kuwa njia pekee ya kupata ajira/maisha mazuri ni kusoma kwa bidii. Sisemi kuwa kusoma kwa bidii ni kitu kibaya, ila unajua mwanao anasoma nini?
Nakumbuka wakati ninsoma shule ya msingi kulikuwa na masomo mengi ambayo mwisho wa siku huunganishwa kwenye mitihani mitatu (Hisabati, Maarifa na Lugha). Katika masomo haya kila mtu alikuwa na kiwango cha aina yake cha ufaulu, kila mmoja alikuwa na uwezo tofauti kulingana na somo.
Kwa upande wangu lugha ndilo lilikuwa somo nililoliweza zaidi, japo katika masomo mengine pia nilifaulu vizuri na kufanikiwa kujiunga sekondari. Huku sasa nikajikuta niko katika dunia nyingine tofauti kabisa!
Ile staili ya kufundishwa ya shule ya msingi ikawa ni kama imegeuzwa juu chini. Mchakamchaka wa kufundishwa ambao sikuuzoea shule ya msingi nikakutana nao sekondari na hakuna njia nyingine isipokuwa kuendana na mazingira.
Ile habari ya kupata hesabu 45 kati ya 50 haikuwepo tena! Maswali ya nchi gani inaongoza duniani kwa uzalishaji wa motokaa (enzi hizo tuliambiwa ni Ujerumani, japo kwa sasa najua ni Japani isijekuwa wanafundishwa ni Ujerumani bado!) sekondari haikuwepo tena.
Kwa kifupi mambo yalikuwa yamebadilika mno, isipokuwa kitu kimoja tu: “fundisha ya bora liende” au “ndivyo mtaala unavyosema”. Katika hili kwa kweli sina sababu ya kuwalaumu walimu, kwani wao wanafundisha kulingana na mtaala wa elimu unavyosema, japo walimu wachache wajanja walitupenyezea ujuzi wao wa ziada juu ya mambo muhimu nje ya mtaala.
Kwa jinsi mabo yalivyokuwa yakienda nikapata wasiwasi kama kile ninachokitarajia (maisha mazuri) nitakipata kweli. Ukweli ni kwamba sikuwa na malengo maalumu juu ya nini hasa ninataka kuja kukifanya maishani ili kujisikia kwamba nina maisha mazuri. Kuna wakati nilikuwa na ndoto ya kuwa rubani, raisi, mbunge, mfanyabiashara na kila aina ya ndoto.
Sikuwahi katika kipindi hicho kujua ni kwa jinsi gani ninaweza kuunganisha kusoma kwa bidii nilikoambiwa na kupata ajira na maisha mazuri. Nilisikia rafiki zangu wakilalamika (hasa wanaopenda sayansi) kuwa hawakuwa wakisoma sayansi, bali historia ya sayansi. Japo sikuelewa kiundani sana, ila nilijua matarajio yao hayakufikiwa.
Vitabu vilivyokuwa vikitumika kufundishia masomo ya sayansi ni vya zamani kiasi cha wanafunzi kuwa na wasiwasi kuwa mambo mengine wanayofundishwa huenda yamepitwa na wakati na hayatumiki tena katika ulimwengu wa kiteknolojia. Nafikiri pia ilichangia wanafunzi wengi kujikuta wakiangukia katika masomo ya sanaa hata kama walipenda kuwa wanasayansi.
Turudi kwenye mada yetu. Kwa muda mfupi tulishuhudia mabadiliko katika wizara ya elimu ambapo ilikuwa ni kama kila waziri akiamka anakuja na fikra zake na kuzifanya sera ya elimu. Nakumbuka Mungai aliwahi kuunganisha masomo (eti Fizikia na Kemia kama somo moja) akafuta somo la kilimo na masomo ya biashara ambayo angalau yalikuwa na mwelekeo wa moja kwa moja juu ya kitu mtu anataka kukifanya maishani mwake.
Kikubwa ni kwamba elimu ilikuwa haimsaidii mtu kufikia malengo yake, ila tu ilikuwa inakupeleka ngazi nyingine ya juu zaidi ya kielimu. Ukweli ni kuwa wengi tulikuwa tunasoma ili tufaulu mitihani ya mwisho na kwenda ngazi ya juu kielimu kama kidato cha tano na cha sita na hatimaye chuo kikuu.
Kwa kuwa akili za wanafunzi wengi zimewekezwa kwenye kufaulu, basi mtu akishindwa kufaulu mtihani anaona kama dunia imegeuka juu chini. Na wengi wakifeli mitihani huona kama maisha yao yamefika mwisho kwa kuwa njia pekee aliyoambiwa ya kufikia mafanikio ni kusoma kwa bidii, sasa amekata tamaa kwani pamoja na kusoma kwa bidii amefeli mitihani.
Kutokana na msukumo mkubwa kuwekwa kwenye ufaulu, wanafunzi wengi hujikuta wakiweka mkazo zaidi kutaka kufaulu mitihani. Hii hupelekea hata wazazi kuwaona watoto wao kuwa hawana akili ikiwa watashindwa kufaulu mitihani ya taifa.
Cha msingi cha kujiuliza hapa ni kuwa, kwa mfano amesoma miaka saba shule ya msingi, na mtihani anaufanya mara moja, huenda siku hiyo hali yake kisaikolojia haikuwa nzuri na akajikuta ameshindwa kufanya vizuri, je inamaanisha kuwa alikuwa hajiwezi kimasomo? Kwa nini usiwepo mfumo mbadala wa kupima uwezo wake na wa kumpeleka mbele?
Matokeo ya kuwekeza sana kwenye ufaulu badala ya uelewa hupelekea wanafunzi na wazazi wao pamoja na walimu kujihusisha na udanganyifu katika mitihani, kwani wanajua ya kuwa kufaulu mtihani wa taifa ndiyo njia pekee ya kufanikisha maisha yao. Unakuta mtoto kafaulu kwenda sekondari lakini hata jina lake hawezi!
Ni ukweli usiopingika kuwa mfumo wetu wa elimu umejiwekeza sana katika nadharia na kukariri na kumnyima mwanafunzi kujenga na kukuza uwezo wake hivyo kumlazimisha mwanafunzi kusoma vitu vingi na kupunguza uwezo wake katika masomo anayoyamudu zaidi.
Ni vema kumuendeleza mtoto kulingana na kipaji chake ili aweze kuonyesha uwezo wake zaidi na kupata matunda mengi zaidi kutoka katika kipaji chake. Huenda siku zote tunajiuliza inakuwaje tunao wasomi wengi lakini mbona hatuna maendeleo na bado tunaagiza wasomi kutoka nje kwa ajili ya shughuli mbalimbali nchini.
Sababu kubwa ni kwamba elimu yetu inaua vipaji badala ya kuvikuza na hivyo tunajikuta tukipoteza wataalamu wengi kupitia mfumo duni wa elimu unaowalazimisha wanafunzi kukariri vitu visivyo na umuhimu ili waweze kufaulu tu, huku tukisahau jambo la msingi zaidi ambalo ni kuwa na watu mahiri katika jambo fulani.
Tukitaka kwenda mbele, ni muhimu kuwekeza vizuri katika elimu yetu kama ambavyo mataifa mengine yaliyoendelea na yale yanayoendelea kwa kasi yalivyofanya. Hata katika baadhi ya nchi majirani tunaweza kujifunza.
Mfumo wetu wa elimu ukiwa vizuri, wazazi wataacha kuwakimbizia watoto wao shule za kiingereza na zile za St. Nanihii kwa kudhani kuwa ndiko kuna elimu bora zaidi (kwa upande fulani ni kweli) na kuwaacha kina Kayumba wakibaki bila kimbilio.