State-based curriculum making in a post colonial Zimbabwe: Making sense of Family, Religious and Moral Education in a global context

Abstract

The teaching and learning of religion in most post-colonial states take place on an ambivalent and contested terrain, which has resulted in the amputation of religion from some schools and contexts. The new curriculum in Zimbabwe, as a state-making project that is arguably devoid of, or has covert policy networks, has resulted in religious curriculum resistance. In this paper we juxtapose two questions: What are the challenges of the new religious curriculum, and how can the international practice of teaching religion be infused in the curriculum to address the contested terrain and to improve the policy network among religious players? The paper is couched in decoloniality theory, of which one of the agendas is to shift the geography of knowledge. Policy networks in religious circles can exorcise coloniality, which centred religion on a contested terrain within the mainstream curriculum practice. The paper argues that the teaching and learning of religion cannot be left to the state to control; instead, there should endeavours for the policy network among religious players to be contextualised in relations that have respect for difference. There is a need to reconfigure religions, so that they face the lived realities of communities.