Fostering posterity and socio-economic transformation through the prism of indigenous languages in youth training: A participatory approach

Abstract

This paper reviews thee mediating role of indigenous languages in vocational skills and national development in the Zimbabwean context. In the wake of the current outcry for jobs, employment creation and entrepreneurship the need for new strategies to revive industry by focusing on community resources has become imperative. Youths need to turn to themselves as repositories of skills required for operationalising dormant and fledgling industries. In pursuit of this new strategy they need the expertise of local artisans. The initiative, adopted in the spirit of national consciousness, should yield an indigenous brand of technology. It is from this perspective that the paper argues for a fresh, broader approach to youth training, through the identification of a national programme that encourages skilled artisans to use indigenous languages as vehicles for imparting industrial skills to out of school youths. The envisaged formal programme can be implemented through the identification of industrial bases that would tap the industrial skills of out of school youths, under the tutorship of local skilled artisans. For more effective implementation the proposed blueprint argues for the liberalization of instructional media. Trainers and trainees would switch on to their preferred language in skills’ acquisition. Such a flexible project, sustained through collaborative engagement, between skilled artisans and youths, would go a long way towards enhancing the latter’s creative potential, by fostering familiarity with the terminology required by a particular industry. Further, the article envisages learners’ progressive training programmes that motivate vocational training graduates to apply modern technology to productive processes demanded by the respective communities. The study concludes by emphasizing that the achievement of national goals for entrepreneurship and youth empowerment/employment requires the adoption of new strategies encapsulated in the Education 5.0.blueprint.