British Journal of Religious Education Religious ...

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Religious education in the context of sub‐Saharan Africa: the Malawian example Yonah Hisbon Matemba

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Department of Religious Education , University of Glasgow , Scotland Published online: 05 Dec 2008.

To cite this article: Yonah Hisbon Matemba (2009) Religious education in the context of sub‐Saharan Africa: the Malawian example, British Journal of Religious Education, 31:1, 41-51, DOI: 10.1080/01416200802560039 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01416200802560039

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British Journal of Religious Education Vol. 31, No. 1, January 2009, 41–51

Religious education in the context of sub-Saharan Africa: the Malawian example Yonah Hisbon Matemba* Downloaded by [University of the West of Scotland] at 03:54 03 November 2014

Department of Religious Education, University of Glasgow, Scotland (Received 16 October 2006; final version received 6 August 2007) Taylor and Francis Ltd CBRE_A_356171.sgm

British 10.1080/01416200802560039 0141-6200 Original Taylor 102009 31 [email protected] YonahMatemba 000002009 & Journal Article Francis (print)/1740-7931 of Religious Education (online)

The argument in this paper is that in spite of the acknowledgement of plurality, many countries in sub-Saharan Africa seem reluctant to introduce multi-faith approaches preferring to maintain Christian confessionalism in religious education. Even in those countries where new approaches are being tried, there is some unwillingness to make wholesale changes throughout the school system. In some instances this state of affairs is precipitated not by educational policy but by the socio-religious situation, which mirrors Christian ideals. This is better illustrated in the Malawian context where largely due in part to the historical Christian influence and for the fact Christianity is the major religion in the country, multi-faith religious education introduced in schools was opposed. As a compromise to a difficult situation, government resolved to offer both multi-faith religious education and the historical Bible knowledge on the school curriculum. Results of a school survey seem to indicate that Bible knowledge as opposed to multi-faith religious education is still a favoured syllabus in schools, possible reasons of which are suggested. The conclusion is that efforts should be made to interest those still wary about multi-faith religious education considering the benefits it can bring in a world today where heterogeneity rather than homogeneity is the acceptable reality. Keywords: multi-faith religious education; sub-Saharan Africa; Malawi; socioreligious influence

Introduction Malawi, formerly a British Protectorate called Nyasaland (1891–1964), is a narrow landlocked (118,500 sq. kilometres) country in south-central Africa with 12 million inhabitants. Constitutionally, the country has no state religion and under the law, freedom of religion and worship are guaranteed. This is well in keeping with the fact that the country is not only multi-ethnic but has people belonging to diverse faiths such as Christianity (79.9%), Islam (13.8%), Traditional Religion (4.8%), Bahaism (1.0%), Hinduism (0.2%), Sikhism (0.1%) and others, such as Rastafarianism and Atheism (0.2%) (Patel 1996; CIA World Factbook 2007). Many countries today report a similar scenario where society is made up of people from diverse religious traditions. It is in this context that proponents of multi-faith religious education advance the view that it enhances social harmony in an increasingly pluralistic and heterogeneous world. This harmony, it is argued, fosters understanding among people of different *Email: [email protected] ISSN 0141-6200 print/ISSN 1740-7931 online © 2009 Christian Education DOI: 10.1080/01416200802560039 http://www.informaworld.com

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persuasions in an era when many of us are more assertive of our personal, social, cultural and more importantly religious identities (Kitshoff 1994; Baumfield 2003). Background – religious education in sub-Saharan Africa Generally, in sub-Saharan Africa there is some doubt as to whether multi-faith religious education is relevant to the socio-religious setting, which mirrors Christian ideals. This situation seems to exist by virtue of the fact that Christianity, introduced over a century ago by missionaries, still dominates public life. In fact, it is projected that in Africa, Christianity will account for the greatest number of adherents in the world by reaching 25.9% in 2025 from 17.9% in 2000, while in Europe the numbers would have declined from 27.9% in 2000 to the projected 19.8% in 2025 (Weigel 2005). Christian influence in some countries is strong to the extent that people are averse to multi-faith religious education, fearing that Christian values may be eroded and its heritage lost among the youth. This perhaps explains why some countries either declare that they want to be officially Christian as in Swaziland and Zambia or insist that religious education continue to be taught in the Christian confessional tradition as in Zimbabwe and Lesotho (Times of Swaziland, 8 November, 1998; Simuchimba 2001; Ndlovu 2004; Matsumunyane 2006). Even in those countries where pluralistic approaches have been tried, people are in some doubt as to whether the new pedagogies are in keeping with their socio-religious realities. In Botswana and Malawi for example, multi-faith religious education, introduced in the senior secondary school curriculum to replace Christian religious education has been opposed, while in Zambia pressure from churches is preventing changes to the senior secondary syllabus which remains Christian confessionalism (Carmody 2006). In some countries both confessional and neo-confessional (as in Uganda and Kenya) or confessional and multi-faith pedagogy (as in Botswana in the senior secondary and Malawi in the junior secondary) are offered simultaneously as a compromise to situations where stakeholders such as churches have protested against the pluralistic pedagogies introduced while governments still see their value for schools (Balyage 1998; Matemba 2005; Mwesigwa 2006). The continued preference of confessional or neo-confessional approaches suggests that in spite of different national contexts in which today’s religious education is designed, there exists ‘tension’ between the historical Christian confessionalism and the increasing respectfulness to democratic values of pluralism in modern society (Almen and Oster 2000). As demonstrated in this paper, this is the situation that exemplifies the current situation in Malawi. Christianity and western education Education in Malawi was introduced and dominated by Christian missions such as Presbyterian, Evangelical, Anglican and Catholic. As has been widely reported elsewhere in Africa, missionary curricula were Eurocentric in design and thus a typical British education was offered. For example, in 1903 at Livingstonia mission in northern Malawi, a standard-five examination paper asked pupils ‘to explain the claim of King James VI to the English Crown’ and ‘to describe the shortest sea route from Glasgow to Inverness’ (McCracken 1994). During the colonial era, there was no uniform curriculum and each mission designed its own in tune with its doctrines (Hauya 1997). Mission schools offered a Christocentric curriculum in which Bible


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knowledge was a key subject; for after all, the primary aim of mission education was (and is) proselytisation. Even when the colonial government took control of education in 1926 with the formation of the department of education the introduction of a uniform curriculum, Christian values were infused and Bible knowledge remained a key subject in schools (Nankwenya 1977). After independence, the pro-Christian curriculum was maintained. In fact, the government of Dr Hastings Banda (b.1898–d.1997), the first President from 1964 until 1994, was happy to keep the status quo. Banda, himself the product of missionary education, was a self-confessed Presbyterian who at every opportunity reminded people that he was still an ‘elder’ of the church in Scotland where he had received his medical qualifications in the 1940s. During the Second Education Plan (1985–1995), syllabus changes in primary schools were made (Mtegha 2004). In religious education the major development was the change from the Bible knowledge syllabus to a multifaith one. Educationists argued that Bible knowledge was unsuitable first, because Malawi is a multi-cultural society and second, the syllabus had confessional and not educational aims. The consensus was that the country needed religious education that catered for the needs of a heterogeneous society. Predictably when a new syllabus came out in 1991, it was radically different and a pluralistic one called religious and moral education was introduced. The syllabus, similar in structure to the one introduced in Zambia and Ghana, is a multi-faith one, and three religions are chosen for study viz. Christianity, Islam and Traditional Religion. The government justified the choice of the three religions, arguing that they are the more widely practised faiths in the country. The syllabus topics are structured following Smart’s dimensions of religion and contemporary moral issues are also included (Malawi Ministry of Education and Culture 1991). However, Christian materials in the syllabus are dominant, accounting for 50% in certain topics while Traditional Religion is the least covered (Jarhall 2001). Overall, the syllabus was well received with no reported cases of protest to its design or implementation (Salanjira 2002). By the time a review of the secondary school curriculum with its implications for religious education was instituted, the country had entered into a new dispensation of multi-party politics. Emergence of a new Islamic identity Malawi under President Banda, following independence, was a one-party totalitarian state, which he ruled by a singular mixture of terror and ritualised paternalism. The dictatorship governance which Banda created and the brutality that went along with it, is a painful subject to most Malawians (Chirwa 2001). The President was likened to Jesus and his supporters talked of him as some kind of Messiah – a ‘saviour’ of Malawians. As a self-claimed ‘elder’ of the church, Christianity was encouraged and missionary activities flourished. The implication was that during Banda’s rule, the values and religious needs of non-Christian pupils were largely ignored. Things suddenly changed when in March 1992 the Catholic Church – a powerful Christian block in the country – issued a Lenten pastoral letter titled Living Our Faith, which was read during mass in all its churches. In essence, the document reproached the Banda regime for its authoritarianism and, using the imagery in the New Testament of Christians being inherently free, it called for more civil liberty and political accountability (Mitchell 2002). The impact of the pastoral letter was immediate and unprecedented. As the government tried to arrest Catholic clergy, protests and civil


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unrest abounded. Even the Presbyterian Church, which had been reluctant to criticise Banda, eventually supported the pro-multi-party movement when it joined with other churches in speaking out against the abuses of the government (Ross 1996). Finally, due to old age, economic sanctions from the west, winds of political change blowing across sub-Saharan Africa in the early 1990s and other pressures for reform by churches as noted above, a referendum was held in 1993 in which people unanimously voted for democratic governance. The new President (r.1994–2004), Bakili Muluzi of the Yao ethnic group, was a Muslim and so were a number of parliamentarians and several cabinet ministers. During Muluzi’s presidency Asians, among them many Muslims, were given wider recognition and a number of Asian-Muslims were appointed to public office. This contrasts sharply to the treatment of Asians during the period of Dr Banda’s reign where resentment against them existed. At first, Asians were barred from owning businesses in the transport and agriculture sectors and then in the early 1970s they were ordered to relocate into urban areas, apparently to give a chance to indigenous Malawians to own retail business in rural areas without competition from wealthy Asians. Many Asians opted to emigrate such that by 1979 their numbers had decreased to 4927 from 11,299 in 1965 (Africa News, 20 May 2002). In sub-Saharan Africa there have been other occasions when Muslims have been Presidents: Uganda is a case in point. Since independence from Britain in 1962, that country has had two Muslim Presidents namely Idi Amin (r. 1971–1979) and Yusuf Lule (r. 1979–1980). During Amin’s rule the country received military and financial help from Islamic countries such as Libya and Saudi Arabia and there were accusations that he wanted to turn Uganda into an Islamic state. It is said that Amin favoured fellow Muslims, particularly those from the west Nile region in the Aringa county, many of whom he promoted to crucial government positions. There are also accusations that Muslims from Aringa county carried out atrocities on behalf of Amin (Pirouet 1980). Similar in some ways to Banda’s treatment of Asians but quite different from Muluzi and Lule, Amin’s relationship with the Asian community is perhaps an extreme case of state persecution against a racial group akin to the Nazi persecution of Jews (which Amin publicly admired) in Germany in the 1930s and 1940s. Amin targetted Asians whom he accused of contributing to the economic underdevelopment of indigenous Ugandans. He confiscated their property and in 1972 ordered them (about 80,000 at the time) out of the country (Patel 1972). Amin’s brutal regime has been the subject of numerous publications and films including Kevin Macdonald’s latest movie The Last King of Scotland (2006). A further point should be made concerning the parallels that can be drawn between Malawi and Uganda. Notwithstanding the fact that in both countries Islam is the second largest religion after Christianity (13.8% and 12.1% in Malawi and Uganda, respectively), the historical Christian influence has prevented the acceptance of multi-faith religious education such that Christian confessionalism remains the preferred pedagogy on the national curriculum. Historically, Islam came to Malawi in the 1840s when Arabs from the East Coast raided the areas along Lake Malawi for slaves and in the process converted people (mostly Yao) in those areas to Islam (Chakanza and Mijoga 1996). During Muluzi’s tenure, diplomatic ties with Islamic countries such as Libya, Iran, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Malaysia were made and the government began receiving aid from Muslim countries. Mosques sprang up in many parts of the country and Muluzi



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introduced Eid-ul-Fitr on the national calendar as a public holiday. Many Muslims (both men and women) could be seen proudly wearing Islamic clothing such as hijabs in public. The Koran was translated into Chichewa, the country’s lingua franca and in 2003 President Gaddafi of Libya made an official visit to the country where he toured many projects funded by his government. On the rise of the new Muslim identity Matiki (1994) has commented that: ‘[in Malawi] Islam is no longer a misunderstood and ridiculed religion in the country as has been the case in the past when people viewed it as a religion of backward people’ (1994, 19). Overall, there were so many pro-Islamic developments that people began to think that President Muluzi, with pressure from his Islamic donors, wanted to turn the country into an Islamic state, a charge he publicly denied (Malawi News, 13 February 1998). In June 2003, five Muslim men – all foreigners – were arrested, accused of running charities as fronts to launder money for the infamous Al Qaeda of Ossama Bin Laden. They were all spirited off to the American-run Guantanamo Bay detention centre in Cuba amidst public protest by local Muslims against the arrests (FoxNews, 23 June 2003). It would not be presumptuous to suggest that Muluzi’s choice of his successor, Dr Bingu wa Mutharika in 2004 – a Catholic – was a move to appease Christians, particularly the powerful and influential Catholics, who had become disillusioned with the growing Islamic power in the country. The Muslim Association of Malawi that had been dormant during Banda’s rule found its voice in Muluzi’s Malawi. While in the past Muslim parents could only have their children take Islamic lessons at the few madrasas (Koranic schools) available at the time, they now began to demand that such lessons be taught within the normal school programme. This had implications for religious education. Since already by this time a new religious and moral education had been introduced in the primary schools, the Muslim association applied to the Ministry of Education for permission for mualims (priests) to instruct Muslim children during religious and moral education lessons to which permission was granted. By the end of Muluzi’s 10-year mandatory term in office, which he wanted to extend by amending the constitution but failed, Muslims claimed ownership or control of six primary and 17 secondary schools (Rashid 2005). Changes and reaction to secondary religious education Muluzi’s government undertook efforts to revamp the educational system by introducing, among other things, free primary education and promoting education for girls. Focus was also given to the secondary curriculum that had not received much attention during the previous government. A national review of the secondary curriculum was instituted with the aim to make it more responsive to issues in contemporary Malawi such as HIV/AIDS and religious pluralism. Subject panels were formed and charged with the responsibility of designing new syllabuses. The new junior secondary school curriculum included 14 subjects while the senior secondary school curriculum had 21 subjects (Nyirenda 2005). The religious education syllabus panel was made up of educationists and religious groups. Significantly, Muslim leaders took part in the process in greater numbers and later there were reports that Muslim association officials dominated the proceedings. Two issues can be observed on the changes that were being made to the religious education curriculum. First, the Bible knowledge syllabuses for both the junior and senior secondary were scrapped and religious and moral education introduced. Like the new primary school syllabuses noted above, contemporary moral issues were included and the same three religions


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were adopted. Second, while in the past Bible knowledge in public schools was elective, the new religious and moral education was made compulsory in all state and grant-aided schools. At the beginning of the school year in 2000 when the new syllabuses were introduced in schools, there was an outcry mainly from churches and Christian groups because of what they saw as an Islamic intrusion in an area (i.e. religious education) previously dominated by them. The Catholic Church, which owns 30% of secondary schools in the country, sent a memorandum of protest against the reform to the Ministry of Education. The memorandum denounced the unilateral manner in which the syllabuses were imposed on schools and in particular, the fact that Bible knowledge was removed from the curriculum. Other churches joined in the protest when the implications of the new syllabuses were carefully scrutinised. What appeared anathema to churches was the idea of the Koran being taught in their schools (Schaeffler 2000) and in particular the provision that Muslims would be employed to teach the Islamic component as had been the case with the primary school syllabus noted above. One Christian leader was clear on this when he said that: [Christianity] believes in freedom of religion but not in eroding and dissolving all unique features of the Christian faith. We cannot condone [sic] dissolution of the fundamental doctrines of the Christian faith in order to be at par with other religions, which clearly and openly dispute the teachings of Christianity. There is no way Christianity can weaken its values for the sake of religious freedom. (Daily Times, 29 February 2000)

Churches seemed to have been irked by a statement in the new syllabuses that the three religions chosen were all ‘major’. Churches reminded government that Christianity was the only major religion in the country and thus could not be treated in the same way as the other two religions. There was also concern, but quickly denied by the coordinator of the panel, that the religious content of the syllabuses had 50% Islamic materials. More seriously, churches accused government of consulting only a few churches on the planned changes. For this reason, churches said that they were not consulted on such a crucial development. Finally, a delegation of leaders from the different churches led by a group of Catholic bishops took audience with the President. They reminded the President of the church’s role in protesting against Dr Banda’s despotic rule – a development that led to the multi-party dispensation of which Muluzi was a beneficiary. The delegation asked the President to rescind his decision to introduce the religious and moral education curriculum (Gama 2000). With pressure coming from many corners, the President ordered the Ministry of Education to suspend the new syllabuses until an amicable solution was found. Bible knowledge was reinstated in schools until fresh consultations were made with all relevant stakeholders. While the Christian fraternity was happy with this development, Muslims were outraged. In fact, the Muslim association officials requested an audience with the President where they gave him an ultimatum to reverse the decision within three days! They warned that there would be chaos in the country if the President did not rescind his decision to put on hold the new syllabuses. Muslims, through their association, stated that they were disappointed that the President – a Muslim – could kowtow to the wishes of Christians on this issue adding that: ‘Muslims are widely disparaged by the directive as it takes away the little they have achieved in this area over the 20 years’ (Africa News, 20 May 2002). Clearly, the Muluzi government found itself between ‘a rock and a hard place’. In the end, the President stuck to



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his earlier decision to suspend the new syllabuses until more consultations were made and a solution found to solve the impasse. The press took issue with the Muslim association for threatening discord if its wishes were not carried out and noted that such statements could easily divide communities on religious lines. In March 2000, the Muslim association officials and leaders of the Presbyterian Church issued a joint statement affirming their efforts to promote peace and to allow the Ministry of Education to deal with the issue (The Nation, 2000). The President, finding himself in this sticky situation and perhaps fearing a political backlash from the majority Christian electorate, set up the ‘office of religious affairs coordinator’ in the office of the President and cabinet and appointed notably a Christian priest as coordinator. The office of religious affairs coordinator was charged with the responsibilities of overseeing all issues relating to religion including the matter of religious and moral education. It also formed an ad hoc National Consultative Committee, which was made up of officials from the Ministry of Education and Culture, Catholic Church, Malawi Council of Churches, Muslim Association, Seventh-Day Adventist Church and representatives from Traditional Religion. The outcome from the consultations showed that many interest groups were of the view that religious and moral education favoured Islam and was formulated with the purpose of spreading the Islamic faith. In its report, the national consultative council observed that religious and moral education in its form would not be acceptable to the majority of stakeholders. It was a ‘catch twenty-two’ again for the government as it tried to satisfy the wishes of the majority and at the same time address the frustrations of Muslims. In the end, the government introduced both Bible knowledge and a slightly revised religious and moral education syllabus that included materials from Islam, Hindu, Baha’i, African Traditional Religion and Christianity (US Department of State 2004). The new religious and moral education syllabus was also limited to the junior secondary curriculum. In the period covered by this report, both syllabuses were being offered as optional subjects and run parallel to each other, with the choice of which syllabus to teach left to schools. Current situation in schools regarding the parallel syllabus system To understand the situation on the ground regarding the parallel syllabuses system, a simple random survey of secondary schools was conducted between 26 and 28 March 2006. Secondary schools in the country are classified as follows: ‘government/public (55%), faith/grant-aided (33%), private (8%) and independent faith (4%)’. Government schools include District, National and many of the newly named Community Day Secondary Schools (formerly correspondence centres) spread across every town, village and community. Independent faith schools are those institutions that are privately owned and controlled by religious groups such as Seventh-day Adventist and Islam. Grant-aided are the type of schools formerly owned by Christian missions but after independence the government took more control of them by creating a costsharing system with the churches through grants. The grant pays for staff, textbooks and subsidises boarding costs. Schools in this category include those owned by Anglicans, Catholics and Presbyterians. Private schools are in two categories: one run as a sole trader type of business by local people which usually attracts middle-income families (these also follow the national curriculum and since 1994 many such schools have been opened). The other type is the English medium schools, which usually have European/Asian staff and administration and offer a typical British curriculum.


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English medium schools are very expensive and out of reach for the majority of Malawians and thus mainly attract the expatriate community and upper income Malawian families. For the survey, schools were randomly selected but due to the limitations of time, distance and unavailability of facilities such as telephone and email/internet, only 31 schools located in various districts in the three administrative regions of the country (Southern, Central and Northern) were contacted and agreed to take part. The schools that took part were 20 public, six grant-aided, four independent faith and one private. In the schools the writer interviewed either the Bible knowledge/religious and moral education or the head teacher or both. The survey sought to find out which of the two syllabuses schools had selected for their curriculum and why. It also enquired what problems (if any) schools face in offering one or both syllabuses. Overall, all schools contacted were helpful and respondents freely discussed their views on the matter. Results showed that most schools surveyed (n = 27 or 87.1%) had Bible knowledge compared to a few (n = 4 or 12.9%), which had religious and moral education on their curriculum. No school surveyed offered both Bible knowledge and religious and moral education. In addition, if one considers the fact that 37% of secondary schools are either independent faith or grant-aided and that the majority of these only offer Bible knowledge on their curriculum then it can be surmised that most schools prefer to have Bible knowledge and not religious and moral education. This agrees with the views of most informants in this survey. When asked to elaborate, respondents raised a number of issues. One respondent bluntly stated that schools are simply not interested in this syllabus because it was imposed on the people with little consultation with all stakeholders. Another said that Bible knowledge has been on the national curriculum for a long time and saw no reason why this should be replaced. Several respondents echoed the view that Malawi is largely a Christian nation where people prefer Bible knowledge adding that their ‘Christian faith forbids them to teach beliefs of others in their schools’. Others noted that religious and moral education lacks teaching materials such as textbooks and this is the reason they are not teaching it in their schools. They further added that there is a lack of in-service workshops on methodology and this was the reason schools are not willing to teach a syllabus teachers are not familiar with. They also pointed out that currently there are no teachers from the colleges and universities in the country specifically trained to teach religious and moral education while there are many teachers trained to teach Bible knowledge. An interesting comment by one respondent was that advisors from the Ministry of Education do not emphasise the teaching of the new syllabus when they talk to schools. Several respondents were unanimous on the view that religious and moral education has very little popular appeal because it was formulated to propagate the Islamic faith and, as such, teachers who are also Christians found this objectionable. In spite of the general view that religious and moral education is unsuitable, there are a few schools that offer it on their curriculum because Islam is included for study. It was established that such schools are mainly located in areas with historically large Muslim populations such as Machinga, Salima, Zomba and Mangochi districts (J. Nkhoma,1 interview, 9 May, 2006). The few respondents (n = 2) who spoke in favour of religious and moral education stated that if given proper support the new syllabus can be enjoyable to teach and learn. They noted that religious and moral education is useful because it is inclusive and teaches for knowledge and not for conversion. In one



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school surveyed the respondent praised the syllabus and said that pupils are doing very well as seen in the high pass rate in the junior secondary school national examination (W. Zingani,2 interview, 28 March, 2006). The survey has shown that although government introduced a parallel syllabus system as a compromise to a difficult situation, the reality seems to be that most secondary schools continue to teach Bible knowledge. This seems to lend support to the view that the country is not ready to have multi-faith religious education throughout the educational system as seen by the lack of support for it by teachers, schools and the general public (W. Phiri,3 interview, 28 March, 2006). At the time of writing, the junior certificate religious and moral education syllabus was being revised and a new senior certificate religious and moral education syllabus was being devised. There are also reports that the Bible knowledge syllabuses favoured by schools will be revised (D. Mpande,4 personal communication, 26 May 2006). Conclusion In sub-Saharan Africa, the socio-religious situation seems to influence the kind of changes acceptable in religious education at a time when many national curricula are being revised to make them more responsive to changes in society. It is probable that the historical dominance of Christianity in education in general and in religious education in particular, influences societies’ reluctance for change towards inclusive approaches. Besides pointing out that teaching for knowledge alone is inadequate, critics of multi-faith/phenomenological religious education accuse it of detachment and of treating religion like some kind of past-time activity. Such critics argue that religion for others is real and therefore should be approached, if not from a confessional angle at least from a spiritual one. As the Malawian situation in this paper has demonstrated and as evidence from many countries in sub-Saharan Africa suggests, many people want to maintain Christian influence on the school curriculum. However, such a pull towards parochialness is a worrying trend because it does not reflect the religious diversity of our world. As Warner (2005) has suggested, religious education in our time should provide the platform where a multitude of voices can converse with each other. And the fact that religion goes much deeper, resulting in fundamentalism and even wars, should be the more reason multi-faith pedagogy must be widely adopted. The inclusion of a multiplicity of religions on the school curricula can surely begin the small but necessary steps needed to foster understanding in a multi-religious dispensation.

Notes 1. 2. 3. 4.

Religious Studies Lecturer, Mzuzu University. Headmaster, Chikwawa secondary school. Headmaster, Chirimba Day Secondary School. Religious and moral education panellist and syllabuses review facilitator.

Notes on contributor Yonah H. Matemba has been a lecturer in religious education at the Molepole College of Education, Botswana. Currently, he is a doctoral student at the University of Glasgow, Scotland, where he also teaches part-time on the MA Religious Philosophical Education teacher training programme.

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