ZW University students want constitutional lessons

Zimbabwe: The WELEAD Trust team has been travelling around the country to increase youth constitutional literacy levels, and students from various universities and recent graduates have been attending these sessions.

They have all recommended that students take a constitutional module at all universities and other tertiary institutions.

As we all know, the majority of Zimbabweans attend universities and other prestigious tertiary institutions.

"As a result, a significant portion of the youth population will be acquainted with the fundamentals of the supreme law of the land," Tamuka Gurure said.

Patience Simbamba agreed with Gurure, adding that this would increase youth participation during a constitutional awareness session.

"Because most of our graduates have no knowledge of the constitution," Takunda Makayi said, "young people may really work with the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education to add constitution study as a module, just like any other required module, like communications skills."

According to him, this will help young people become acquainted with the constitution, and as a result, they will be aware of their rights and obligations as outlined in the constitution.

"Many young people do not participate because they believe it is illegal, despite the fact that these are their rights," says a young man from the Chegutu district.

He went on to say that if we conduct a survey to see how many young people in Zimbabwe are aware of their political rights, we might only get 10 out of 50.

It was noted during the sessions that young people with political backgrounds are more likely to be familiar with this constitution simply because they need to know their rights if something happens and they are charged (based on what they said).

It is equally important to have food on the table and to understand the constitution. It is dangerous to be unaware of this document. It's not good for you.

"As a result, in the future or if the curriculum is changed, this needs to be a subject or module that can be studied similarly to history and other subjects," said Mai Mlambo, a young Domboshava resident.