CHILDREN'S SHONA GAME SONGS FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS: A CASE OF ZIMBABWE

Abstract

Shona is one of Zimbabwe’s indigenous languages spoken by the majority of its citizens. The Shona people speak the Shona language and subscribe to its culture. Thus, this chapter explores and analyses the game songs of the Shona children in order to show that these game songs, as part of indigenous knowledge systems, are useful tools for information dissemination and knowledge creation. For that reason, they can be effective tools for implementation of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). As reservoirs of norms and values cherished by the Shona people and as an embodiment of human factor values, the Shona children's game songs could enhance and sustain development education for effective implementation of the SDGs. This is in line with the goals of Zimbabwe’s Competency Based Curriculum(also referred to as the Updated Curriculum Framework) for Primary and Secondary Education, 2015-2022. By virtue of their discursive infrastructure, Shona game songs can be useful tools for propagating, cascading and sustainable implementation of the SDGs, which are critical for human factor development. This is so because the cross-cutting themes in the updated curriculum such as ubuntu/unhu/vumunhu humanness, HIV and AIDS, environmental issues and child abuse, among others, are in line with sustainable development goals which touch on poverty eradication, quality education, reduced inequalities, clean water and sanitation, responsible consumption and production, decent work and economic growth, good health and well-being and gender equality, among others. The writer applies critical discourse analysis, constructivism and social constructivism to the analysis.

Keywords

Shona; Game songs; Pedagogy; Competency Based Curriculum/Updated Curriculum; Sustainable education; Sustainable development