The Ethic of Religious Pluralism and Human Rights in Schools: Re-Evaluating the Multifaith Approach in Zimbabwe

The power and role of religion in society, just like that of education, is as old as humanity itself. This truism continues to be manifestly intrinsic even in our day. In general, the contemporary religious landscape in post-colonial Africa is complex. In the Zimbabwean scenario, in particular, the religious reality is constitutive of mainstream Christianity, ATRs, Hinduism, Judaism and an esoteric resurgence of New Religious Movements (NRMs).The study posits that, in view of the undercurrents of Human Rights discourses today, education possesses the potentialities of advancing the universal acclamations on the sanctity of human rights and the inviolability of religious freedom and its expressions. It is contended that religious pluralism is one of the essential marks of an existing or emerging multicultural society. In addition, the study asserts that a multicultural society is characterised by multiple identities, a fact which evokes human rights issues. Principally, it is observed that the dominance of the Christocentric approach in the current pedagogy of Religious Education in the Zimbabwean schools makes the efficacy of human rights to be at stake. Accordingly, the aim of the paper is to show how the teaching and learning processes in schools can be utilised to communicate values that promote the ethos of human rights and morality that develop the total person.