I imagine a world without competition, life will be so dull, isn’t it? Of a truth, life without competition will not only be uneventful, it will be uninspiring. Competition breeds invention, particularly when it is healthy.

More often we talk about the gains of team work. If we agree that competition ignites innovation, is there a place then for competition in the spirit and letter of teaming? It sounds like a contradiction, isn’t it?

Competition is not bad but a lot has to do with the motive of the competitor to determine the end goal. For competition that is well intended, there is usually an unspoken component that tends towards collaboration.

Ubuntu is a Zulu language. It simply translates to “I am because you are”. It means humanity towards others. Ubuntu means togetherness. If you like, you can call it collaboration over competition.

I ran into the Ubuntu philosophy which originated from the southern part of Africa and it occurred to me that the policy makers in other parts of Africa can borrow from this philosophy for education reforms from the very foundation.

Here is the Ubuntu philosophy. I will reproduce it here. Credit to all previous scholars on subject –

“An anthropologist proposed a game to the children in an African tribe. He put a basket of fruits near a tree and told the children that the first one to get to the fruits would win them all.

When he told them to run, they all joined hands and ran together, getting to the fruits all at once. They all won. They then sat together to enjoy their fruits.

The anthropologist, in amazement, asked them why they ran like that as one could have taken all the fruits for himself. The children chorused ’Ubuntu’. How can one of us be happy if all the others are sad?”

What came to my mind is how we compete for grades right from elementary schools in Nigeria as opposed to the real knowledge acquisition that learning is supposed to give.

Children who do not fit into society imposed academic standard are made to live with low self esteem even when they have gifts in other areas different from academics.

We expose young learners to competition too early even when learning at that stage is meant to be fun. The children grow with this mentality to colleges and out there to the outside world to see life as competition.

It is this same mentality that makes even the rich continue to amass wealth that he doesn’t need at the expense of those who are barely in search of the basic needs just to live.

With the Ubuntu philosophy, it occurred to me that someone else’s failure is not the same as my success. It struck me again that my candle can lit my friend’s candle and mine will still be glowing. Ubuntu reminded me that I can live and let live.

Of what use is my happiness if it will make others sad? Humanity on my mind. Ubuntu, I am because you are.

Happy workers day everyone.

©️Akin Oluwadare Jnr.
01 May 2023