Ministry to engage learners in curriculum review process

Source: Ministry to engage learners in curriculum review process – The Standard

The Primary and Secondary Education ministry says the on-going curriculum review process will also extend to the learners.

Tumisang Thabela, the permanent secretary, said involving the learners is meant to hear them out so that it doesn’t become an “adults” thing, but has broad implications in their learning processes.

In 2015, government developed a competence-based curriculum (CBC) framework whose phased implementation commenced in 2017.

However, critical views have emerged out of the process so far which have seen parents and teachers roundly rejecting the CBC that was “hastily” introduced in 2015.

The sore point is on one of the key features of the CBC, the Continuous Assessment Learning Activities (Cala).

Under Cala, pupils are supposed to carry out research and tasks, which will constitute 30% of their coursework for the final examination under the Zimbabwe School Examinations Council for each subject.

Besides parents and teachers, Parliament has also taken exception to the implementation as well as effectiveness and relevance of Cala in the Zimbabwean education system.

Some parents have described it as “costly” and a “burden” and want Cala scrapped outright. Parliament says Cala is far-fetched and brings no meaningful benefits to the learners.

Teacher unions have condemned government’s curriculum review process saying it was flawed, rushed and not consultative.

They also called on parents and other stakeholders to reject the CBC.

One of the teacher unions, Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (ARTUZ), even ran an online poll in which 95% of the participants voted for the scrapping of Cala.

 Of these, 71% voted for its repeal and the other 24% for it to be reduced to one Cala per learner.

Said ARTUZ: “Cala has increased learning disparities faced by rural pupils as most rural schools lack the infrastructure and resources necessary to administer the contentious curriculum.”

However, the ministry insists CBC will continue albeit, with reduced Cala components per learning area.

In an interview this week, the ministry’s head of communications Taungana Ndoro said the curriculum review process will “leave no one behind”, a refrain from the current administration.

He said the concerns raised by the various stakeholders were a result of “misunderstanding” and “misinformation”.

He said the ministry had embarked on awareness campaigns to “educate” its stakeholders about Cala so it can get buy-in.

The review process will involve an assessment of the implementation of the 2015-2022 curriculum framework, the successes, challenges, relevance and quality and learning points. The results of the review would feed into a new curriculum for the period 2023 to 2030, according to Thabela.

The ministry says CBC was introduced in primary and secondary schools to allow education to shift focus away from academic to a curriculum with a strong technical and vocational component that equips pupils with knowledge, attitudes and skills for life and work.

The exercise is expected to conclude by year-end.