Online Reporter
It has long been accepted in Zimbabwe, even during the colonial past, that the core national curriculum in all schools was to be set by the ministry handling education and that private, Government and mission schools all started with this single national curriculum.
Schools in both the state and private sectors could add subjects, hence the technical high schools that were created after the Second World War and some specialised schools for farmers’ children that had a swathe of appropriate subjects.
Other schools offered additional subjects, broadening the curriculum they used, or to cater for community languages such as Hebrew and Greek.
At the centre was the curriculum, legally and constitutionally set by the professional head of the education system — the permanent secretary in the education ministry — although there was obviously input from elected ministers, communities and schools.
Several educational revolutions were absorbed into the core curricula over the decades, including new subjects, new ways of dividing subjects and new ways of teaching.
By and large, these were accepted by all schools, with the ministry allowing additional subjects and activities if schools felt there was a desire or need. Regardless of which board they used, there was a lot of convergence.
However, in the past few years, with the arrival of the Heritage-Based Curriculum, there has been divergence, largely based on the fact that some schools want to continue using foreign examination boards, especially the Cambridge Assessment International Education for O and A-Levels, and the International Baccalaureate to replace A-Level.
At primary levels, there is no such divergence; the whole system of State and non-State schools uses the same curriculum, ending with the Grade 7 examinations set by ZIMSEC, the Zimbabwe Schools Examination Council.
Some private schools add extra subjects, especially in language or religion, to meet the desires of parents from a particular community, but these are add-ons, not replacements, so no one fusses as long as the additional subjects are not used as a way of excluding others from these schools.
Where complications are looming is in secondary education.
ZIMSEC, Cambridge and the International Baccalaureate have different syllabuses and curricula, at least in some subjects.
More tricky is that the two foreign-based boards do not pay any special attention to Zimbabwean history, culture, languages, or society, let alone Zimbabwean needs and the requirement that schoolchildren are taught how to use what they have learned in practical ways.
Now we need to bring the Heritage-Based Curriculum, or at least the core elements of that system, into all secondary schools, even if they wish to continue with foreign examination boards.
The Government is not being confrontational about this, willing to allow non-government schools to continue using Cambridge, but wanting to see the schools basing their teaching on the Heritage-Based Curriculum at the core, with the outside parts being add-ons, not replacements.
Zimbabwean requirements come first, but once that is done, there can be flexibility.
For some subjects, notably mathematics and the sciences, there is obviously little divergence, except for the concept of practical applications, which should not be difficult to add on.
However, a significant number of children come out of high school with no formal teaching of a Zimbabwean language after Form 2.
That needs to change, and the ministry wants details of how a school will address this. Foreign international languages, with French being the most common in schools using Cambridge, are not being banned, but they need to be taught as a third language after the Zimbabwean language.
We assume there could be a need to look at more social subjects, such as history, where there is some convergence, although not as much as in science subjects.
Again, what the ministry wants to see is how a school will incorporate these aspects of the national curriculum if it wishes to retain the option of using Cambridge.
There is also a need to look at the approach to education, Education 5.0, where Zimbabwe is now placing a much greater emphasis on what is learned in a classroom being applied.
Most good teachers will agree that feedback can be in both directions; the practical use of theory helps children to understand the theory, rather than just hoping they have a photographic memory and can reproduce a textbook page they cannot understand.
So adopting many of the concepts in the Heritage-Based Curriculum can enhance performance in examinations set by any examination board.
This still leaves differences in what is taught and what children need to master, and we see no real problem with those schools wishing to retain the option of Cambridge preparing candidates for examinations set by both boards.
This would seem to be the easiest solution to meet the core curriculum and the add-ons, although schools might find another acceptable solution.
The main point is that we cannot have two divergent education systems in Zimbabwe; we need to set our own priorities but give parents and schools the option of adding to those, rather than replacing them.
