adminHighway to Success, Charles Dube
Everything new mainly brings about excitement, in some cases apprehension or anxiety. The much talked about and anticipated new curriculum has caught up with the nation and is being implemented in schools. I believe all stakeholders have accepted it through the information which has been transmitted to them. Accepting change from an informed position is quite commendable. My assumption is that all relevant stakeholders were presented with the prerequisite information.
Much has been done to educate the teachers on the implementation of this new curriculum. Many workshops have been conducted from cluster levels, to district and provincial levels. The information has been cascading down from the parent ministry of education to schools. Schools have been getting various syllabi to kick start the programme from primary schools to high schools. I am not sure whether relevant information has been passed to the parents.
Are parents aware what this new curriculum entails, or they are hearing about it through hearsay or the grapevine? Were they consulted enough so that at the end they gave a nod to the curriculum implementation? Did parents have enough time to discuss with their children on the choice of learning areas? I understand this part has been democratic as students are allowed to choose their own learning area without any coercion.
Students could have been excited of getting a chance of a lifetime to make their own decisions and choices. But children being children, they are bound to make wrong decisions. In such a scenario parents are expected to come in and assist without necessarily pushing their own decisions to the child. After all, these are their children and as parents they have the final say as to what their children can do. There is no abuse in helping your child to follow the right path.
The point I am bringing across is that all stakeholders should have been thoroughly involved in coming up with this new curriculum, especially educationists and parents. Students could have come in to a lesser extent, it is quite acceptable and commendable that this new curriculum has brought in some progressive subjects. All is meant to change what has been retrogressive. We had all become too academic and always looked forward to being absorbed by the job market which was shrinking each day instead of creating jobs.
Agreed, this new curriculum has brought in some progressive subjects, the problem that comes with that it is not matched by an increase in manpower. The ministry has said no new teachers will be engaged. Another area of concern is that there is no reduction of teacher-pupil ratio. Numbers are extremely high in classes which is an extra burden on the teachers and resources will also be overstretched.
Some stakeholders raise teething problems in the implementation of this new curriculum. Form Ones are locked up in their learning areas up to Form Four. It seems they are not given room to change subjects along the way, what if they made wrong choices at the beginning, a fact which we cannot run away from. There is a condition that students make their own choice of learning, but, there are some schools which have decided to dictate the learning areas to the students.
Previously students could change learning areas if, for example, they found some subjects too tough for them. There is another snag, what is going to happen to students who will move to other schools? Reality on the ground will show that learning areas chosen by one school might be different from the next school because all are provided in the menu. Parents cannot be restricted to remain in one area as they move due to various circumstances.
At times they find themselves in certain areas due to unforeseen reasons and they might find it difficult to get schools with relevant learning areas for their children. I am not sure whether the coming in of this new curriculum is going to motivate current examinable classes to pass their examinations the first time. I overhead some students expressing fears of what they thought would happen to them in case they failed some subjects.
They felt it was going to be the end of the road for them or else they have to start the subjects they failed at Form One again.
But I hope they would be relieved to learn that this will not affect them immediately. But the issue is, students should study and pass examinations first time. The problem is that not much light has been given to the people hence the anxiety. There has been positive development because of the new curriculum.
Some teachers who have been in hiding (so to speak) have come out into the open. It has come to light that most teachers trained for at least two subjects to teach at secondary school, but, they declared one which they felt more comfortable to teach.
This created some artificial teacher shortages. With the coming in of the new curriculum with a wider choice of learning areas and teachers asked to declare other subject areas they can teach, stunning revelations came out.
In fear of being transfer listed teachers declared the other subjects they trained to teach offering slight relief to a teacher crisis. Time tabling is a sticking issue as schools are struggling to come up with workable timetables, though they are genuinely trying to implement this plausible programme.
Why is the Government changing the curriculum?
“In 1998 His Excellency the President of Zimbabwe established a Commission of Inquiry into Education and Training (CIET) to review the education system. The CIET Report made far-reaching recommendations regarding, inter-alia, the content of the curriculum. Some of the findings of CIET were that the curriculum: Did not aggressively promote the teaching of Science, Maths, Technology, Vocational and Technical subjects, and local languages.”
While some of these problems have been addressed in the new curriculum there is need for clarity. It seems unclear whether the promotion of STEM or STEAM has been achieved since there seems to be no emphasis on specialisation or bias towards these subjects. Children do not understand the objectives of the Government and are likely choose other subjects, not necessarily these, thereby defeating the whole purpose.
From the information presented there is evidence of wide consultations which were carried out with other special interest groups as well. It is pleasing to note that industry was also consulted because they provide jobs and they know what kind of product from schools they want. The question is, will they be capacitated to be able to offer places for attachment? This is where people need clarification.
The new curriculum calls for a robust system of assessment to curb learner’s progress. This is well and fine as long as there is a mechanism in place to curb the element of subjectivity. Standardisation comes into play here but people need assurance that all will be done above board. However, the question is, are parents conversant with what is happening at schools pertaining to the new curriculum? One student quipped, “Where is this new curriculum coming from?”
When all has been said and done all progressive individuals wish for this programme’s success. More literature on the implementation of this curriculum is still being provided. We would be wrong to prejudge and say that it will be a failure.
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derick.khumalo