New curriculum awaits Cabinet deliberation

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The Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education has completed the drafting of the new curriculum for use at schools and will table it before Cabinet in February after which it is expected to be adopted.

The previous curriculum was reviewed after its life-span expired and parents were already raising concerns about the model of delivery, time, and costs associated with the Continuous Assessment Learning Areas (CALA).

CALA was adopted in 2015 and its term expired in 2022, prompting the recent consultations by the Government to introduce a new curriculum.

The Minister of Primary and Secondary Education, Torerayi Moyo, told Sunday News in an interview that more information would be available after Cabinet gets the report on the review process.

“We have the document, we have the draft in our offices and we cannot publish it, it cannot be made a public document before we present it to Cabinet on the 6th of February,” said Minister Moyo.

He said he could not pre-empt the details of the report on the review processes that the Ministry engaged with its stakeholders and the way forward at the present moment but said the nation would be updated after Cabinet has had its take on the findings after which a way forward would be taken.

The Ministry undertook a fact-finding mission last year on the school’s curriculum after it emerged that there was a disconnection between ministry expectations, execution of the curriculum by the teachers’ and concerns by the parents.

Consultations on the curriculum were also done with the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education which are an important stakeholder as they are responsible for teacher training with a view to get teachers to understand the curriculum they are going to teach.

Parents and guardians last year shot down calls to continue with the previous curriculum, lamenting the cost of data and other resources that are needed for the projects assigned to the learners.

Teachers on the other hand said they had been ill-prepared to deal with the CALA exercise such that implementation was a challenge as time allocations for the various learning areas were extremely limited.

With schools opening for the first term on Tuesday, the Ministry has also reiterated the need for schools not to overcharge uniforms and stationery that they may be selling at their schools.

There has been an outcry by parents and guardians over the cost of uniforms from school authorities that are demanding that parents secure uniforms strictly from the schools.

Concerns are that the uniforms are pegged at exorbitant prices beyond the reach of parents.

The Ministry said parents should have the option to buy school uniforms from wherever as long as the brand is the one accepted by the school adding that school heads were not supposed to force parents to buy from schools.

Parents were encouraged to report such schools to the ministry.

“It is not allowed by law for schools to force learners to purchase uniforms at schools. Parents and students are allowed to buy the correct uniforms anywhere. They should also accept all forms of payment and should use the bank exchange rate. They should not demand payments in United States dollars only,” said Minister Moyo.

The Ministry also said it will not fold its hands when school heads at public schools increase fees without the Ministry’s approval and warned that school heads who increase school fees without the Ministry’s approval will get charged for misconduct.

The Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education also said they have availed 25 000 boarding school places for this year, lamenting that the places were too few considering the number of learners that completed their Grade Seven in 2023 and will be starting Form One this week.

About 372 603 learners sat for the 2023 Grade Seven examinations and those that fail to get boarding places will be absorbed in the day schools around the country.