Stakeholders in the Education sector have called for the revision of the 2013 School Education Curriculum following submissions to the Parliamentary Committee on Education, Science and Technology.
The Committee heard on its submission sittings in Kalomo district that the two tier ‘vocational and academic’ pathways should be revisited following numerous challenges that do not sit well with both the teaching fraternity and the learners.
ZANIS reports that Committee Chairperson Harry Kamboni who is also Kalomo Member of Parliament observed on behalf of his members that several stakeholders, including the learners and teachers have expressed concern on the bulkiness of the topics in several subjects in the school curriculum.
Mr Kamboni noted that this is coupled with lack of infrastructure and materials to support and implement the existing education curriculum pathways.
And Kalomo Secondary School Practical Sciences Head of Department Constance Mufya submitted that the 2013 curriculum needs to be revisited.
“This curriculum is good but keen consideration to take care of its implementation such as equipping the teaching fraternity with necessary skills, infrastructure availability, materials and apparatus to effectively implement it was not well taken care of,” said Mrs. Mufaya.
She added that there is too much theory as opposed to practicals where both the teacher and learners are not exposed to the actual learning aids and apparatus for quality education delivery.
On the other hand, the pupils during their submissions claimed that some of the subjects they are taking are not useful to real life situations.
The Parliamentary Committee on Education, Science and Technology is on a fact finding mission in some selected districts in the country to assess and get views on how the 2013 academic and vocational education curriculum is performing with a possibility to revise it following recommendation to the government.
We need a turnaround plan for this to work. We need to plan based on availability of resources, type of infrastructure and well trained personnel. When I wrote this last time, one blogger thought I was partisan and yet I am one of the few in the system.
Come up with a team of people to help with this issue.
Kalomo is a farming district, so I don’t understand why farmers weren’t included in this fact finding mission. These curriculums that get developed without the input of industrial players won’t take us anywhere. We’ll continue to produce graduates that won’t fit into the industry. Many Zambians strive for higher education to get a promotion and not to contribute to national development. One Zambian had 5 degrees when he took over the Zambia Ceramics Ltd from a competent diploma holder and ran it down. Even office orderlies noticed that there was no future when the educated fellow took over. What’s the purpose of education?
We seem to be panicking. Bola panshi. Theres nothing wrong with the current system but with the stakeholders. You can change the curriculum but if there’s no change in the mindset of those responsible you will end up looking for the “best curriculum”. Just like ZP….?
I would welcome a call for teacher qualifications to be reviewed ??
And to be tested to see if they meet the required standard of the class they teaching
There’s so much tepid stuff around our educational system that it is small wonder places with abundant rivers are taught mining of copper, and people where mining is happening are taught about agriculture… So yes, we need a realignment that also takes into account the specialties of the different places we have in the country. Let’s move away from conformity and learning about things that will never put food on our children’s table