MARTIN MAWAYA
HARARE-The Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education will embark on a nationwide consultation to capture views from stakeholders as the government pushes for a pragmatic, innovative and practical based curriculum framework.
The exercise will start on May 23 countrywide.
The Competence based Curriculum under review, whose seven year cycle ended in 2022; will inform the bases of the next curriculum framework from 2023 to 2030.
Consultations with teaching fraternity at district levels in various provinces started last month and are ongoing.
In a statement today, the Ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Tumisang Thabela said the consultations provide an opportunity for stakeholders to participate and share their views towards quality education in the country.
“The ministry of primary and secondary education will be carrying out a nationwide 2023 Curriculum Review Consultations with its clients and internal stakeholders on 23 and 24 May 2023 from 0830 hrs to 1700hrs. Every school will be a consultation center,” she said.
She said all the views that will be captured from the consultations are important as they can shape education for country’s socio-economic development.
Thabela added that the Ministry is eager to provide equitable and inclusive quality education; hence stakeholder’s participation in the review process is important.
The curriculum was implemented in 2015 on the recommendations of Nziramasanga Commission which was set up in 1998 under the Presidential Commission of Inquiry into Education and Training (CEIT).
The skills-based education was meant to respond to changes in the education sector and increased learning areas with the aim of producing pupils with skills to solve problems instead of just theorizing issues.
It also aligns learner’s different abilities and flairs, including skills, inherent talents, values and other achievements both in and out of class.
The model was positioned to provide a sustainable base for the production of critical and human capital that will propel the country into an upper middle income by 2030 as the education sector contributes towards Human Capital Development and Innovation.
According to the Ministry, “the curriculum review will be conducted against set criteria to determine relevance and quality, based on national priorities in line with the dictates of the National Development Strategy 1 and other national policy documents, as well as best practices and International trends in education”. In reviewing the curriculum framework, the ministry will also consider what the curriculum has contributed to equity and inclusivity in the attainment of quality education as well as climate change issues focusing on learning in emergencies.
