Govt clears air on Scripture Union

08 May, 2016 - 00:05 0 Views
Govt clears air on Scripture Union Minister Dokora

The Sunday Mail

FOLLOWING uncertainty over the operations of the Scripture Union in schools, Primary and Secondary Education Minister Dr Lazarus Dokora last Thursday outlined Government’s position in line with the new curriculum framework. The following are excerpts from an interview with The Sunday Mail’s Religious Affairs Editor Fatima Bulla
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WHAT you need is to study the new curriculum framework for primary and secondary education.
And when you look at that framework you find precisely the things I spoke of: the new learning areas, right from infant level – and how infant covers your ECD to Grade 2 – and then Grade 3 all the way to Grade 7, then your Form 1 to Form 6.
We have redefined subjects so that they are no longer treated as subjects as we previously did to allow for the enrichment of a child’s exploration and development of their aptitude and potential.
That is the whole point of the reform.
Now with that you see the formative learning areas, visual and performing arts, your Mathematics and Science in infants, which is a breakthrough in the sense that previously we have kind of delayed the introduction of Mathematics; we now get that done early on.
Just now I am coming from a Mathematics two-day conference where we got about 200 of some of our best Mathematics teachers and inspectors, and so on, to think through these issues in light of the new framework.
We are conscious of the fact that with the kind of expertise in our country we can move the whole process of transformation with our won personnel.
Further we have also underpinned this reform with a requirement because in terms of Section 68 of the Education Act I must define what constitutes acceptable qualifications for purposes of teaching.
And we have revealed those.
You see, if you have (launched) the curriculum and you now have new configurations of learning areas, you must also define the level of competence of those that will teach.
So we have done that.
This makes it necessary to underscore the fact that when the teacher supply falls short, you look for the retirees to fill the gap, you look for those that are students of pedagogy.
What it means is that you can no-longer just walk into education and say “I hold a pure Biology degree, I want to be a teacher.”
You must hold your pure Biology degree but also be undertaking Education courses so that you know how to teach. You are then more amenable to engagement by the employer, the Public Service Commission.
So these are arrangements we are making to ensure that we can mainstream the new curriculum.
But more pointedly, all organisations – and this is important – must examine the new curriculum framework and say to themselves, “How can I contribute to the process?”
Are you Scripture Union, are you Boy Scout? Whatever you are, (you should ask yourself) how can I contribute to the process?
Then you define those areas that you think you can contribute to.
Is it under Life Skills? Is it under Family, Religious and Moral Education? Is it under Sport and Physical Education, mass displays? Are these your areas of competence?
Then those areas that you are competent in are couched in an MoU and you define the parameters of your spacial location. Where are you going to be located in terms of operations, is it all districts in the country? Is it just the urban metropolitan provinces etcetera etcetera?
And this self-definition, self-introspection in relation to the framework, is a necessary mechanism so that I know how well this area has been attended to, if there are no takers for this area, so I can plan whether it’s Treasury support, partnership support (that you need).
Everyone must contribute to a component in the vision. We cannot say well we will continue to do as we have always done.
In relation to what is in the new configuration, what exactly are you doing to contribute to the new curriculum? We want to be able to be coherent between them and ourselves.
We can deliver this to this level of competence!

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