‘New curriculum all accommodative’

08 Oct, 2017 - 00:10 0 Views

The Sunday Mail

Mrs Kamphinda, Tafara 1 High Head
THE DSI (Mrs Mugumbate), our revered Guest of Honour Advocate Uriri, School Heads within and without the EPMAFARA District, invited guests, parents, guardians, teachers and learners.

We are gathered here today for a noble cause. The lives of our dear children are defined and guided by education hence the need to celebrate their academic, artistic, cultural and sporting achievements.

It is a day whereby we need to interrogate our present situation since this will illuminate our future.

First the new curriculum framework is here to stay.

It is a curriculum whose aims are to create, mould and grow a wholesome learner who will ultimately grow into a GOOD CITIZEN.

The new curriculum is accommodative of every learner hence the introduction of subjects like Physical Education, Heritage Studies, Music and Mass Displays.

Another aspect of prominence in the new curriculum being the elevation of Agriculture as a compulsory subject.

This is a step in the right direction because our economy is agro-based and going forward it is our hope that the agricultural graduates from this school and all other Zimbabwean schools will be good value to and for the country.

Another aspect that parents, guardians and learners should take note of is Continuous Assessment.

Our parent ministry, working hand in glove with ZIMSEC, is trying to move away from an academic type of education that is divorced from the realities of our lived experiences.

Prior to this new dispensation our assessment was only summative, whereby our learners would sit for the ZIMSEC terminal examination at Forms 4 and 6. Now it is a combination of summative as well as continuous assessment.

The learner during the course of the learning cycle would be continuously profiled after partaking in tailor-made tasks.

It is our hope, as well as the hope of the Zimbabwe Government that this type of education will churn out pracademic graduates from our learning institutions.

Still on the new curriculum, it should be borne in your minds that the actual ZIMSEC examination will contribute 70 percent while continuous assessment will contribute 30 percent.

A point to take note of here being the fact that continuous assessment can only be tenable at registered schools. This therefore follows that as parents we should desist from sending our children to backyard unregistered “schools”.

An old adage goes, “Money is the root of all evil”,  but today as Tafara 1 High School we want to coin a new maxim derived from “Money is the root of all evil”.

At Tafara 1 High we appreciate the driving and enabling force of money – thus we say money is the route (nzira) to success and development. It is against the backdrop that I do implore all the parents gathered here to pay their children’s fees.

All the processes that we do here are money intensive. We need to buy books for the learners, we need to engage in academic, cultural and sporting excursions for cross-pollination of ideas, skills and talent.

Thus, we do promise that your money will be put to good use in developing the school and, by extension, the learner.

As a school we do have visions – visions in the direction of the structural and aesthetic development of the school.

We do envision building a school hall, starting a poultry project, buying a new bigger bus and creating a cultural village or centre.

This will remain a dream if parents and guardians do not pay school fees.  Please I do once again implore you to take responsibility for your children.

As a school we take pride in the fact that all of our teachers are professionals of the highest calibre. Thus, by extension, we managed to attain the apex of academic excellence for the Advanced Level Zimsec terminal examination 2016. The school produced the best results in the EPMAFARA District notwithstanding the fact that the 2016 class was a pioneer class.

I thus take this opportunity to stoutly thank all teaching staff for a job well done.

It is my hope that the same attitude and professionalism will be replicated for the 2017 examination. Parents and guardians, we do promise you that we will shine again. All we need from you is your moral and financial support.

We are one of the mega schools in Zimbabwe as well as Southern Africa in terms of enrolment.

As of now our learner enrolment stands at 2 255 and of these 240 are Advanced Level learners. Our teacher complement stands at 85 and our ancillary staff totals 21.

Without the torch-bearing of our DSI the implementation of the new curriculum would have proved to be a pie in the sky.

I take this opportunity to roundly thank her for being the harbinger of light in seeing to it that the implementation of the new curriculum framework saw the light of the day. Thus we have since started teaching Physical Education, Art, and Heritage Studies.

The school also gives prominence to the social and moral well-being of the learners. It is in this vein that we also offer Guidance and Counselling across the teaching-learning enterprise board.

Over the years, the school has churned out graduates who are now occupying lofty social stations.

One of these alumni being Advocate Lewis Uriri, our guest of honour.

We take pride in being associated with you. You have been a worthy provider. The book donation for History and Divinity (Advanced Level) is an imprint that will never fade away. We are grateful, we will always be.

To the Tafara 1 High learner, this is your day. Those who are recipients of awards and decorations, I say thank you – munotipasa manyemwe – keep on keeping on you will never  want with education.

To those who failed to get prizes,  please do not tire. Continue being industrious and resourceful.

I thank you.

Students, YOU CAN SEND YOUR ARTICLES THROUGH E-MAIL, FACEBOOK, WHATSAPP or TEXT Just app Charles Mushinga on 0772936678 or send your articles, pictures, poetry, art . . . to Charles Mushinga at [email protected] or [email protected] or follow Charles Mushinga on Facebook or @charlesmushinga on Twitter. You can also post articles to The Sunday Mail Bridge, PO Box 396, Harare or call 0772936678.

 

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