The Sunday Mail
Dr Lazarus Dokora
Education is fundamental to personal and national development. It provides a myriad of life opportunities, and also underpins the development of a highly-skilled and innovative workforce which is critical for social, cultural and economic growth. The Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education remains committed to fulfilling the potential of learners in Zimbabwe.
Emphasis will be given to providing improved access and quality education to every learner. This will subsequently contribute to bringing meaningful change in the lives of ordinary Zimbabweans.
Our education system has provided today’s generation with knowledge, skills and a hybrid of attitudes that have driven the country‘s growth and prosperity.
At the centre of this phenomenal growth and achievement are thousands of dedicated teachers, school heads, administrators, officers and staff at the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education, both past and present, whose contribution can never be overstated.
The nation has realised a dramatic improvement to the quality and provision of education since Independence in 1980.
The achievements such as the high literacy level of 92,4 percent were realised through stakeholder collaborative efforts.
Rural district councils, parents and multi-lateral organisations such as Unicef and Unesco made significant contributions in their own way to this celebrated success.
The mandate of the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education is to provide a wholesome education for all Zimbabweans. The education system should also be accessible, affordable and enable citizens to participate in the socio-economic transformation of the nation.
It was for this reason that the ministry adopted a strategy to engage all sections of Zimbabwean society to develop a shared vision, “To be the lead provider of inclusive quality education for socio-economic transformation by 2020”.
In order to accomplish the vision, the ministry adopted the following mission statement, “To provide equitable, quality, inclusive and relevant infant Junior and Secondary Education”.
Curriculum review
Zimbabwe’s national economic frameworks have always embraced the vision of producing patriotic, self-reliant and well-educated Zimbabweans.
In the same manner, the Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation calls for the development of a curriculum which is relevant to national needs while equipping learners with life skills for work and leisure.
The Curriculum Framework is the consolidation of views of almost a million people representing the generality of Zimbabweans in different walks of life.
The national Constitution and the reviewed economic policies, which advocate for the transformation of the education system to meet the opportunities and challenges of the growing economy, inspire this Curriculum Framework.
A key priority for this transformation is to ensure better alignment between policy formulation and its implementation in the education system.
Another priority is to improve the resource base and strengthen the link between desired outcomes and effective allocation of resources.
There is need for effective implementation and evaluation of programmes and projects. The Curriculum Framework provides for greater autonomy, accountability and flexibility in delivering solutions and is tailored to meet the unique needs of each learner.
Effective implementation will require constructive networking with stakeholders across Government agencies, parents, community groups and the private sector.
The 1999 Presidential Commission of Inquiry into Education and Training defines curriculum as “the aggregate of all what we (want to) impart to our learners, through the total experiences of the school system in a deliberate design to achieve educational goals”.
The curriculum therefore should include:
What society would like to pass on to young people as knowledge, skills and values,
The development of aptitudes and interests of learners,
Possibilities for adjustments
The decision to develop this Curriculum Framework was necessitated by:
the growing urgency amongst policy-makers and educators to adequately prepare Zimbabwean learners for the 21st Century,
increased public and parental concerns regarding the relevance of the Curriculum,
necessity to respond to the needs of industry and commerce trends in global education standards.
The curriculum in Zimbabwe since colonial times has tended to be overly academic. However, the trend today is to pay increased attention to competency development, that is, learners’ ability to mobilise their knowledge, skills and attitudes independently and creatively to address different challenges.
There is, therefore, need to constantly adjust the curriculum to meet the imperatives of the times.
This is more so given that Zimbabwe is an agro-based economy.
In the 1999-2000 period, Zimbabwe undertook an unprecedented land reform which witnessed relocation of more than 300 000 families.
Furthermore, Zimbabwe has experienced an exponential growth of the informal sector over the past decade or so.
It is against this background that Government took a decision to carry out a curriculum review to ensure the curriculum is responsive to the socio-economic needs of the country. Due to rapid technological and social developments over the last three decades, access to information, knowledge, especially through ICT, is now virtually unlimited.
This has resulted in greater access to depositories of information and knowledge hubs worldwide. The knowledge sector has increasingly become an important means of wealth generation, hence the need for regular curriculum renewal in order to maximise on opportunities.
l Full story available at www.sundaymail.co.zw
