CALA implementation rapped
Providence Moyo
Parents and other guardians have criticised the implementation of Continuous Assessment Learning (CALA) calling it financially abusive.
This came to light Thursday during Community Podium’s Ilihlo Lemaphandleni show on Skyz Metro FM aired under the topic, “A closer look at the low pass rate in rural schools and possible remedies” where a considerable number said they were struggling to keep up with the demands of CALA which require them to spend a lot of resources and time to help out pupils in their tasks.
“CALA is an albatross around our necks because the assignments are too difficult even for adults. The ministry must scrap off CALA because we are the ones doing it for the children.
Children must be given credit for what they can do, not what adults do for them. This kills the whole essence of the ability driven phenomenon of CALA. Please abantwana abazenzele hayikhona ukuthi sigijinyiswe kuthwe sibaphe imali zokufothokhopha when they should be drawing some of these things. We are willing to help them if CALA becomes a more practical idea rather than a photocopying scheme. Siyasetshwa and we do not have the money,” she said.
Another participant warned that if power cuts continue, some children are headed for academic disaster due to challenges with photocopying assignments that have a bearing on their final grade. He argued that CALA was added to an already congested curriculum.
Guest of the show, Dr Themba Nyoni who is the founder of Boabab Education Assessment Centre said bringing in CALA was a great idea but intensive capacitation of stakeholders like parents, learners and teachers should have been prioritised before its introduction.
“CALA is a brilliant idea but its implementation was poor as important stakeholders like teachers stumbled upon it and had to assist children deliver given tasks which teachers themselves could not fully understand.Some CALA tasks do not necessarily need to be photocopied but need to be physically relatable especially in the rural areas. For instance, a teacher can instruct learners to bring seeds to be used as counting aids.
Because of lack of capacitation, teachers are going through the motions for the sake of meeting expectations even without extensive knowledge,” he said.
Dr Nyoni said CALA must not be uniformly implemented throughout the country due to the digital divide between communities. He added that its implementation has to vary in line with resources available in a given geographical location as some places have poor to no access to internet. Dr Nyoni empasised that forcing everyone to photocopy is exclusionary in essence.
CALA is a learning activity that requires learners to physically and practically perform and demonstrate their knowledge and contributes 30 percent to the final mark of Grade Sevens, Form Fours and Upper sixth candidates. It is part of the curriculum that was introduced in 2015.
Only 41% of Grade Seven learners that sat for the November 2022 examinations passed. Rural areas have most of the worst results. In Bulilima District, three schools recorded a 0% pass rate.
