‘Burdensome’ CALA to be reviewed

Victor Sibanda

VICTORIA FALLS-The updated school curriculum which has been heavily criticised by stakeholders for being cumbersome will be reviewed this year, a Minister has revealed.

While officiating at the National Association of Primary Heads(NAPH) conference held at the Elephant Hills Hotel Monday, the Minister of Primary and Secondary Education, Dr Evelyn Ndlovu said the ministry will soon engage stakeholders to review the updated curriculum which began in 2015.

” As you are all aware , our curriculum has run its course,that is from 2015 to 2022 and it is now up for review. Shortly the ministry will involve all stakeholders in the country for their input,” said the minister who urged school heads to mobilise communities and stakeholders to partake in the review process.

This year’s conference was held under the theme, ‘Facing the future in the new normal.’

The minister implored heads of schools to stick to the standard operating procedures to curb the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in the learning institutions.

She said: ” Your theme is aptly coined. Our institutions of learning were not spared by the pandemic and to reduce the transmission rates , the only available option was to close schools. Continue to take full advantage of radio lessons , online and offline products and other catch up materials so as to cover lost time due to COVID-19,”

The minister expressed regret at the recently released UN figures that show that the literacy rate in Zimbabwe has dropped from 95% to 93% since 2015, an indication that COVID-19 has induced learning poverty.

She urged the heads to ensure that learners attain the four macro-skills of reading, writing, arithmetic and digital literacy.

Speaking on the sidelines of the conference, a head from the Midlands Province said the review of the updated curriculum was long overdue.

“The curriculum is giving everyone a headache. We need to implement catch up strategies to make up for wasted academic lessons during lockdown. However, since 2015, there has been no rest amongst teachers and parents on how to do Continuous Assessment Learning Areas(CALA).

The tasks are too much. How can a grade 7 learner do about 30 tasks or projects, more than what tertiary students do? Stakeholders should suggest a better approach to the updated curriculum,” said the head.

A considerable number of educationists, parents, teachers and learners have been complaining about CALA, calling it too complex and too expensive to implement. They have also alleged that a lot of corruption is going on whereby teachers are being bribed to do the projects for pupils.