CALA roles misunderstood
Providence Moyo
Parents and teachers do not understand their role in Continuous Assessment Learning Activity (CALA), a online discussion has revealed.
During the engagement organised by Community Connect under the topic, ” Challenges and benefits of CALA,” it emerged that most parents and teachers are under the impression that they are responsible for CALA projects yet their role is to guide learners in the execution of the projects.
Guest, Dr Themba Nyoni a researcher with Baobab Educational Assessment Centre attributed the rejection of the CALA system to a confusion of stakeholder roles due to the lack of preparation of parents and teachers for the system.
“Project Management, and change management principles were ignored and that is why we have this massive rejection of the system. The foot soldiers who are meant to be implementing this were not prepared for it at all. They didn’t understand the rationale and it’s processes.
The major stakeholders – the parents have no idea what this is and its processes. It was just dumped onto them by people who themselves did not understand it. It was chaotic! If it had been implemented systematically with wider consultation with all stakeholders and adequate preparation, this project would have been a great success,” said Nyoni.
Nyoni said it was not late to save the project and called on government and schools to invest on bringing stakeholders up to speed with regards their roles.
“The ministry must make conscious effort, as opposed to just ticking the boxes, to explain and make all stakeholders understand the rationale – the need for, the why, how, what of CALA and demystify the widespread misconception that parents are the ones who have to do the activities because it kills the initial desire to equip the learner with the skills we talked about earlier. Take into consideration the socio-economic factors around the communities where the learners are.
Because of the poor implementation process, the one-size-fits-all approach saw the disadvantaging of communities who had to bear the brunt of the financial implications that came with the implementation. Schools should take it upon themselves to run seminars for their parents’ bodies to understand what CALA is and it’s wider benefits and processes.
Yes, it was badly implemented but it is a very good methodology if implemented properly, ” he said.
Shadreck Marara a parent said the current set up where parents have assumed ownership of the CALA projects means learners’ failure becomes more personal to the parent.
“Half the time parents are typing and doing the work, if a child fails , as a parent cannot complain because I was involved in the 30% of the work so I then take ownership of failure as well,” he said.
One Maranatha Adventist High School learner( name withheld) castigated the CALA arguing that it was strenuous both academically and in terms of resources.
” Some of us do not have laptops and other resources so we cannot compete. Not every household with school-going children have phones with Internet access to research. Data charges are too high. We try to meet the demand of examinations but we only do it to cross over to the next stage. Personally, I think the system is taxing on social skills because l nolonger have time to play and socialise due to the time l spend doing these CALAs, its stressful.
The Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe have called for the reduction of CALA projects. It says five projects per subject are too much for teachers, parents and learners
Recently the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education conducted curriculum reviews on CALA across the country where it sought to obtain feedback on the system that was introduced in 2021. Under CALA, learners in examination classes (Grade 7, Form 4 and Upper 6) work on projects that constitute 30 percent of the final mark.
