Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education has acquired teaching and learning material worth USD$9 million to provide resources needed to make the widely condemned new curriculum work said the Minister, Professor Paul Mavhima.
In an interview with 263Chat, Professor Mavhima said the ministry evaluated the previous curriculum with the aim of addressing problems hindering the success of the new curriculum.
He added that the purpose of the new curriculum will be defeated if learners are given impossible tasks, further noting that students from different backgrounds should be able to come up with the same conclusions after doing the same tasks.
“I can tell you for sure that we are reviewing the continuous assessment regime to make sure that the tasks and projects are not only meaningful but doable and practical,
“We have to push our learners but can’t ask them the impossible, it defeats the entire purpose. The continuous assessment platform has to be objective and not subjective,
“Students from different backgrounds need to be able to come up with same conclusion after doing the same task. Additionally to that we want to give our teachers the tools they need to perform effectively which why we have acquired teaching and learning material worth USD$9 million which will be distributed as quickly as possible,” explained Mavhima.
He added that they are reinforcing administrators’ understanding of the new curriculum to the lowest level so they have the motivation to deliver.
On the delivery of the new curriculum, Mavhima pledged to move those who under-perform as the economic turnaround of the country is hinged on the education sector.
“Teachers have to get into the mind of the new dispensation, it cannot be business as usual, we need to turn around this country and every sector has to perform,
“We can’t tolerate people who want to sabotage the performance of this sector, there will be performance monitoring and where need be we move people so that we can have effective performance especially on the delivery of the new curriculum because this is going to be our contribution to the turn around of this country,” added Mavhima.
Permanent Secretary, Dr Sylvia Utete-Masango called for everyone to come on board to allow the education sector to transform.
“We are communicating the same message and we are saying, for all of us to able to buy into the education transformation, everyone must be taken on board,
“Not only the technocrats but the support staff to assess how much they about the new curriculum so they need to be aware of the direction the ministry is taking,” emphasized Masango.
