The COVID-19 Pandemic Gave Schools An Opportunity To Demonstrate The Skills Development Thrust Of The New Curriculum - Cain Mathema

Primary and Secondary Education Minister Cain Mathema on Friday at a Chapter of the Covid-19 Schools Response Plan in Lupane said new curriculum critics were wrong as the COVID-19 pandemic gave schools an opportunity to demonstrate that practical skills developed through the new curriculum were imperative, The Chronicle reports.

Said Mathema:

This coronavirus pandemic has given schools an opportunity to demonstrate the skills development thrust that is now core to our new curriculum. For some who may be saying what are the schools doing producing personal protective equipment (PPE), the answer is in the new competency-based curriculum which is designed to equip learners with knowledge, skills, values, attitudes and competences for life and work.

The school curriculum that we abandoned focused mainly on the acquisition of knowledge, and for the 75 percent who did not pass Ordinary Level, their lives became bleak. Society continuously encouraged them to write supplementary examinations in order to get to the magical five subjects but this was not possible for the majority. And yet in each coming year, another 7 percent of O-Level learners would be thrown onto the streets.

The new curriculum which was introduced by Dr Lazarous Dokora who was the Minister of education then was met with hostility when it was first introduced in 2016 and many criticised it and said it was not practical for Zimbabwe.

More: The Chronicle