ELLEN MLAMBO
MIRROR REPORTER

ZIPAM – The Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education has started its review process of the 2015-2022 curriculum which will culminate in a new Curriculum for the period 2023 to 2030, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Tumisang Thabela has said.
The curriculum under review is the Competence Based Curriculum (CBC) for primary and secondary schools introduced in 2015 to allow education to shift focus away from academic to a curriculum with a strong technical and vocational component that equips pupils with knowledge, attitudes and skills for life and work.
Addressing over 30 media managers gathered at the Zimbabwe Institute of Public Administration Management (ZIPAM) in Zvimba this week, Thabela said the CBC, one of whose key features is the Continuous Assessment Learning Activities completed its seven-year circle in 2022 hence the review.
The review process will involve an assessment of the implementation of the 2015-2022 curriculum framework, the successes, challenges, relevance and quality and learning points. The results of the review would feed into a new curriculum for the period 2023 to 2030, said Thabela.
So far the Ministry has engaged consultants to guide the review process and carried out a curriculum terminal evaluation where learners, teachers and SDCs have been consulted. With this done the evaluation process will now hold consultative meetings at the school, district, provincial and national levels.
The workshop was attended by senior media managers from national newspapers, community radio stations, community newspapers and televisions from throughout the country. Thabela described the media as an important stakeholder in the curriculum review process as their responsibility is to relay information. Several experts on curricula took the media managers through the workshop.
“The purpose of today’s engagement is to inform you about the progress we are making as Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education, the challenges we are facing and the interventions required to close the gap as far as the curriculum review process is concerned. As members of the media you have a critical role in helping us communicate these messages and promoting dialogue and discussions on this important programme,” said Thabela.
She said the adjusted 2015 curriculum that brings forth the 2023 curriculum will ensure that the curriculum remains relevant by addressing new realities to the education needs.
Some key issues that the 2023 curriculum would need to attend to are the aspirations of Vision 2030 where education must produce critical and skilled human capital. The new curriculum should also attend to issues of disasters including climate change-induced pandemics like Covid19.
CBC was a culmination of a comprehensive national curriculum review in 2015, taking recommendations from the Presidential Commission of Inquiry into Education and Training (CIET) that was led by Professor Nziramasanga.