The Standard
By Vusumuzi Sifile
9 May 2010
ZIMBABWE’S schools are using a curriculum that was last reviewed in the 1980s, a development that has contributed to the perennial “free fall†in education standards and put the country out of sync with fast-changing education trends globally.
Government, which is battling to bring normality to an education sector weighed down by intermittent strikes by teachers and an acute shortage of textbooks says it is now treating the review of the curriculum as a priority.
However, the move could put the government on a warpath with teachers’ unions who believe the authorities want to “rush to change the engine of the vehicle without solving the fundamental problemâ€.
Education Minister David Coltart told a two-day conference to review the first year under the inclusive government organised by the Mass Public Opinion Institute that the outdated curriculum was frustrating attempts to transform the sector.
Coltart said his ministry had since identified experts who would lead the curriculum reform process.
“The last comprehensive curriculum review was done in the late 1980s,†he said.
“Our hope is that by mid-2011 we would have come up with concrete areas for curriculum reform.â€
The reforms would start right at the Curriculum Development Unit, which Coltart said was in a shambles.
In September last year, the National Educational Advisory Board (NEAB) recommended that the Ministry of Education’s “structures need to be reviewed to cope with recent changes and challenges, particularly in terms of providing a more updated curriculum which caters for a globalised economyâ€.
Teachers’ unions are divided on the proposals.
The Zimbabwe Teachers Association (Zimta) said it supported the review, while the militant Progressive Teachers’ Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) argued it was not a priority. Zimta chief executive officer Sifiso Ndlovu said the state of the current curriculum amounted to “condemning children to povertyâ€.
“Things have changed, life has changed, and education should be used to prepare learners to face life,†said Ndlovu. “We support the revision of the curriculum. Under the current system, we are condemning children to poverty.  “Time has come now for us to even adopt a different examination system.â€
Among other things, Ndlovu said they wanted the review to address the practical needs of learners.
Raymond Majongwe, the PTUZ secretary-general warned that the proposed reviews would not solve the main problems facing the education sector.
“While it is correct that we need to review the curriculum, it should not be hurriedly done otherwise we would have another half-baked pudding,†he said. Majongwe said most of the problems around politicisation of schools, poor remuneration for teachers, leaking of examination papers, among others, had nothing to do with the curriculum.
“If we want a quick fix, we might be creating a problem for ourselves. The problem is not the curriculum, but lack of investment in the education sector.  “We cannot rush to say let us change the curriculum yet there are so many fundamentals that need to be addressed,†he said.
Coltart said the printing of 13 million textbooks was now at an advanced stage, a development that would see all pupils having access to text books.  “The situation at schools is profoundly shocking, but we are working with our partners and local communities to rehabilitate schools,†said Coltart.
Coltart blamed the education crisis on years of neglect by successive Zanu PF governments.
The NEAB report proposed that “the curriculum and examinations (should also) be adjusted to the needs of children with different types of disabilities, such as the blind and the deafâ€.
It also proposed that there should be “more vocational and technical education, so that they have a chance to be gainfully employed after leaving schoolâ€.