The ManicaPost
Morris Mtisi Education Correspondent
LAST week I gave you something to think about: How people including those who speak about the new curriculum seem not to get what it is all about. I know I ruffled a few feathers. Maybe I annoyed quite a number. If you thought my next lines were going to be lines of apology forget and smile. This week I want to make a second attempt to knock sense into many of those heads.
You do not advocate the new curriculum but stick to the old colonial system of glorifying academic achievers at the expense of learners who are not gifted academically. You do not talk about competence-based learning and stick to the old colonial attitude which celebrated academic performance as if that were the axis of all learning and life.
The new curriculum clearly opens space for every learner to pursue what they love and enjoy most . . . their talent and gift from God. The school environment must therefore cease to be a comfort zone only for those who do well academically. School must be a place for children to discover themselves and what they can do best with the help of their teachers.
It is not a place to discover what they cannot do! When examinations fail learners, for it is exams that fail learners and not learners that fail exams, we need to question and examine the exams and not the teachers and learners. Of course this is not as simple as it sounds . . . but certainly another topic for another day.
For today I want to remind the proponents and implementers of the new curriculum to call a spade as a spade, and not a garden tool. When you display academic high performers in newspapers and profile them at the expense of learners with other aptitudes and abilities . . . gifts and talents, you are urinating on a perfect plan whose focus and purpose you do not understand.
While examinations are exceedingly important, they will and must not define you. That is what the new curriculum says. Exams must not define what you become in life.
Don’t forget, amongst these learners there are many artists/artistes who do not need to be good at Math, be it Pure or General Mathematics. There is a future businessman or woman amongst these learners who does not care about Geography or Shona. There is a star musician whose Biology or Chemistry marks do not and won’t matter. There is a sportsman/woman or athlete whose physical fitness is all that matters, not the grades in Agricultural Science or Fashion and Fabrics.
The new curriculum does not seek to take away any of the learner’s self-confidence and dignity. Instead it seeks to help learners to discover their gift and talent and run with it.
The new curriculum says to academic non-performers, “It’s OK. This is just an exam, but you are cut out for much bigger things in life.” It says, “No matter what you score, the exam does not judge you.” The new curriculum says, “Doctors, engineers, lawyers and actuarial scientists are not necessarily the happiest people on earth.”. It says, “One exam or low mark must not take away your dreams, your gift or talent. Exams must not define your whole future. There is so much more in learners than in exams.”
But what do we do?
Schools and school heads select these learners. They have cut-off points that condemn non-academic performers to academic dustbins, a ploy of the colonial masters. “We want five or six units into our Form 1 classes . . . so many ‘A’ grades if you want a Form 1 place. With anything below eight units or seven ‘A’s, you can go to hell to do your school there . . . not here!”
And so we watch our schools behave like colonial schools bottlenecking African learners in favour of white children. We are now all black and African but our understanding of education is practically still typical white and discriminatory.
The new curriculum is a document that speaks for quality, holistic and inclusive learning. But none of the above takes place. Education continues to be a selective dance in the dark with the dancers not sure what they are saying, what they are doing and where they are going at every stage of the implementation of the NC.
Education is the only one area of people’s lives that speaks about moving forward but keeps in one position and place. In certain instances Education is actually moving backwards to colonialism or plunge farther into the Iron and Stone Ages.
Soon the Form 4 examination results will be out. Watch my mouth! You will see how newspaper reporters, radios, televisions and press conferences glorify only academic achievement . . . but say nothing about the average learner and even the so-called failure. Much against the word, the focus, the purpose and spirit of the new curriculum!
Please note that the views expressed in this article are not necessarily those of The Manica Post. Morris Mtisi writes in his own capacity as an independent observer and critic of the education system . . . a self-regulating thought leader and disruptive thinker highly fascinated by educational reforms as evoked by the new curriculum in Zimbabwe.
We all speak about change that comes with the new curriculum. But we do not change with it doing what it compels us to do, namely making Education benefit every learner in various ways. We all speak about a curriculum that drives competence-based learning and recognises personal gifts and talents of learners. But we do not understand what that means.
The day that Zimbabweans practically understand the new curriculum and do what it seeks to do and achieve, that is the day education in Zimbabwe is going to move a step ahead and comply with 21st century learning skills. The day we all stop using academically gifted learners through examination outcomes to accompany the bright learners into their successful futures, at the expense of not-so-bright learners, that is the day our education will begin to make sense.
Examinations must never be used to define the metrics of success for everyone. There is so much more in every learner than in examinations.
Please note that the views expressed in this write-up are not necessarily those of The Manica Post. Morris Mtisi writes in his own capacity as an independent observer and critic of the education system . . . a self regulating thought leader and disruptive thinker highly fascinated by educational reforms as evoked by the new curriculum in Zimbabwe.
