Education ministry preparing condensed version of class syllabus

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT |  The Ministry of Education and Sports is preparing a condensed version of the class syllabus that will guide teachers on how to manage the teaching-learning process in the shortened learning period.

Ever since the government announced the phased reopening for all learners, educationists, teachers and parents have questioned how the one-year learning content and activities would be delivered to learners in the time availed.

Israel Mulindwa, the chairperson of the COVID-19 education response committee, says that the said document will help teachers to focus on covering the required content rather than terms and tracing for the lost calendar time, to enable attain the required competencies.

The condensed version is being prepared by the National Curriculum Development Centre-NCDC looking at basic concepts in addition to needed competencies and life skills that learners should attain in a given class.

Mulindwa, however, notes that the prepared document should not be misunderstood as a curriculum review or change. He explains that the document under development will only be guiding teachers on how they can teach given concepts that are in the syllabi without necessarily using much time.

Earlier several headteachers and teachers noted that teaching content designed for the academic year in just weeks would be difficult. Others observed that they would have to rush through’ everything in the short time provided. 

But, Mulindwa, who also doubles as the director of basic education, says teachers should not worry about coverage of the entire syllabi since learners still have time in their respective education cycles to recover the lost time over two to three years.

However, Filbert Baguma, the Uganda National Teachers Union Secretary General, notes that while designing the abridged version of the syllabus, the ministry should put into mind that several schools move at a different speed as far as syllabus coverage is concerned and the fact that all schools didn’t end at the same level. 

“The best way of handling this would be advising individual schools on what to do after reopening. Schools will be proceeding from where they ended and see how best they remaining part of syllabi. Some schools might have completed the syllabus already given e-learning and other new concepts, so what will those do upon reopening? Those are some of the questions that need answers,” Baguma said

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