Parliament Summons Janet Museveni over New Curriculum

Parliament has summoned the Minister of Education and Sports, Janet Museveni to appear in person on Tuesday to brief the House on government’s insistence on the implementation of the new curriculum.

A number of Members of Parliament during the plenary sitting of Thursday demanded that the substantive minister, also First Lady, should personally avail herself and explain why the Executive defied Parliament’s resolution to suspend the new curriculum and should not delegate her juniors.

“This House needs to hear from the substantive minister. She (Janet) has been sending us her juniors. We want her here,” said Semujju Nganda of Kiira municipality.

Semujju’s position was supported by other MPs including Nandala Mafabi of Budadiri West and Mbwatekama Gafa of Kasanda.

Speaker Rebecca Kadaga, who steered the house, then pronounced that the First Lady should appear in person on Tuesday.

“We have noted that this is a critical matter and it is time for the substantive minister to come here. The minister of Education and Sports is required here on Tuesday next week,” said Kadaga.

Parliament last week halted the implementation of the lower secondary education curriculum noting that the country is not yet ready in terms of funding and preparation of teachers.

Hon. Michael Mawanda (NRM, Igara East) said then that the curriculum has some loopholes; only focusing on lower secondary school instead of starting from primary school.

“As a competence assessment curriculum it should start from primary one,” he said adding that, “the grading system which involves competency assessment of 20 per cent to be done by the teachers will be irregular because different schools across the country have different competencies”.

Mawanda added that the introduction of the curriculum has created a stampede because there is a rush in schools to adopt the curriculum without the necessary text books and training of teachers.

“It is also wrong for the Ministry to train its teachers on a curriculum in three days that has taken 13 years to prepare,” he added.

Mawanda suggested that the government takes a year piloting the curriculum to iron out any issues before fully launching it.

The new curriculum developed by the National Curriculum Development Center aims at a “holistic Education for Personal and National Development” according to the ministry of Education.

The review envisions to produce a secondary school graduate with employable skills that are competitive in the job market. By the end of the educational process, the learner is expected to become a: self-assured individuals, responsible and Patriotic citizens, lifelong learners and positive contributors to society.

It is expected to promote effective learning and acquisition of skills by developing a curriculum that builds meta-cognitive abilities and skills so that individuals are better placed to adapt to their evolving roles in society and the dynamic workplace.

But Masaka Municipality MP, Hon. Mathias Mpuuga, said that the move by the ministry to roll out a new curriculum was what he referred to as chaotic planning’’.

“Not so long ago, the government decided to build a secondary school in every sub-county but before it could implement that, it has jumped to rolling out a new curriculum that is going to cost a lot of money,” he said.

He pointed out that is incoherent for the ministry to come up with a new assessment method for students as is stipulated in the new curriculum without forming a comprehensive assessment tool and taking time to train the teachers.

Mpuuga urged the ministry to take time piloting the curriculum before fully rolling it out.

Defence

Government says the new curriculum intends to reduce subject and content overload and addressing the needs of all students and lay foundation for improved pedagogy and assessment procedures that allows learners to realise their full potential more effectively.

It is also meant to address the social and economic needs of the country by meeting the educational needs of the learners aspiring for higher academic learning as well as those that wish to transit to the labour market.

Officials say the lower secondary education curriculum is also to allow flexibility to absorb emerging fields of knowledge in the areas of Science and Technology, address the 21st century skills required in the world of work and addressing issues of wastage with regard to utilization of resources (teachers, school facilities/space, and instructional materials) so as to ensure efficiency.