Education reforms praisedAll systems go for first phase The Ministry of Education is ready for the phasing in of its revised curriculums starting next year. JANA-MARI SMITHFunds have been made available for the revised curriculums of grade 1 to grade 7 that will be implemented next year, the education ministry has confirmed.
As part of the phasing in of major education reforms, the ministry is also working out the cost of implementing the revised curriculum for the new three-year senior secondary phase that begins in 2019.
Hertha Pomuti, the director of the National Institute for Educational Development (NIED), which is spearheading the reforms, was responding to questions posed by Namibia’s first education minister Nahas Angula, who said while the extensive reforms were positive overall, funding was a major challenge.
He referred to the already extensive financial demands from the education sector, including salary increases for teachers, the impact of free education and the costs of sourcing funds for various school subjects and activities, in addition to the country’s overall economic challenges which affect the education coffers.
Pomuti confirmed that funds for the revised curriculum of the junior primary phase had been made available.
“We also costed the implementation of the revised curricula for the senior primary and junior secondary phase in 2016 and 2017 respectively and the funds were made available.”
She said the next step would get under way in 2017, when “we will work out the costs for the implementation of the revised curriculum for the senior secondary phase. The ministry has made commitments in this regard.”
Education expert and veteran politician Andrew Matjila said the reforms were welcome for many reasons and could go a long way to “bring about new focus into an otherwise drab situation”.
He added that “we have become so used to the high annual grade 10 failure rates that it is now like a culture,” an issue that the reforms are addressing specifically with the extension of the senior secondary grade, and the shift from the first exit point from basic education from grade 10 to grade 11.
Matjila said it was important to note that the reforms had been extensively investigated, evaluated and found to be sound by experts in the field to “be sure of the consequences of their recommendations.”
However, he said it was important to bear in mind that education reforms “take a long time to take root and to show signs of success”.
One major concern for Matjila is the impact of keeping learners in school for longer, which he worries could potentially further increase the dropout rate which the reforms seek to address.
“Learners cannot be kept willy-nilly in school for long periods of time until they grow old … children must complete their schooling as quickly as is reasonably possible, especially nowadays with all the unholy situations children have to put up with.” He said he would prefer a shorter primary phase to ensure children move on to high school faster.
Pomuti pointed out that the aim of keeping children in school longer is to reduce the high dropout rate at the end of grade 10, which is 48% currently. “We do not see an explicit relationship between teenage pregnancy and keeping kids in school longer,” she said.
She said studies on teenage pregnancies in Namibia found that the main causes of teenage pregnancy were a lack of parenting and legal guardianship. She said it was well documented that the majority of learners drop out because of pregnancy.
She agreed with Matjila’s view that teaching children moral and other values was primarily the responsibility of their parents, but added that basic education puts an emphasis on the holistic development of children.
“All the aspects of child development, social, moral, intellectual, spiritual etc., are interrelated and critical to the learner’s performance in school,” Pomuti said.
Last week, Angula told Namibian Sun that although he praised the emphasis on vocational and practical skills, he would not recommend the inclusion of trade subjects such as bricklaying, pipe fitting, and plumbing. He said not all these subjects could be taught at each school.
He said the reforms should instead focus on modern and soft skills which have high value, including information and communication technology and subjects such as fashion design, which could be more widely implemented.
Pomuti emphasised that the basic education curriculum does include a wide variety of such subjects, including design and technology, fashion and fabrics and office practice and hospitality, alongside technical trade skills.
She emphasised that the decision to introduce the technical trade subjects was carefully considered and its implementation planned. “Therefore, the ministry has planned to introduce these subjects in 14 schools, one school in each region, taking into account issues of affordability and effective monitoring of implementation.”
She added that trade subjects were essential for Namibia.
“There are a lot of construction companies in Namibia. Some of the owners and workers do not have construction knowledge and skills and this poses health and safety risks to society.”
Pomuti quoted a study conducted in 41 countries which found that skilled trade workers “are in the shortest supply across the world”.
Moreover, students who take technical subjects will be encouraged to study complementary subjects “to be able to acquire the necessary soft skills such as decision making, problem-solving skills, interpersonal skills and critical and creative thinking skills”.
Teachers who spoke to Namibian Sun praised the steps taken by the ministry to review the curriculum and the preparations taken to help teachers adapt to the challenges that lie ahead.
“I think it is necessary to review the curriculum from time to time. I think this is a good intervention on the part of the education ministry, in order to improve on previous standards, which I definitely think is the case here,” said the headmaster of Jan Mohr Secondary School in Windhoek, Clement Kloppers.
He added that teachers had received training for the first phase of the implementation next year, in Grade 8, and he was sure they would be “able to master the new things to come.”