Chaos caused by 'poor planning'

Popular Democratic Movement (PDM) has challenged the education ministry to explain why it has not delivered on all promises it made to parents and teachers when it introduced the new school curriculum in 2015.

PDM parliamentarian Nico Smit said the education ministry's lack of planning and inability to implement the new curriculum are factors underlining the chaos that engulfed schools and learners at the start of this school year.

“If one considers that this brainchild of former education minister Dr David Namwandi was already introduced into our schools in 2015 (upper primary phase), it is inexplicable why the ministry decided to abruptly terminate the old curriculum at the end of 2018, leaving thousands of grade 10 learners to fail their grade and then find themselves in limbo with literally no choices when it came to getting to grade 12.”

Smit said the ministry has been unable or unwilling to explain, in simple terms, how leaving school after grade 11 would benefit Namibian children.

“The PDM therefore believes that the real reason behind the introduction of the new curriculum is to get as many learners off the school benches and onto the streets as quickly as possible so that they are no longer the government's responsibility.”

Smit said the PDM was dismayed by the blatant short-sightedness of those charged with planning in the education ministry, adding that many teachers had pointed out the potential pitfalls in implementing the new curriculum.

“The ministry has reacted, predictably, in panic when confronted with outrage from parents and learners when they were informed that part-time grade 10 students who improved their results on the old curriculum could not return to full-time schooling to continue with grade 11.

“Should these learners redo grade 10 on the new curriculum, which they could have done last year had they been informed of what was transpiring?” Smit asked.

According to him the “astounding and weak-kneed” U-turn by the ministry in this regard betrayed an absence of planning and foresight.

Smit further said that those learners who could not pass grade 10 with the old curriculum the first time would now be expected to pass grade 11 with the new curriculum.

He further noted that they would be expected to achieve a C grade in four subjects at ordinary level if they wanted to do grade 12.

“How schools are expected to help them bridge the quite considerable gaps in their subject knowledge remains a mystery.”

He said it is common knowledge that many teachers require training to cope with subject teaching in the new curriculum.

“It is clear from a study of the content of the subject syllabi of the new curriculum that the work formerly done in grade 11 in the old curriculum has been moved into the grade 10 syllabi in the new curriculum and the grade 12 work in the old curriculum into the grade 11 in the new curriculum syllabi.”

Smit said although this is a fairly easy change to make, what cannot be changed so easily is the mental maturity of the learners and the subject knowledge and understanding of the teachers.

“A total of 404 teachers are needed – yet the school year started on 15 January 2020. Does this mean that learners are beginning the year without hundreds of teachers? Did the ministry only now discover that more teachers are needed?

“The PDM has for years endeavoured to point out the fiasco that is Namibia's education system, but with its usual arrogance the ministry has simply ignored them. We can only conclude that it's not about the learners of Namibia, but about saving money for this government.”

ELLANIE SMIT