EDITORIAL: MPs raise concern over revised curriculum

A parliamentary report tabled this week has found that Namibia’s revised education curriculum is the root cause for the dismal performance of learners, especially those sitting for external examinations.

Since the new curriculum was bulldozed into operation, the education ministry has ignored cries from stakeholders who repeatedly cautioned that the new regime could have catastrophic effects in the long run.

Teachers, who are directly affected by the new curriculum, also started voicing their concerns as many of them were not adequately prepared for the changes.

According to the report, stakeholders - including school boards, tertiary institutions and research institutions - argued that the new curriculum was poorly planned and not well resourced. It further noted that school managers reportedly told parliamentarians that the curriculum's implementation is flawed in that teaching Calculus only starts at Advanced Subsidiary (AS) level, while there is a complete mismatch between AS and tertiary requirements.

The mathematics pass rate has continued to decline significantly because math teachers do not possess the necessary skills to educate learners.

All these are red flags that were raised over the years, but the ministry has been hellbent to continue on its destructive path.

We hope the report will convince the education ministry to swallow its pride for the sake of the Namibian child. We cannot continue with a dysfunctional system simply because we are not willing to admit we were wrong.