Secondary schools have been directed to adopt the revised curriculum for O-level immediately.
The directive was announced by the National Curriculum Development Centre (NCDC) saying the new syllabus begins with Senior One students due to return to school on Monday, April 12, 2021.
According to the NCDC director, Grace Baguma, the new curriculum is based on practical methods of learning aimed at addressing the country’s current human resource needs adding that although the current education system is highly regarded, it merely focuses on the needs of a tiny academically oriented elite yet the needs of the majority of learners need to be the focus.
“The Ministry of Education and Sports through the National Curriculum Development Centre (NCDC), therefore, undertook a review of the lower secondary curriculum aimed at providing a learning environment, opportunities, interactions, tasks and instructions that foster deep learning by putting the learner at the centre of the learning experience,” she said.
Ms Baguma said that the revised curriculum is competence-based aimed at emphasising the development of the learner’s ability ‘to do rather than to know’.
NCDC advised all private schools to adhere to the demands of the revised competence based curriculum and avoid mixing the revised curriculum with the old curriculum in senior one.
Ms Baguma urged the Directorate of Education Standards (DES) and all district administrators to conduct regular school inspections to ensure that all schools teach Senior One learners using the revised lower secondary curriculum adding that master trainers should support teachers in their districts or regions in making them understand the curriculum deeper.
The implementation of the revised lower secondary curriculum was designed to take on a phased approach starting with those admitted to senior one in 2020 but due to Covid-19 pandemic this did not happen.
