Valerie Chatindo
With the introduction of the new Heritage-Based Curriculum in 2024 and implementation set for 2025, most parents and especially educators have been left wondering if this new curriculum is just as ill-fated as the previous one.
In 2017, the Zimbabwean Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education (MOPSE) introduced a Competency-based Curriculum.
The goal?
To ensure that learners are equipped with theoretical skills and knowledge that they are able to apply outside the classroom. With unemployment rates high in the country, it has never been more important for the educational system to put out future entrepreneurs, leaders and innovators.
In all fairness, the introduction of this curriculum was not a bad idea at all.
This system was first implemented in schools through what were known as Tasks. These were projects which students performed that contributed towards their final mark. Eventually, this evolved into the Continuous Assessment Learning Activities (CALA) Curriculum, where further activities were added, contributing 30% of the final mark.
As of 2025, educators, parents, and students await the implementation of the Heritage-Based Curriculum. Like CALA, this curriculum involves outside activities and projects but aims to preserve and teach learners about Zimbabwe’s culture and Ubuntu.
It is all fair and fine; however, the issue with all these curricula has always been implementation, especially for marginalised and rural communities.
Implementing subjects such as ICT, VPA, and Design has been difficult in communities without computers. Teachers are so overwhelmed that they hardly have time to teach dance and art. This problem has been present not only in rural schools but also in affluent government schools, where teachers of ICT and Art are non-existent. Students are told to memorise textbooks without any hands-on experience.
This has never been the fault of educators, who were hardly equipped to deal with the demands of these previous curriculums, and it is not now.
As of January 14 2025, Zimbabwean schools have opened. Educators have yet to receive training on the new system, and new textbooks have yet to be available. Parents have been advised to purchase old curriculum-based material and will at any moment be expected to once again expend their hard-earned resources at a moment’s notice.
Some can afford this, but many others will be left at a standstill. A new curriculum has new demands, but very few resources are available to ensure its success.
With finances already creating further educational disparity in different communities, one can only wonder where the Ubuntu is with this new curriculum.