New hope for our students

I COMMEND the Curriculum Development Division officers of the Education Department for completing the junior primary standards-based curriculum (SBC).
Curriculum writing is not as easy as one would think by quickly looking at the materials.
They have recently completed the junior primary syllabuses and teachers’ guides for which the facilitators’ trainings are understood to have been rolled out in the provinces.
I assume that the writers are now working on the senior primary, high school and secondary school curriculums which will be rolled out to schools in the coming years.
The SBC would not have come about in time had it not been for the marvelous job of the CDD officers and everyone who worked behind the scenes.
The outcome-based curriculum was introduced in 2002. It superseded the former objective-based curriculum. The latter was in use for over 27 years after independence.
Contrarily, OBC has been in use for over 15 years now, but it will soon be replaced by the SBC which is now in the training phase.
The phasing out of OBC is due to the negative impact it is perceived to have posed on the education of children in the country.
Teachers complained that the OBC was ambiguous. Consequently, teaching outcomes were not effectively achieved as expected.
Parents and stakeholders also complained that the curriculum was not good.
The outcome-based education was squarely blamed for the declining education standards in the country.
Due to the public outcry, the national Government intervened and engaged a committee headed by Fr Jan Czuba, the former president of Divine Word University, to review the OBC and the outcome-based education.
The committee recommended an immediate phasing out of OBC and the introduction of SBC which has resulted in the development of the curriculum materials.
Most, if not all, provinces will have rolled out this year the junior primary SBC training courses with the help of the teacher education institutions around the country.
Soon after the teachers have been trained, the SBC will be fully implemented in all the schools in the national education system, hopefully by next year.
The ultimate goal of introducing SBC is to improve the education standards which have declined for over a decade as a result of the OBE.
I believe that with the introduction of the SBC, there should be some light at the end of the tunnel as the curriculum is fully implemented over the years.

Steven Koya
Koalilombo village, Kagua
Southern Highlands