By Denis Kasule Ssebunya
Parents whose children study the intentional curriculum, as well as the teachers who teach them, have applauded Uganda’s new curriculum, saying it will elevate education to global standards.
The new curriculum that was rolled out in February 2020, starting with the lower secondary level, assesses learners using the skills-based approach, unlike the previous one that used the knowledge-based approach.
Using knowledge-based assessment just like the international curricula, according to the teachers and parents, is so crucial in elevating the education standards, as seen from their students.
While attending the passing out of Cambridge Advancesd Subsidiary results for the October/November 2023 sitting of Vienna Collage Namugoongo, Aggrey Kibenge, the permanent secretary for the Ministry of Gender, labor and, social development, a renowned educationist, and also a parent at this school, acknowledges that the new curriculum bring with it a several aspects that are with the international one, which is a great advantage to Uganda’s education.
According to Kibenge, to fully blend the national education system to suit global standards, the ongoing education policy review commission, should engage the managers of the institutions that offer international curricula in Uganda, to understand what they do differently.
“As the lower secondary reviewed curriculum is being implemented, there is the Education Policy Review Commission which is asking these questions, to which I personally gave my opinions about this topic, but I also think that they should invite the principals of the schools that do Cambridge, to also interrogate them on what they do differently such that we can incorporate it in our methodologies.” He said.
Mercy Kainobwisho, the registrar general of the Uganda Registrations Services Bureau who is also a parent at Vienna Collage, points out that the international curricula, has a 360 degrees approach of handling the learners, and they come out holistically in all spheres of life.
Kainobwisho adds that as the government implements the new reviewed national curriculum, the Uganda learners stand a chance to share the international curricula advantages.
From the over 150 students who sat for the exams that were being issued, over 40 percent scored 3A’s. From the same cohort, up to 135 candidates offered science subjects, which are still poorly done in this national curriculum.
Mohammed Kakiika, the Vianna collacollegecipal, says the national curriculum that is being rolled out, is reasonably closer to that of CaCambridge, and if it is implemented and assessed very well, the country will get good results of it for students.
Kakiika says that the government should make sure the new curriculum is implemented to the letter, because it looks very good on paper, and the difference will be in the implementation.
“Am glad about the new curriculum that is being rolled out. Am sure if it is well implemented, we are going to get good products out of our children in the national curriculum. They should not only end on paper, they should implement it to letter, because one of our problems is having very good policies and then implementation becomes a problem” he explained.