Push skills-based learning for mid/long-term results

Ever since the lower secondary curriculum was reviewed, there has been a clamour to see the learning outcomes of the students. The first batch of Ordinary Level students sat their final exams at the end of last year. We all spent a period of time trying to interpret the results. Have we succeeded on that front? The answer is anyone’s guess. Some of those students have since transitioned to another abridged curriculum at Advanced Level.

 This past week, the First Lady Janet Kataaha Museveni, who also serves as Minister for Education and Sports, needed to remind people to understand its benefits. She urged schools and parents to embrace Uganda’s new curriculum, describing it as a vital tool to improve youth employability and meet the demands of the modern world. “This curriculum promotes a learner-centered approach that aims to equip our young people with practical skills, knowledge, attitude, and competencies.

It promotes critical thinking, creativity, and innovation amongst learners, thus improving employability and producing a generation of Ugandans that are better equipped to meet the needs of the twenty-first century,” said Ms Museveni. This phase had hit a snag due to lack of funds to fully implement the changes, but the government found a way. The proponents of these changes in the secondary school curriculum, many of whom are largely education experts and even ordinary folks, see a lot of good. Uganda needed to break away from the colonial curriculum, which mainly concentrated on cramming and reproducing the content. Everyone talks of a ‘competency-based’ system that concentrates on equipping learners with skills that they can then employ in their communities to provide solutions and create employment.

There seems to be a push to start to see instant results ever since the decision was taken to dump the old curriculum and introduce this new one. In many cases, it was also embraced in a half-hearted manner. However, it’s important to know that we will only know the actual benefits in the medium and long term. Such pet projects cannot be expected to show their reward in the short term. The short term should remain a period of investment by learners, parents, schools, experts, and the government. A competency-based curriculum focuses on what learners can do rather than just what they know, emphasising practical skills and real-world application. It’s learner-centered and adaptable to the needs of students, teachers, and society, shifting the focus from rote memorisation to developing competency in specific areas. After all, what they learn (and how they learn it) will become a part of these students as they grow, hopefully helping them become successful adults.