Minister Bitamazire, new curriculum a mere change of guard
Apr 28, 2009
REFERENCE is made to your recent efforts to reduce O’level subjects from 42 to 18. I applaud you for your unwavering desire to transform the repressive nature of our colonial-crafted education. However, your directive represents a mere change of guard.
By Morris D.C Komakech
REFERENCE is made to your recent efforts to reduce O’level subjects from 42 to 18. I applaud you for your unwavering desire to transform the repressive nature of our colonial-crafted education. However, your directive represents a mere change of guard. Reducing the subjects alone does not help the situation.
Whereas your good intentions are well-stipulated, especially in advancing physical education and lessening the burden of curricula overload on our young ones, there are key areas that should have been addressed.
Globalisation has fused our worlds to the extent that competition for excellence is inevitable. We need to strengthen our curricula with flavours that nurture innovation and creativity. In technology, we assemble generator parts with Tata tyres and proclaim inventing a car! What innovation in our time can we trade favourably in the global arena without sounding and looking ridiculous?
In your new policy, you decided that agriculture becomes an elective subject yet over 80% of our population is employed in agriculture. One would expect agriculture to gain a core status to replace obvious subjects like geography. Our children need philosophy to enable them indulge in critical thinking. This way, they will ably put to use the enormous amount of knowledge they muzzle into practice.
Business-oriented subjects such as commerce, accounts and customer care should be made compulsory to promote the understanding of adding value to our natural resources, not withstanding trans-cultural studies. For Africa to break loose from this clientele-consumer culture, we must promote trade and commerce in our local languages, including Kiswahili. It is imperative that our curricula focus on exploiting culturally-sustainable growth within these human realities.
While in church on Easter, President Yoweri Museveni advised parents to guide their children on career choice. In Uganda, one gains respect for having pursued traditional professions such as medicine, law and engineering.
In the global world, it no longer matters what profession one takes, what matters is how creative and competitive that individual is. This additional ability of training our young minds to reason beyond their fore fathers’ ability, is what we continue to deprive them of.
I contend that a Senior Four student in Uganda is loaded with a lot of useless knowledge than a Canadian of equivalent grade or higher. The difference is that the Canadian child will outmanoeuvre their Ugandan counterpart on applicability of knowledge, critical and creative thinking, reasoning as well as innovativeness.
For comments, reactions, queries on this article email education@newvision.co.ug
REFERENCE is made to your recent efforts to reduce O’level subjects from 42 to 18. I applaud you for your unwavering desire to transform the repressive nature of our colonial-crafted education. However, your directive represents a mere change of guard. Reducing the subjects alone does not help the situation.
Whereas your good intentions are well-stipulated, especially in advancing physical education and lessening the burden of curricula overload on our young ones, there are key areas that should have been addressed.
Globalisation has fused our worlds to the extent that competition for excellence is inevitable. We need to strengthen our curricula with flavours that nurture innovation and creativity. In technology, we assemble generator parts with Tata tyres and proclaim inventing a car! What innovation in our time can we trade favourably in the global arena without sounding and looking ridiculous?
In your new policy, you decided that agriculture becomes an elective subject yet over 80% of our population is employed in agriculture. One would expect agriculture to gain a core status to replace obvious subjects like geography. Our children need philosophy to enable them indulge in critical thinking. This way, they will ably put to use the enormous amount of knowledge they muzzle into practice.
Business-oriented subjects such as commerce, accounts and customer care should be made compulsory to promote the understanding of adding value to our natural resources, not withstanding trans-cultural studies. For Africa to break loose from this clientele-consumer culture, we must promote trade and commerce in our local languages, including Kiswahili. It is imperative that our curricula focus on exploiting culturally-sustainable growth within these human realities.
While in church on Easter, President Yoweri Museveni advised parents to guide their children on career choice. In Uganda, one gains respect for having pursued traditional professions such as medicine, law and engineering.
In the global world, it no longer matters what profession one takes, what matters is how creative and competitive that individual is. This additional ability of training our young minds to reason beyond their fore fathers’ ability, is what we continue to deprive them of.
I contend that a Senior Four student in Uganda is loaded with a lot of useless knowledge than a Canadian of equivalent grade or higher. The difference is that the Canadian child will outmanoeuvre their Ugandan counterpart on applicability of knowledge, critical and creative thinking, reasoning as well as innovativeness.
For comments, reactions, queries on this article email education@newvision.co.ug