By KT Reporter
Five years after the rollout of the competence-based lower secondary curriculum, the National Curriculum Development Centre (NCDC) is set to review and streamline the curriculum, with a focus on reducing content load in several subjects.
According to George Wilson Ssabavuma, a curriculum specialist at NCDC, the review process is being informed by feedback collected from a wide range of stakeholders, including teachers, students, and education experts.
“When we initially designed the curriculum, we believed we had significantly reduced the content load by removing redundant and repetitive material,” Ssabavuma said. “However, the feedback we’ve received suggests that there’s still room for further improvement.”
Ssabavuma added that although some teachers initially resisted the new curriculum, many have since come to appreciate its benefits after implementation. He noted that working with streamlined yet comprehensive content has helped teachers realize its effectiveness in enhancing both teaching and learning.
He noted that the upcoming review will seek to make the curriculum more manageable for both learners and teachers, without compromising the core competencies and skills the education system is designed to deliver.
As the review approaches, the curriculum—rolled out five years ago—continues to face a number of persistent challenges, the most pressing of which is the limited retraining of teachers.
Reports from the Auditor General on the implementation of Uganda’s new lower secondary curriculum have revealed several gaps. These include inadequate teacher preparation, a shortage of textbooks and learning materials, and overcrowded classrooms. The reports also point to difficulties with continuous assessment, particularly among teachers who did not receive sufficient training.
In terms of teacher training, the National Curriculum Development Centre (NCDC) employed a cascade model. This involved training master trainers, who were then tasked with training select teachers from various schools. These selected teachers were expected to return to their schools and train their colleagues. However, this model has largely fallen short of expectations and has proven ineffective.
Several education experts have recommended an alternative approach: organizing in-service teacher training sessions during school holidays. They suggest adopting the centre coordinating model previously used in the rollout of the lower primary thematic curriculum, which they believe could yield better results-URN. Give us feedback on this story through our email: kamwokyatimes@gmail.com
