For years now, a lot of resources have been expended on an effort to revise the lower secondary school curriculum across the country.
There were many arguments about the need to review and update the curriculum to meet modern times. The most compelling of them was that the current curriculum is largely examination-driven, encouraging cramming by learners to pass exams.
Since 2008, lots of schools and education officials have been involved in an ongoing review of the curriculum that has seen a prototype developed to replace the current syllabus, and improve learning outcomes, starting this year.
By December 2016, the curriculum was ready for piloting in 20 schools, but disagreements between school officials and other experts led to a change in plan.
Last week, the National Curriculum Development Centre (NCDC) confirmed that they had agreed to discard the curriculum that had been developed and begin afresh.
A new team consisting of NCDC officials and many others, including representatives from nine public universities are scheduled to meet over the next four years to agree to reforms to the curriculum.
However, little has been said about retraining of teachers, especially on subject approach.
It is our considered view that more than anything, the current curriculum has failed to deliver the intended outcomes chiefly because teachers are poor at teaching the current syllabus. Unless this problem is addressed, even the next curriculum will suffer the same challenges.
school@observer.ug