Union double faced on curriculum: Education ministry

from each secondary school and for primary schools we had school heads and teachers in charge (TIC) and senior teachers. That composition was representative and it made up a cohort or a committee which had to now go back and consult with the larger teacher population. We have a group chat on Whatsapp with district schools inspectors. So they have been communicating and even providing a register of who has attended and their comments. So they have to collate the information that is coming and we come up with the draft that we will send it back to the teachers to say this is what you said, are there still any gaps. After that, definitely the process will start. We are expecting that, hopefully all things being equal by 2018 that council should be place. Remember there is the legal aspect to it. It has to go through Parliament and the like.

TC: PTUZ have expressed concern that Government was leading the process of establishing a TPC. They feel that teachers should be leading the process.

DR UM: Why didn’t they then lead? What stopped them from doing it? We are 37 years into independence. Where were they? What has stopped them from leading?

TC: At the end of last year we saw the introduction of the electronic registration for Form 1 application eMap. How successful was the initial implementation and is it the way to go into the future or there are chances we may revert to the old system of entrance tests?

DR UM: I think we need to be very clear there because the electronic registration system was only for boarding schools and the population that can be absorbed in boarding schools was communicated to all and sundry. For the day schools it was just a matter of going to a school within your catchment area, it did not require any of this electronic process. From this process it was 75 percent successful, and quite a number of parents were giving us feedback to say that they realised they were saving in that they just received acceptance notice on their cellphones as well as the breakdown of the requirements from the respective schools, which to me is really a move in the right direction, if we are to keep in sync with the expectations of the 21st century. We are in the technological era. You take for example, cellphones. When we first had the hang of cellphones in 1998 thereabout, you could count the number of people with cellphones, but now almost everyone has a cellphone. There was no school where people were taught how to use cellphones yet even your grannies in the rural areas now know how to operate the gadgets. The same with all these mobile money transfer facilities. That’s how technology works and people adapt.

TC: The sort of challenges that eMAP tries to solve are also evident at Lower Six enrolment. Is there likelihood that the same system may be used for enrolment at that level?

DR UM: Form One is clear. Form Five because of the pathways it is very difficult to actually use the electronic registration. You would have to do some study so that it does achieve the intended objectives. Of course there are those who very positive. We got positive comments to say, there are gaps on the registration form which we need to address. That’s positive because then we can improve and you can only improve if you are doing something. That’s how we should look at it. For example the password that was used, this came also as a comment to say, maybe you can start with that password but we quickly as a school change that password so that we can have our own password. That was one of the comments and then another on the selection of schools. We were not ranking, we were actually opening opportunities to the parents to say the three schools that a parent would have selected should be of equal weighting but they made it to understand that they were ranking to say that this is our best choice. From the three it didn’t mean that the other options would have to wait until this one has rejected. So if you are chosen by your third option your name already will be dropped to avoid double allocations.

TC: There was a court challenge against implementation of the eMap system. What became of the case?

DR UM: It wasn’t an issue at the courts. The courts just dismissed it. In fact the guys came to me with their idea, because they wanted to make money with their own application. They had their own registration and they were saying parents would come to them and they do the rest after and we asked them how they would then link up with the school because they had no connection with the school. A parent would come with necessary particulars of their child and pay. What then happens if the parent fails to secure a place for their child when they have paid? That was the issue.

TC: The Government announced the construction of additional schools. What’s the latest on that and when can we expect the construction to be complete?

DR UM: The Infrastructure Development Bank, under the has been done, they have engaged a consultant and will flight an advert for companies to respond to them because companies will feel secure as it would have been done through the bank. That’s how far we are with the joint venture. On the other fund, the open fund the 20 million, a consultant has been engaged and the 17 school have been surveyed and the Department of Public Works have already done the topographical surveys in schools and we are expecting the advert anytime next month and the construction of 17 schools that have been identified province by province depending on the need should start latest may be in June.

TC: Let’s move on and talk about the teacher capacity development programme. How much progress has been made so far?

DR UM: We have teachers who graduated in November from ZOU and these were degreed without teacher certificates, I think they were about 165 out of the 2500.

TC: When is the next batch of teachers going to enrol and have you secured the necessary funding?

DR SUM: At the moment yes, the intention is there, but we are waiting for the resources to be put together. Otherwise from our plan, this is an ongoing program.

TC: There are some teachers who are still in the system but do not have the requisite teaching qualification. What is their fate, seeing that Government is moving with speed to ensure that all teachers have the requisite qualifications?

DR UM: