Experts keen on new history curriculum
AN OVERHAUL of the history curriculum to make it more Afrocentric and relevant to South African pupils is expected to begin this year.
The move has been welcomed but scholars and teachers say there are grey areas that need to be ironed out.
Professor of Sociology at the University of Johannesburg and author Ashwin Desai said the challenge was how to approach the history.
“They say that history is often written by the victors. So, how to ensure that we do not have a sanitised history that is more propaganda than based on serious intellectual work?
“The apartheid government was a master of history as legitimating its own ideology of white supremacy. So, in apartheid history books the chapter on Indians was often called ‘The Indian Problem’.
“The ANC government often shows it can suffer from the same disease. So, let’s hope the approach taken is to create critical thinking minds rather than minds that read from the same hymn book.”
Retired teacher and author of Tribute to our Forefathers, Tholsi Mudly, said she wanted her descendants to learn about their fellow countrymen, irrespective of colour or creed.
She said that would assist in strengthening communication and relationships.
Mudly said the histories about early man, the San, the Bushmen, the various indigenous tribes, wars and battles; and the histories of Indians, Chinese, the Afrikaners and all minority groups was a must.
“It should not be just Afrocentric. All race groups have played an important role in shaping this country. We must acknowledge those who sacrificed much to make our lives a little easier.”
Learning international history was also important, she said.
Dr Marshall Tamuka Maposa of UKZN’s School of Education, said while he was not entirely confident about the subject being compulsory, he was convinced that making the curriculum Afrocentric was a step forward.
He said all learning should be relevant to pupils and that it was vital for the young generation to know about the past.
“I have witnessed a lot of incidents and engagements in South Africa, which reflect weak knowledge of history,” he said.
Minister of Basic Education Angie Motshekga had announced that history would be a compulsory subject in 2023.
She approved the curriculum’s revamp after a report released last month, compiled by the History Ministerial Task Team (MTT), recommended that there needed to be a complete overhaul of the History Curriculum and Assessment Statement (Caps) from Grades 4 to 12.
The MTT comprises the same team initially assembled to conduct the feasibility of making history a compulsory subject throughout the school system.
In 2015, the team conducted a comparative international study on how best to implement the introduction of history as a compulsory subject in Further Education Training schools.
At present, pupils take history up to Grade 9 and are permitted to drop it in Grade 10.
“I have absolute faith in the team of experts that are going to be forging the way forward in terms of how we teach our young people about the past,” Motshekga said. “A comprehensive, well-rounded and accurate teaching of history will help our learners understand themselves better and assist the country in moving forward together.”
Department of Basic Education spokesperson Elijah Mhlanga said the aim of the curriculum overhaul was to ensure the new history curriculum was representative and covered multiple perspectives, rather than one main dominant and distorted narrative.
He said the task team did extensive work in ensuring that they widely consulted and conducted research before making recommendations; and that they managed to identify areas of weakness and ways to strengthen the curriculum content from Grades 4 to 12.