Parents and guardians across the country have urged the Government to scrap the Continuous Assessment Learning Activities (CALA) saying they make learning difficult for pupils, reported the Chronicle.
This came out during the two-day CALA curriculum review consultation meetings conducted by the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education.
CALA is any learning activity or assessment that requires learners to perform, demonstrate their knowledge, understanding and proficiency.
Under the regime, ZIMSEC candidates’ physical and behavioural skills are assessed continuously (coursework) to contribute 30 percent to their final marks while knowledge skills assessed during examinations contribute 70 percent to the candidate’s final grade.
Parents and guardians said learners who come from disadvantaged families and those from remote areas where there is no access to the internet struggle to complete the required activities.
Patricia Manzini, who has three children at Thomas Rudland Primary School said CALAs are very expensive. She said:
As it is, we don’t have money for something as basic as bread and everyone can see the situation in the country right now.
It honestly becomes a lot and guardians choose things that seem to be more important like food other than paying money for these papers that need to be printed.
Another parent, Sophia Musinazano urged the Government to provide unlimited WiFi at schools. She said:
If the Government wants to do this, they should put up unlimited WiFi at schools and allow all learners to go with their cellphones to school. That way, they will all be able to get their work done.
Those in rural areas would need to have network boosters installed so that they can also benefit. If that can’t be done then the CALAs should be removed.
Educationist and Faculty of Science and Technology Education executive dean at the National University of Science and Technology (NUST) Professor Lwazi Sibanda told the Chronicle that the education sector needs to address the shortcomings that come with CALA. She said:
The CALA issue needs to be addressed because you will find that the parents are the ones that are doing the assignments instead of the learners.
The learners are the ones who are supposed to be doing that by themselves.
The issue of continuous assessment should be clearly spelt out unlike what we are seeing now.
Parents and guardians are complaining, it’s as if they are the ones who are learning.
Even in the streets, there are some placards where individuals will be advertising that they do CALA assignments.
The Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education is reviewing the competence-based curriculum after its first seven-year cycle came to an end last year following its introduction in 2015.
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