The Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (ARTUZ) says that Continuous Assessment Learning Activities (CALA) are expensive and time-consuming and their introduction in schools has negatively affected learners’ progress.
ARTUZ spokesperson Thembakuye Moyo said CALA have widened the gap between learners from economically disadvantaged learners and those from privileged backgrounds.
Moyo called for the reviewing of CALA to accommodate all learners considering that those in rural areas have inadequate digital learning facilities to conduct research as required by CALA. Moyo said:
Since their introduction in schools, CALAs have proven to be costly and time-consuming thereby negatively affecting learners’ progress.
Most CALAs require the use of the internet for research which then imposes costs of mobile data, laptops, and mobile devices, etc on top of the regular hiking fees.
In a country where the majority of the citizens are living in poverty, they widen the learning inequality gap as those from privileged backgrounds will be the only ones that can afford to learn.
Paying particular attention to the rural learner, the majority of schools have inadequate digital learning facilities to enable students to carry out their CALA.
It is the Union’s position that CALAs should be reformed in order to ensure effective learning in schools.
The Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education has been conducting countrywide reviews on CALA.
Some stakeholders, particularly parents and guardians, have called for the scrapping of CALA arguing they are struggling with the high cost of living and cannot afford to provide their children with the resources needed to do the CALA.
More: Pindula News
MAMBO · 1 year ago
CURRICULUM REVIEW
NO TO CALA
Reasons:
1. Competence Based Curriculum testing competence of parents and guardians as they are the ones doing the CALAs.
2. Not all households with school going children have phones with Internet access to research, data charges too high, what about rural children or those in the care of the elderly who are not computer literate.
3. Children now lacking social skills, they have no time to play and so****e because of the time spent doing these CALAs
4. Children now prone to stressful conditions leading to depression and substance use (mbanje, etc), increasing incidences of suicide in children due to frustrations of this Curriculum.
5. Children now prefer to totally abscond school than to go when they have not completed the CALA which is a really sad situation.
6. CALAs are still essentially theory, not practical, so how are we gauging the competence of the children through these. Eg, a child poor in English still has to do a Geography CALA in English which he will fail because his challenge is English.
7. What was wrong with the Home Economics, Technical Graphics, Woodwork, Agriculture in primary school level? These identified the practical skills of the children at a tender age.
8. The need to provide children with smartphones for research has exposed them to all things found in the Internet, eg **** at tender ages, ****ography, homo****uality etc.
9. The education system does not provide equal opportunities through this CALA. Most schools have no computers, no Internet access, not enough resources for this Curriculum.
10. The Ministry of Education should consider the economic status of the average Zimbabwean family, the fact that due to HIV we have a lot of child-headed families and children under the care of grandparents who cannot afford to put food on the table, let alone data.
wbs · 1 year ago
well said
