CCC leader Nelson Chamisa said that if his party wins the upcoming elections and gets into government, he will review the Zimbabwe education system, reported TellZim News.
Chamisa promised to scrap the Continuous Assessment Learning Activities (CALA), school fees from primary level to advanced level as well as ZIMSEC examination fees.
Addressing party supporters at Muchakata Business Centre in Masvingo Central Constituency, Chamisa said his government will introduce a new curriculum with input from education stakeholders, among them teachers and school heads. He said:
We will remove CALAs which are forcing parents to be in school every day, we need to make sure we restore dignity to our education system and make it the best as before.
We cannot impose policies without people’s input as they did with Education 5.0.
Ours will have the input of headmasters and teachers for they are experts in that field.
Chamisa also said his government will ensure that education is free for all learners and the State will facilitate loans for university and college students. He said:
In Zambia they are saying free education at primary level, if you go to South Africa they don’t pay examination fees, it’s the responsibility of the examining authority.
You can’t say you want to have an exam and you say Grade Sevens pay exam fees. No grade seven exam, no form four or ‘A’ level exam fees. If people pay fees then that’s it.
Under our government, parents will only pay from Form One to Four just to exercise their responsibility, at “A” level the government should take over, after that loans for tertiary education are then activated.
The Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (ARTUZ) has criticised CALAs, saying they are expensive and time-consuming and their introduction in schools has negatively affected learners’ progress.
Parents and guardians across the country have also urged the Government to scrap CALAs saying they make learning difficult for pupils.
More: Pindula News