New secondary school curriculum to incorporate global trends—Bisika

The new secondary school curriculum, which Malawi Government is expected to introduce by 2013, will incorporate global challenges that have been affecting the country since 1995 when the curriculum was reviewed.

Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology John Bisika said this in Blantyre on Monday during the opening of a six-day Conceptualisation Workshop for Secondary School Curriculum and Assessment review.

“The secondary curriculum will also be aligned with the reformed primary school curriculum. Syllabuses and textbooks based on the Malawian context will be developed for all subjects, including French which has no syllabus for Junior Certificate and the prescribed textbook for MSCE,” he said.

Bisika said indigenous knowledge, skills and technology will be included in the new curriculum and   will emphasise research as a key method for learning methodologies for topics that students consider difficult in mathematics and science.

“Previously, the secondary school curriculum was criticised for being examination-oriented, academic, overload and overlapping in content. What makes it more urgent is that it had to be aligned with the primary school curriculum which was already reviewed,” he said.

Malawi Institute of Education (MIE) executive director Dr William Susuwele said participants to the meeting are expected to develop the secondary education outcomes and spell out core and elective subjects in secondary schools.

The meeting has drawn together members of the private sector, civil society sector, donors, teachers and curriculum development experts from MIE.

The new curriculum will have new subjects such as climate change, gender equity, information and communication technology, HIV and Aids, disaster risk management, special needs education, democracy, human rights and entrepreneurship.