The secretary of Uganda National Teachers' Union (UNATU), Filbert Baguma has revealed that less than 40% of teachers have been oriented on the new lower secondary curriculum.
Baguma, made the revelation on Monday while appearing on NBS Television.
In 2020, government through the National Curriculum Development Centre (NCDC), rolled out a new competency-based curriculum to learners starting with senior one.
However, the outbreak of Covid 19 and the subsequent closure of schools delayed the progress of implementation.
While this year's senior four students are set to be the first cohort of candidates under the new curriculum, Baguma has noted underlying challenges.
"It might not be pleasant as you would want to hear because as we open the term, and as we are warming up to have the first cohort under the new lower secondary curriculum, we still have unresolved issues," Baguma said.
He told NBS Television that the implementation of the new curriculum is facing hurdles notably untrained teachers and inadequate resources.
"Less than 40% have been oriented into the new curriculum. When the new curriculum had been rolled out, Covid-19 came and a few teachers had been trained. They went almost two years not implementing what they had been trained in, and then, we moved on with scholastic materials which are not readily available," Baguma said.
Despite the challenges, he noted that some teachers have been doing consultations with one another, to fill the gaps.
"Even during this holiday, some teachers were being trained in assessment, mostly the examiners,"
Weeks from now, senior four students will sit for the Uganda Certificate of Education exams, marking the first cohort of candidates under the new curriculum.
Baguma says that the candidates' fate will depend on the resources allocated for examination activities because UNEB will not do the work unless the resources are available.
Another challenge he pointed out hindering the implementation of the new curriculum is delays in the distribution of scholastic materials especially in rural areas.
"You saw the textbooks for senior threes coming in July. So, what were the teachers using between February and July?. That becomes a gap. Now, we are going to see senior fours doing exams," he said
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Worth noting is that the lower secondary curriculum was revised to meet learners' needs especially in regard to skills training and enhancement.
Addressing Parliament in 2020, the Minister for Education, Janet Museveni, said the need to review the curriculum was overdue because it had not been revisited since the colonial education system was introduced.
The Minister revealed that the old curriculum was channelling out graduates with no practical skills to meet the demands in the labour market.
This year, the Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB), released sample test papers and a continuous tool for assessment of the new curriculum, to guide learners and teachers on what is likely to come in the end-cycle assessment.
"With these tools, schools will now be comforted and know how the assessment will go. The sample papers are, however, just dummies of what is likely to come in the end-cycle assessment. The final scenarios will certainly be different," Odongo said in March.
