A skills-based curriculum is the way to go

I would like to commend the Ministry of Education and Rwanda Education Board for spear heading the curriculum review which is ongoing. The skill-based curriculum is going to effectively address the needs of the society and it will change the mindset of the young people. As society continues to evolve, there is need for the curriculum to be adjusted accordingly in order to prepare the young people for the tasks ahead of them. The current curriculum does not adequately equip learners with the skills that are needed to bring about self-reliance. It creates room for them to rely entirely on the teachers for knowledge acquisition and whenever they are on their own, they cannot study. If you go to a class without a teacher and you ask the students why they are shouting, they will confidently tell you that their teacher has not come to teach them. They look at the teacher as the sole provider of knowledge and skills and they do not think of doing personal study. I have observed that many learners do not revise or do research regularly because they believe that they can use the short cut of cramming lesson notes and be able to get some good grades. They relax most of the time and when the examination time table is issued, that is when they get serious with revision. In that short time, they do not read to master the content but cram so that they can reproduce what they have read. Basing on what they write in the examinations, you can easily deduce that no adequate preparation is made before they do the examinations. The answers are largely in outline form without adequate explanations and illustrations. Cram work does not in any way enable them to acquire skills. I believe that the new curriculum will come with a new mode of assessment whereby learners will always be asked questions that will require them to comprehend, analyze, synthesize and apply the knowledge and skills attained. This will compel them to do a lot of revision and research in order to excel. For instance, if the English Language examinations test more of the functional writing skills like writing formal letters, summaries, newspaper articles, speeches and dialogues, the learners will be compelled to develop appropriate writing skills which are vital in the field of work. Students take advantage of the loopholes in the education system to relax. They know that even if they do not work hard right from the beginning of the term, they always encounter questions that do not require analysis. They just cram a few things and reproduce them in the examinations. In such a situation, an individual may complete senior six when he cannot apply the knowledge acquired at school to solve real life problems. There are even those who look for their former teachers of English Language to draft for them job application letters. Nowadays, several employers consider one’s ability to analyze and solve problems much more than the grades reflected on the academic certificates. Therefore, if we are to make our young people competitive in the field of work, we have to help them develop the right skills. Even as the curriculum is being reviewed, there is need for teachers to discourage students from cramming subject content by urging them to look beyond the examinations that they do at school. They should show them that cramming is not sustainable at the University and in the field of work. A surgeon cannot rely on cram work to carry out an operation on a patient successfully just like a lawyer does do cram laws in order to win a case on behalf of his client. We should also keep setting internal examinations that require students to analyze, synthesize and apply the knowledge and skills attained. The writer is a teacher