Curricula overhaul crucial

The President John Magufuli administration is faring well in the provision of free basic education. However, questions linger over its quality in relation to the government’s ambitious industrialisation agenda.

Speaking at the 11th Mwalimu Julius Nyerere Festival in Dar as Salaam last week, experts counselled overhauling primary and secondary education curricula to go with technological changes.

The experts were spot-on, and the government should earnestly strive to tackle the prevailing challenges in education, as national progress can be no swifter than progress in education.

Underlying successful industrial policy is quality education. So, efforts to become a semi- industrialised, middle-income nation vis-a-vis the National Development Vision-2025 may be in vain if our education system continues to produce unskilled youth.

We crave curricula that identify learners’ potentials in a holistic and integrated manner while producing intellectually, emotionally and physically-balanced citizens.

By the end of primary and secondary education, students should have skills which empower them to be self-reliant entrepreneurs, material for the highly-competitive labour market – or pursue higher studies. We are witnessing rapid technological changes that alter every aspect of our lives, and this should serve as an alert. Our education curricula should not be left behind.