Changing the curriculum

OFFICIALS of the Ministry of Education say they are changing the school curriculum to adjust to a modern world of technological advances. This is overdue.

Senior civil servants attending a regional workshop in Port of Spain on December 2 said their current focus was on revitalising technical and vocational education and training, or TVET.

“We are actively revising curricula at all levels to align with contemporary technological advancements and industry trends, ensuring relevance and adaptability in a rapidly changing world,” said deputy permanent secretary Gwyneth Morris-Alexander.

This is indispensable. However, much more needs to be done than merely convening a talk shop.

We have heard statements like Ms Morris-Alexander’s before, particularly as relating to TVET.

In 2023, the ministry grandly announced a rationalisation exercise – approved by the Cabinet – to cut duplication at major education institutions.

Additionally, “curriculum reform” has become a buzz phrase, with governments promising it, but advances lagging behind ambition.

To stop this cycle must become a priority, no matter which party is in power. The longer officials take to act, the further behind students will fall.

Fewer and fewer students are continuing their education, with university admission rates at historic lows in recent years amid economic challenges.

Indeed, this is why syllabus reform should be a regular activity, as suggested by the ministry itself, which has a dedicated curriculum planning and development division for primary and secondary schools.

But we don’t get a sense of that division working.

It is good to see regional bodies collaborating in the form of this month’s workshop hosted by the Commonwealth of Learning in partnership with the Caribbean Association for National Training Authorities and the National Training Agency.

While CXC is worried about the lack of interest in technology and science subjects, the ministry is focusing on developing new TVET modules in areas like solar panels and animation, which is a positive sign.

Still, there is a need for much more of an overhaul.

For example, there is near-universal agreement that students need a far better understanding of the processes of colonialism and the turbulent and ongoing global history that shaped it.

In a world in which students have had less socialisation than at any other time, subjects that deepen analytical and empathetic thinking must be bolstered – not eliminated through budget cuts in the humanities.

Veteran panman Len “Boogsie” Sharpe has called for pan to be on the curriculum. The THA is planning on developing a Tobago-centric syllabus.

Independent Senator Hazel Thompson-Ahye, a lawyer and former teacher, recently made a link between crime and what is, or is not, taught in schools.

The ministry’s assurance that it is focusing on TVET is welcome. But its work has only just begun.