Eighty per cent of the 800 teachers in Entebbe municipality have undergone training on the implementation of the abridged curriculum. The abridged curriculum seeks to expedite the learning process by allowing learners in primary, S.2, S.3, S.4, and S.6 to skip topics or content that they covered in previous classes.
The National Curriculum Development Centre-NCDC has reorganized content by leaving out less-critical topics or sub-topic so that learners can catch up for the lost time during the prolonged lockdown.
Last week, teachers in some parts of the country including Gulu, Kampala, Luwero, and Mbarara, said that they were struggling to decide the content to prepare for learners in different classes because they were yet to access or receive training in the implementation of the abridged curriculum.
In Entebbe Municipality the Education Officer, Sarah Monica Nabirye, says that “most of the teachers now know what to do”. The municipality has 107 primary and 14 secondary schools. According to Nabirye, her office has printed training manuals for the abridged curriculum and distributed copies to each school.
Teachers are expected to prepare schemes of work before every beginning of the term, detailing the content from the syllabus that will be taught. Some teachers say they have included the abridged curriculum while scheming.
Benon Osinya, the Director of Studies at Entebbe Changsha Model Primary School, says that the school has trained 12 primary teachers to implement the abridged curriculum.
Ronnah Nakamya, the Headteacher Entebbe Changsha Model Primary School is confident that the teachers will be flexible in implementing the abridged curriculum.
Nakamya says management met teachers on December 6 to discuss how to handle learners during the pandemic and implement the abridged curriculum amidst challenges of late reporting by some learners.
Ruth Muyinda Mande, the Headteacher of Entebbe Secondary School, says secondary school teachers in Entebbe may not be as ready as their counterparts in primary schools. Mande, who is also the Chairperson of Wakiso Secondary Schools Headteachers’ Association-WAKISHA, says that her school will organize a training workshop for teachers during the term.
“Our first priority is to train teachers and non-teaching staff on safe re-opening of schools to curb the spread of COVID-19 and then when parents pay school fees, we shall organize training for implementation of the abridged curriculum,” she noted.
Some of the 124 schools in the areas of Katabi Town council are also preparing to teach the abridged curriculum. Musa Muteganda, the Director of Studies at Green Stars High School Entebbe, says that teachers will cover the abridged curriculum in the first two weeks of the term. The school has 27 teachers and expects to receive 730 learners from senior one to senior six.
Brother Deo Aliganyira, the Headteacher at St Mary’s College Kisubi (SMACK), says that 86 teachers have been trained and are ready to teach the abridged curriculum. “So, our teachers might even cover the abridged curriculum in less than two weeks,” he said.
The school is expecting over 1,500 learners. Aliganyira says the Catholic founded and government-aided school will first hold prayers and counselling for learners to put them in a “good mood” to learn since they have been away for long.
“We don’t base on only the academic curriculum but provide holistic education by also emphasizing religion, values, mission, and objective of the school,” he said.
Adding that “so before embarking on thorough teaching of the curricula, we want the students to forget the bad things that could have happened during the lockdown and those who cannot, we hope that they will somehow cope.”
