Gwarube says school curriculum will be 'fundamentally reviewed'
Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube said on Monday that the education sector is undertaking a fundamental review of the school curriculum.
The review will include what is taught, the teaching and learning pedagogy, the assessment, and the professional support provided to classroom practitioners.
Gwarube spoke at the opening of the 40th Association for Educational Assessment in Africa Annual Conference.
She said the department is seeking to produce pupils who can communicate effectively and are digitally literate.
"Our curriculum has been, to a large degree, dominated by knowledge with very little focus on skills, competencies, attitudes, values and character development. It is for this reason that we want to develop and strengthen our curriculum to focus on a holistic development of the learner.
"We want to produce ethical citizens, problem solvers and creative thinkers.”
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She said five key priorities have been identified, two of which will focus on literacy and numeracy skills.
"Some of the things that we have identified, is increasing access to and the quality of inclusive education to our learners, particularly those who come from vulnerable communities.
"We also want to improve literacy and numeracy skills in all phases of schooling. We are not with where we are in South Africa with our literacy skills, there is more that can be done to ensure that learners are able to read for meaning," she added.
The 2021 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study revealed that 81% of grade 4 pupils could not read for meaning.
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