Government has said the thrust of the updated curriculum is to develop learners who would be versatile and multi-dimensional after leaving school.
BY WINSTONE ANTONIO IN BULAWAYO
The remarks were made by Primary and Secondary Education minister Paul Mavima while officiating at the inaugural CBZ Schools Debate Championship finals held in Bulawayo on Saturday.
“We have come to understand that learning is not only about going to school, sitting in a classroom and writing and passing exams. No, it is much more than that. The CBZ debate championship encourages all our students to make an original contribution to their field of study as an integral part of their professional education,” he said.
“It is a ground-breaking approach to the integration of teaching and learning that emphasises the discovery of new knowledge. In today’s world, young people need to know how to generate new knowledge in order to meet the demands of the modern-day workforce, to practise professionally at and beyond the level of international standards.”
Mavima applauded CBZ, the Institute of African Knowledge and the National Association of Primary Heads for introducing the programme.
“Empowering winning schools with $50 000 in prizes to enhance and facilitate the learning process has been an overdue way of looking at things. I commend non-State actors like CBZ Holdings and the Institute of African Knowledge who team up to bring vibrancy to the education process by deploying vast resources without motivation of profit,” he said.
Mavima said the prize monies will enable the debate clubs to invest more in research, set up and development as this was a new initiative in most of schools.
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National programme co-ordinator, Isheanesu Sibanda of Institute of African Knowledge said they were committed to uplifting debaters’ talent.
“The inaugural edition of the CBZ Schools Debate Championship started very well this year with approximately 1 000 primary schools taking part from the district, provincial up to the national competitions. Zimbabwe has some very good debaters and there is no doubt that in the future some of these debaters will become national leaders, and public speakers of reckon,” he said.
Meanwhile, Manicaland province emerged this year’s winners of the inaugural CBZ Schools Debate Championship after St Joseph Makoni Primary of Rusape outshined the nine other provincial winners to pocket $15 000 and a floating trophy.
Mabhugudhwane Primary School which represented Bulawayo and Matabeleland South’s Welton Primary School received $10 000 and $5 000 after coming out second and third, respectively
