New Competency-Based Curriculum Shifts Focus in Education

Traditionally, schools have scored students’ performance using a points-based system with an assigned letter grade. But the new competency-based curriculum launched by the Ministry of Education at the start of the new academic year is breaking away from that tradition. The new curriculum emphasizes a student’s mastery of a given subject area as opposed to their ability to recall information. Minister of State in the Ministry of Education Dr. Luis Zabaneh explained that the purpose of the shift is to ensure that students actually grasp the material rather than being able to recite it to pass a test. 

The new curriculum also breaks away from traditional forms of assessment by limiting the amount of homework students get to focus on in-class learning. Dr. Zabaneh and representatives from the Toledo District Education Center held meetings with parents of primary and secondary schools on Wednesday to sensitize them on the way the new curriculum works. There were two sessions, one in the morning for parents from rural Toledo, and an evening session for parents from Punta Gorda Town. 

Dr. Zabaneh added that increased parent involvement in student learning is one of the major points of emphasis for the new curriculum.