By HOPE BWALYA –

THE Basic Education Teachers Union of Zambia (BETUZ) has called on Government to hasten the procurement and distribution of learning materials for the effective implementation of the new curriculum.
BETUZ General Secretary Jeffery Simutala said there was urgent need for more learning materials in schools especially for Infomation and Communications Technology (ICT) subjects.
Speaking in an interview in Lusaka yesterday, Mr Simatala said the materials would enhance the learning experience for the learners.
“If Government procured more learning materials, it will enhance the progress in terms of learner performance,” he said.
Mr Simatala said the need for more materials like equipments for ICTs was urgent as it would enable the practical learning experience to be more effective.
The situation was more serious especially for schools in rural areas where schools were either having one or two equipment for their learning experience.
Mr Simatala, however, noted that the new curriculum was hurriedly done, which was going to take time to implement.
One of the challenges with the new curriculum was learner-teacher materials to be used in classes while many subjects required materials.
Despite the challenges, he noted that the learners where doing well in the new curriculum especially in literacy subjects as students were easily able to understand.
The revised curriculum was launched last year by the then Minister of Education, Science, Vocational Training and Early Education John Phiri at Munali Boys Secondary School.
The then Minister explained that the phases for the implementation of the new curriculum where to start later in the same year from early childhood education through to grades one, five and 10.
The other grades to follow in 2015 included grades two, six, nine, 11 and adult literacy that would be followed by grades three, seven and 12 in 2016. The last grade would be grade four in 2017.
He said the first examination based on the new curriculum would be administered at grade nine level in 2015, followed by grade seven and 12 examinations in 2016.