SWEEPING changes are on the cards for the country’s education system after government announced an extreme makeover for Outcomes-Based Education (OBE) yesterday. The news appears to be good for teachers and parents, with children now expected to enjoy more personal attention in class. Minister of Basic Education Angie Motshekga announced major modifications to the curriculum, including cosmetic name changes.

Motshekga announced that:  From next year, what were known as learning areas and programmes will be called subjects; The number of subjects in the Intermediate Phase (Grades 4 to 6) will be reduced to six from 2012;In these grades technology will be combined with science, arts and culture into life orientation (LO), while economic and management sciences (EMS) will be taught only from Grade 7 from 2012;

# Workbooks for Grades 1 to 6 will be introduced next year and there will be a renewed focus on textbooks;

# From next year, the language chosen by the pupil as a language of instruction will be taught as either a subject or as a first additional language from Grade 1 and not from Grade 2, as is currently the case; and

# Symbols or rating scales used to rate pupil performance in Grades 10 to 12 will be extended to include Grades R to 9 from 2011.

Department spokesperson Dr Granville Whittles yesterday said the curriculum would no longer be referred to as OBE, but as the New Curriculum Statement (NCS).

“The curriculum was changed twice and our approach is now to refer to it as NCS. As far as we’re concerned, it’s NCS and has elements of OBE,” he said.

But government has gone beyond mere name changing, and since the beginning of the year has already introduced a few alterations to ease teacher and pupil workloads.

“Curriculum reform is not something that the system takes lightly … we need to deal quickly and efficiently with curriculum implementation challenges and difficulties that do exist,” Motshekga said.

Schools in the province yesterday hailed the overhaul, saying the changes were long overdue.

Hilton Williams, principal of George Randell Primary School in East London, said from the beginning the new government was quick to make changes in the curriculum.

He said while the curriculum was not a bad concept, the implementation was poor and may have been “bastardised”.

“Children learn by experience and that is what OBE is about – it’s how it was implemented that is a problem,” Williams said.

Njabulo Zunqu, principal of Buhlebelizwe Junior Secondary School in Upper Chulunca in Qumbu, said the current system had too much paperwork and not enough focus on pupils.

He said it was ill-suited to children in the rural areas.

“In the common exams that were recently written, an example of off-ramps and freeways was given but when we give examples, we speak of horses and cows,” he said.

Dinah Nyathela, a teacher at Ngangelizwe Senior Secondary School in Mthatha , said teachers did not have enough teaching time because they were too busy chasing deadlines set by the department. She said they often skipped parts of the curriculum to catch up. The changes would now alleviate the problem. Vernie Eastrace, principal of Cranberry Primary School in East London’s Buffalo Flats, said the changes would allow more contact time with pupils.