Teachers Voice

THE UNIVERSITY OF ZAMBIA

MBEBA FRANCIS, ID NUMBER: 2017011902
FOURTH YEAR STUDENT OF HISTORY AND RELIGIOUS EDUCATION
Email Address: francismbeba45@gmail.com
STUDENTS VOICE
Challenges related to the Zambian History curriculum – the views of a student

In Zambia, the attainment of independence and democracy in 1964 and 1991 respectively
necessitated innovations in education system. School curriculum, for example, has being
revamped to fall in line with the rapidly changing world. Primary and secondary syllabuses
reflects Zambian history but this has not been done to the merit. As of 2013 revised
curriculum, the Outcomes based Education Curriculum (OBE) was adopted. The introduction
of the competent based curriculum in 2013 was to help learners acquire knowledge, skills,
values and attitudes that are likely to equip them with competencies that they can effectively
use to serve society and the nation at large. Even though such was the case, such gains are
bound to contribute little, if anything, to the curriculum process as history teaching has not
been conceptualized within the context of the other Human and Social Sciences.
The curriculum has failed to appreciate the local history to greater inclusiveness(State how and
provide academic evidence). Hence, local history is no longer relevant because of the failure to
satisfy the needs and aspirations of the contemporary society. The fact is, there is need to focus
on aspects of country’s cultural heritage to enable understand the origin, shortcomings, failures
and successes, in order to have an intelligent reconstruction of the curriculum (Ng’andu, 2020).
In Zambia, teaching and learning history, as a curriculum discipline, has been characterized by
political, economic, cultural and ideological imperatives, whose teleological goal is one of the
nation building process and one of cultivating a modern dimension of national identity in the
global culture. However, teachers face a lot of challenges when teaching history because the
content of the subject is restricted to the curriculum. The fact is, the Zambian history
curriculum has not been decolonized and contains few topics relating to country’s history
(Mulenga and Mwanza, 2019).
Of course, there are many challenges relating to Zambian history curriculum. One of the major
problems is little agreement among specialists in the field of curriculum reform. During the
curriculum implementation, history teachers are left behind. The fact that teachers are very

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important in curriculum, there absence in the curriculum reform means that history subject is
neglected the chance of its survival. The fact is, teaching history at all levels must admit the
inevitability of development and change; and that the proposed teaching in history and related
disciplines should raise awareness to prejudice, discrimination, inequality, injustice and
assumptions that would otherwise go unchallenged. Without that essential way of thinking
critical historical analysis, learners cannot fully enjoy learning history (Mwanza and Changwe,
2020).
Additionally, at primary level, social studies do not advocate for better access of what they
would need in order to deliver history quality content to the learners. The fact is, teachers are
not consulted or involved in the process of curriculum formulation or development. They have
no access to participate in local or national discussions on the future of social studies as such
compromising the quality of the aims, goals and purpose of what social studies should exactly
be or yield. Thence, teachers’ roles in and understanding of the curriculum is crucial to
curriculum integration’s proper implementation (Ng’andu, 2020).
Many teachers I have engaged with are complaining history that the secondary syllabus has
been made in such a way that it include much of European and African history and little is said
about Zambian History. Most of the Zambian history is the history in pre-colonial time. This is
the history that as written by the Europeans. This history is heroic in nature and judgmental.
The Europeans mostly wrote what they saw and most of it is concerned with trade that existed
in pre-colonial era. This makes it difficult to teach the Zambian History to the merit and some
learners describe the subject as a boring subject. It is pity that the country is 57 years old from
the day of independence but the country’s history has been neglected. Few studies have been
done and this might be due lack of financial support to sponsor students to do the masters and
PhDs. The country has few professors in the field of history and these are of old age who
cannot be relied on (Mulenga and Mwanza, 2019).
The fact that examination is set in line with the content that teachers teach learners, teachers do
not teacher what they know. They teach what the book so as to make learners pass exams. The
pedagogical models in teaching history in school, represented on a curriculum continuum,
range between the traditional and transformational. To learn history effectively, learners must
gain a conceptual understanding of historical events, geographical places and social. Hence,
field trips, educational tours, discovery, dialogue and life experiences are important to give
learners ample chance of having first-hand information by discovering things for themselves
through experiences (Mwanza and Changwe, 2020).

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In conclusion, there are in my view many challenges history teachers face. However, in order
to make history an enjoyable and worthy subject, there is need to prepare effective history
teachers who can involves fostering a deep knowledge of their discipline and an understanding
of how to teach historical thinking. History teachers need to emphasize the blending of content
and pedagogy.

REFERENCES
Ng’andu, A.H. (2020). Challenges Faced In The Teaching And Learning Of Social Studies In
Selected Primary Schools In Lusaka District Of Zambia. MA. Dissertation. The
University of Zambia.
Mulenga, I.M. and Mwanza, C. (2019). “Teacher’s Voices Crying in the School Wilderness:
Involvement of Secondary School Teachers in Curriculum Development in Zambia”.
Journal of Curriculum and Teaching. Vol. 8, No. 1, 32-39.
Mwanza, C and Changwe, R. (2020). “Teacher Collaboration in Curriculum Design Teams:
Prospects and Challenges in the Zambian Education System”. Multidisciplinary
Journal of Language and Social Sciences Education. Vol.3, No. 1, 181-204.