THE reconfiguration of the Teacher Education curriculum is envisioned to bring
about community development through innovation.

With the philosophy of producing goods and services, teachers’ colleges have not
been left behind in ensuring that communities benefit from the projects institutions of
higher learning embark on.

The Masvingo Teachers’ College is one of the institutions that has, through its Early
Childhood Development professional training, helped society in training semi-
qualified teachers.

Benson Mutambudzi, the college principal, said to date at least 124 have graduated
while 151 are still undergoing the course.

“We believe that reconfiguration of the teacher education curriculum should be
broader based so as to address societal needs and should ultimately produce
tangible results for the society to benefit from, he said.

In that vein we responded to the dire need of ECD teachers that arose from the
mushrooming of ECD centres at virtually all primary schools, including the remote
ones following a call for all primary schools to have a preschool on site that was
done by Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education.

These centres had totally unqualified staff, who were mere child minders. The
college embarked on a para-professional training programme in 2022 and the course
offers both theories of ECD practicals like toy production as well as a heavy
emphasis on how to start and run and a centre. It aims at producing ECD
entrepreneurs,” he said.

Two graduands from the programme had already started their ECD schools and
several others have been offered jobs in South Africa.

“At least 124 have graduated to date, while 151 are on course and this training has
benefitted the school system immensely, judging from the comments, we get from
the education authorities from our sister ministry, said Mutambudzi.

He was happy to report that the ECD school, on lease from Masvingo City Council
since January 2017 continued to provide a practising and training ground for ECD
teachers as well as serving community needs.

Thus, the centre serves as both a practising school to our students and a strategic
business unit that is self-managed. Currently it has 104 learners and we are seized
with a waiting list of over 200 applications for next year,” he said.

The Masvingo City Council has offered the college the opportunity to expand the
premises and grow the school into becoming an infant primary school on a Build
Operate and Transfer (BOT).

He said the college is committed to this expansion.
University of Zimbabwe Vice-Chancellor, Professor Paul Mapfumo, said the
transformation of the teacher education is through the transformation of the mind and
the way of doing business.

“The transformed Teachers’ College curriculum that colleges of education in the
scheme of association of the University of Zimbabwe are supposed to conduct
provide further guidance for the development of the innovation and industrialisation
capability for this college.

“However, this development doesn’t happen spontaneously, our lecturers and
students need to have transformed mindset and transform their ways of doing
business for us to achieve the kind of transformation in education that we require for
the attainment of the philosophy of the Education 5.0 that is heritage-based. This is a
drastic shift from the traditional way of educating people and getting educated
ourselves,” he said.

Countrywide there has been significant rolling out of ECD schools which have helped
in the deployment of children on self-reliance on their part.

This has also helped mothers to be more productive in other areas of self-
sustenance while children are out in early childhood development school with others.