Given the importance of the curriculum, I would like to propose a scheme for a basic education which will serve as a solid foundation for Universal Secondary Education. I must say right away that the content selection is not based on haphazard, romantic notions about what children ought to learn. It is, rather, grounded in what we know about the nature of human knowledge and the way that this knowledge should be organized for meaningful learning.

The scheme presented below parallels the proposed structure which is arranged in three stages. This will now be discussed stage by stage.

Stage 1.
The content for this stage focuses on the foundation areas which a child at that age should learn. It can be said with certainty that if s/he does not master these areas future learning will be quite difficult if not impossible.

The scheme is similar to what goes on at the moment, but the names have been changed to avoid confusion in teaching. For example, instead of Language Arts, the term Literacy has been used. When students are coming to grips with phonics and orthography, they are hardly able to manipulate the language in the manner suggested by Language Arts. Further teaching tend to forget that language teaching at this stage is nothing more than the development of literacy and this involves far different methods from the ones used in teaching Language Arts. Of course, this does not mean that we should engage in the "Spelling Bee" technique where students merely listen to and spell/write words without relating them to their everyday lives. I suspect that this is a main reason why we have so many children in school illiterate: the development of literacy is far removed from the real-life context. It is being recommended here that teachers exploit the world of children, as a matter of course, when they are helping them to become literate. We have an advantage because children are curious about their environment and it is easy to engage them at this level.

The same strategy is required for the development of Number Skills. For the intention is really to introduce the children to certain aspect of the number system as a preparation for the introduction to the formal subject of Mathematics later on. As such they need to have an awareness of how numbers work in a basic way in everyday life. Simple concepts like addition/multipication and subtraction, sequence of numbers, and so on are already part of their lives. This, therefore, is a strategic point on which all teaching can rest.

Creativity must not be taken as an entertainment area. For, although the children will necessarily have fun with this area, the teaching will be designed to awaken and develop that part of their minds which allow them to see relationships; to create and transform objects on their own. Music, Crossword Puzzles, Projects and other such activities can be introduced. It will not be unreasonable to say that this area of learning lays the foundation for the learning of other subjects later on; especially Science and Technology and Arts Education. It also puts the children in touch with themselves as they get the opportunity to reflect of whom they are and what they can do.

With Social Skills, we begin to develop in them the awareness of themselves as social being. We begin to introduce them to those rules that guide their interaction with others. The importance of punctuality, respecting others, tolerance and so on, will form part of those things to be learnt. Once again it must be remembered, that this must not be done in a haphazard manner. The subject matter must be carefully planned utilizing the everyday lives of the children.

Stage 1 must be regarded as vital to the rest of the curriculum and it must be taken very seriously by both teachers and parents. Indeed, it is at this point of the stage is set for the rest of their lives. And we must not be fooled by the rare cases of those who bounce back after failure at this level.

I will continue discussing the other stages next time.