THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM IN ZIMBABWE AND THE MINISTER OF EDUCATION

On any given day, more than two million children in Zimbabwe go to school. Whether they sit in buildings, in tents or under trees, ideally they are learning, developing and enriching their lives.

For many of these children, though, school is not always a positive experience as shown through their dismal performance at Grade 7 or Form 4. Some endure difficult conditions, like missing or inadequate teaching materials. Others lack competent teachers and appropriate curricula. These conditions are not conducive to learning or development, and no child should have to experience them.

Access to education that is of poor quality usually compromises the future of learners. Education issues in Zimbabwe have led to many concluding  that there is little point in providing the opportunity for a child to enrol in school if the quality of education is so poor that the child will not become literate or numerate, or will fail to acquire critical life skills.

Due to these challenges facing Zimbabwe’s education sector, the Minister of Primary and Secondary Education, Honorable Lazarus Dokora recently announced a review of the school curriculum as part of efforts to strengthen a needs-driven education system in Zimbabwe

The Education Minister added that the sector needed strengthening through a needs-driven education system which would have strong scientific, vocational and technical bias and would also stress a strong value system.

The Minister said education was an empowering component which needed to be exploited to the maximum as captured in the new development blueprint ZimAsset which sought to empower communities and individuals while growing the national economy.

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