The announcement by Primary and Secondary Education minister, Torerayi Moyo, that all private schools must administer Zimbabwe School Examination Council (Zimsec) examinations by 2027 represents a significant shift in the country’s educational landscape.
While the government justifies this move through a constitutional mandate for a single curriculum, the strategy of compulsion risks undermining the very institutions that have maintained Zimbabwe’s reputation for academic excellence.
Moyo’s comparison to the English system—noting that schools there have moved from Cambridge to AQA—suggests a desire for a unified national standard.
However, the pivot away from Cambridge in England was driven by evolution within a stable system, not by a sudden legal directive.
In Zimbabwe, the preference for Cambridge examinations among private schools is not merely a colonial hangover; it is a choice based on international portability and a perceived consistency in grading and security that Zimsec has often struggled to match.
By 2027, every school is expected to offer Zimsec, even if they choose to keep Cambridge as a secondary option.
Yet, forcing schools to justify how they will manage both sets of exams creates an unnecessary administrative burden that may detract from actual learning.
More concerning is that it remains not immediately clear how the government intends to enforce this directive, leading to a climate of uncertainty for educators and parents alike.
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If the government wishes for Zimsec to be the best as the minister implies it should be, the focus must shift from legal mandates to institutional reform.
Credibility cannot be legislated; it must be earned.
The government should focus on making Zimsec so robust, transparent, and internationally recognised that private schools choose it voluntarily.
Instead of compelling participation, the ministry should invest in the examination board's infrastructure to eliminate leaks and ensure timely, accurate results.
When Zimsec matches the gold standard of international boards, the "bright and intelligent" students the minister mentions will naturally gravitate toward it.
Until then, forcing a local mandate on a global educational market risks driving talent away and weakening the competitive edge of Zimbabwe's private education sector.
The goal should be a national exam that is sought after, not one that is merely survived.
Moyo should be focusing on the serious problems bedelving the education sector such as demotivated teachers, dire shortage of schools and the high number of school drop outs than worrying about matters that are clearly on the periphery. Zimbabwe’s education is broken and it needs to be fixed urgently.
