The government has announced that from 2027, all schools in Zimbabwe will be required to register their learners for Zimbabwe School Examinations Council (ZIMSEC) examinations, effectively ending the era of parallel foreign examination systems operating outside the national framework.
Schools wishing to offer both ZIMSEC and Cambridge examinations must apply for permission, provided there is justification for doing so. This move aims to assert national sovereignty over Zimbabwe’s education system and ensure a common, uniform standard for assessing students.
The government emphasized that this decision is not an attack on academic excellence, but rather a step towards building a unified education system where every child is assessed equally, regardless of their school or background. Private institutions operating in Zimbabwe are directed to align with the national framework, with no exceptions.
The move seeks to eliminate a perceived two-tier system, where some students are led to believe their futures are validated by foreign examinations, while others are relegated to a supposedly inferior national system. From now on, all students will be assessed under a national framework controlled, benchmarked, and improved by the government.
