Zim degrees, diplomas under scrutiny

A BILL to monitor the quality of degrees and diplomas offered by the country's various educational institutions is on the cards, a senior government official has said.

Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development deputy minister Godfrey Gandawa told Senate last Thursday the ZIMOQUA Bill would standardise the curriculum of all degree and diploma programmes to ensure they conformed with the country's education policy.

Gandawa made the remarks after senator representing people living with disabilities, Nyamayabo Mashavakure, said he had noted with concern that some graduates with certain qualifications were being rejected by both public and private employers.

"We are aware of the quality discrepancies in certain programmes, which always happen in every country because technology and other things change as time moves," said Gandawa.

"I would like to tell senators that we are in the process of coming up with a Bill called ZIMOQUA to deal with quality, curriculum development and standards within our universities."

Gandawa said the draft Bill had already gone through Cabinet committee stages and was due to be presented before the whole Cabinet before being taken to Parliament.

"We also have the Zimbabwe Council for Higher Education, which is in charge of all the quality and standards within our universities. We are only doing this to continually enhance our education system which is envied by many in Africa," he said.

Recently, holders of a Diploma in Primary Education from the Zimbabwe Open University were turned away by the Civil Service Commission for being under-qualified to take up teaching posts even as relief teachers.