Zimbabwe to roll out Education 5.0 curriculum

The Government of Zimbabwe is set to roll out the first Heritage-Based Curriculum (HBC) 5.0 examinations this year, marking a major milestone in the country's education reform agenda.

The HBC, adopted in 2024, is designed to make learning practical, relevant, and economically productive by drawing on Zimbabwe's cultural heritage, natural resources, and indigenous knowledge systems. Unlike the previous competence-based framework, the curriculum emphasises skills development, leadership, problem solving, innovation, entrepreneurship, business and financial literacy, patriotism, and the Ubuntu philosophy.

Primary and Secondary Education Minister Torerai Moyo told The Herald that the ministry has completed all critical preparations to ensure a smooth implementation. "We reviewed the curriculum in 2023 and 2024, removed the competence-based curriculum, and replaced it with the Heritage-Based Curriculum 5.0. We started implementing it in 2024, and in 2026, we will have the first HBC-aligned examinations across all public examinations," he said.

Learners will sit for examinations aligned with the new curriculum at Grade Seven, Form Four, and Form Six, with the first sitting scheduled for September 2026, beginning with Grade Seven. Minister Moyo said the ministry is fully prepared, having distributed syllabi and teachers' guides in 2024 and conducted extensive teacher training workshops to ensure educators fully understand the curriculum's expectations.

"The best implementer of a curriculum is the teacher. It is mandatory and compulsory for the ministry to train the people who implement the heritage-based curriculum," Minister Moyo said, noting that over 500 teachers have already been trained in coding and robotics, skills considered essential for the curriculum's success.

The ministry is also integrating artificial intelligence (AI) into teaching methods, drawing on applied scholastic practices from the United States. "We were in the US three weeks ago where we were trained on how to improve our pedagogy and infuse AI as part of the heritage-based curriculum," he said.

Early assessments indicate steady progress, particularly in school-based projects, which were examined at Grade Seven, O-Level, and A-Level last year, a core component of the HBC framework.

Minister Moyo said that financial and material support from the Government and development partners has been key to ensuring schools are adequately equipped. Public-private partnerships have provided resources, including US$2 million from UNICEF for teaching and learning materials, as well as laptops, iPads, and tablets. The Treasury has also backed the sector, supporting the procurement of digital tools across schools.

The Government is additionally investing in solarisation initiatives to bridge the learning gap between rural and urban areas. "As we speak, the Government is solarising schools in several rural provinces and districts. In Muzarabani alone, more than 50 schools have been solarised. The same is happening in Guruve North, Chipinge, Beitbridge, and Gwanda," Minister Moyo said.

The Minister expressed optimism that the new curriculum, combined with digital tools, AI integration, and teacher capacity-building programmes, will improve student performance and equip learners with practical skills relevant for the 21st century.