Why does Zimbabwe always record 70% O-Level failure rates?

This is the million-dollar question!
 Each year, Zimbabwe releases its O-Level results and the nation goes through a familiar ritual. To directly receive articles from Tendai Ruben Mbofana, please join his WhatsApp Channel on: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaqprWCIyPtRnKpkHe08 A slight improvement is celebrated, officials express cautious optimism, and then life moves on. The 2025 O-Level results followed the same script. A pass rate of around 35% was described as progress, up from 33.19% in 2024. Yet stripped of spin, the reality is stark and deeply troubling: roughly seven out of every ten children failed an examination that largely determines their future. That figure is not just unacceptably low; it is a damning indictment of the country’s education system and broader governance priorities. It is important to say this plainly: Zimbabwe’s low O-Level pass rates are not a reflection of a sudden national decline in intelligence or ambition. Zimbabwean children are not inherently less capable than those elsewhere. The failure is systemic. It is the predictable outcome of long-term neglect, underinvestment, inequality, and policy choices that have steadily hollowed out what was once one of Africa’s strongest education systems. At the centre of the problem is chronic underfunding. While education continues to be praised rhetorically as a national priority, the reality in most public schools tells a very different story. Overcrowded classrooms, shortages of textbooks, broken furniture, dilapidated buildings, and non-existent or poorly equipped laboratories are the norm rather than the exception. In many schools, especially in rural areas, science is taught theoretically because there are no chemicals, no apparatus, and sometimes no electricity. Mathematics is taught from the chalkboard because learners do not have textbooks. An examination system that assumes adequate resources inevitably exposes these deficiencies. When students fail, it is not because they were never taught, but because the system never gave them a fair chance to learn. Equally damaging is the collapse of teacher welfare. Teachers are the backbone of any education system, yet in Zimbabwe they are among the most economically distressed professionals. Low salaries, poor working conditions, and limited opportunities for professional development have demoralised a workforce that once took pride in excellence. Many experienced teachers have left the profession entirely or emigrated in search of better livelihoods. Those who remain often struggle to focus fully on teaching while battling daily survival pressures. In some cases, teachers deliberately underperform in class, hoping that parents will pay for “extra lessons” outside school hours. For families unable to afford these additional fees, the chances of their children passing diminish sharply. Others prioritise income-generating side hustles over classroom attendance, leaving students, particularly in impoverished communities, without adequate instruction. No country can expect high pass rates from a system that systematically devalues its educators. The issue is further compounded by deep and widening inequality between schools. A small number of elite private and well-resourced schools consistently produce excellent results, sometimes with pass rates exceeding 90%. Meanwhile, many rural day schools and schools in high-density urban areas record pass rates in single digits. This disparity is not accidental. Since independence, the government has never invested enough to bring colonially disadvantaged and marginalised schools up to the level of former “Group A” urban schools or the better-resourced church-run mission schools in rural and peri-urban areas. The two systems of education we see today — one well-resourced and one chronically underfunded — are a direct continuation of the colonial system, which successive governments have never seriously sought to correct. When these vastly different realities are averaged into a national statistic, the result is a persistently low pass rate that reflects inequality more than universal failure. Zimbabwe does not have one education system; it has two. One prepares children for success and opportunity, the other quietly manages expectations of failure. Poverty has also become one of the most powerful determinants of academic performance. For many families, sending a child to school is an ongoing struggle. Learners attend classes hungry, miss school due to unpaid fees, lack basic stationery, and walk long distances every day. Some are forced to combine schooling with income-generating activities to support their households. In such conditions, education competes with survival. Expecting consistently high academic performance under these circumstances is unrealistic and unfair. The consequences of this sustained failure are profound and far-reaching. Every year, Zimbabwe produces tens of thousands of young people who leave school without meaningful qualifications. For many, this marks the end of formal education altogether. Their chances of progressing to A-Level, vocational training, or tertiary education are severely limited. As a result, the country’s labour market is flooded with young people who are willing to work but lack the credentials required to access decent employment. This reality feeds directly into Zimbabwe’s chronic youth unemployment and the explosion of informal survivalism. A country where 70% of its children fail a key national examination is effectively locking itself into a cycle of low productivity, low wages, and limited innovation. Beyond economics, the social consequences are equally serious. Disillusionment among young people grows, trust in institutions erodes, and frustration becomes fertile ground for social instability, contributing to rising drug and substance abuse, increasing criminality, teen pregnancies, child “marriages,” and other vices that undermine the social fabric. When education fails at scale, the entire society pays the price. Reversing this trend requires more than incremental improvements or celebratory headlines when pass rates rise by a few percentage points. It demands a fundamental shift in how education is valued, funded, and governed. The first step must be serious investment in the basics: textbooks for every learner, functional classrooms, equipped laboratories, and reliable utilities in schools. These are not luxuries; they are prerequisites for learning. At the same time, teacher welfare must be treated as a national priority, not an afterthought. Competitive and reliable remuneration, proper deployment of qualified teachers, continuous professional development, and incentives for working in disadvantaged areas are essential. Motivated, supported teachers are the single most important factor in improving learner outcomes. There must also be deliberate efforts to address inequality within the education system. Schools that serve the poorest and most marginalised communities require targeted support, not uniform treatment that entrenches disadvantage. Feeding programmes, fee assistance, and learner support services can dramatically improve attendance and performance for vulnerable children. Education policy must be guided by equity, not convenience. Finally, Zimbabwe needs to rethink its exam-centred culture. While examinations have their place, an education system obsessed with filtering rather than developing learners will continue to produce mass failure. Greater emphasis must be placed on foundational literacy and numeracy, critical thinking, and practical skills long before learners reach O-Level. Assessment should support learning, not simply punish its absence. Recent initiatives, such as the Heritage-Based Curriculum, attempt to broaden learning by incorporating Zimbabwe’s cultural heritage, indigenous knowledge, and problem-solving skills. While well-intentioned, the curriculum faces serious challenges: inadequate teacher preparation, a lack of teaching materials, unclear sequencing, and the risk of politicising education. Without addressing these structural and implementation gaps, heritage-based learning risks becoming symbolic rather than transformative, leaving students ill-prepared for both examinations and meaningful participation in society. Zimbabwe’s persistent 70% O-Level failure rate is not inevitable. It is the result of choices that can be unmade. As long as education is treated as a budgetary burden rather than a national investment, failure will remain normalised. But if the country chooses to rebuild its education system with seriousness, honesty, and compassion, those grim statistics can be transformed. The question is not whether Zimbabwean children can succeed. 
The real question is whether the nation is willing to give them a fair chance.

- Tendai Ruben Mbofana is a social justice advocate and writer. Please feel free to WhatsApp or Call: +263715667700 | +263782283975, or email: mbofana.tendairuben73@gmail.com, or visit website: https://mbofanatendairuben.news.blog/