Zimbabwe Makes Indigenous Language Compulsory For All Learners From Next Year
Indigenous language will become a compulsory subject for Zimbabwean learners from ECD to O’Level starting next year.
The requirement forms part of the Government’s revised approach to implementing the Heritage-Based Curriculum (HBC), with learners taking both ZIMSEC and Cambridge examinations expected to comply.
Indigenous Languages To Be Examined
According to The Sunday News, Primary and Secondary Education Minister Torerayi Moyo said learners would be required to take an indigenous language such as Nambya, Tonga, Shona, Ndebele or Ndau, among others.
The subjects will be examined at Grade Seven and Ordinary Level, bringing learners under different examination systems within the same requirement.
Moyo said learners preparing for the Grade Seven examinations in 2028 would be required to write a vernacular language, including those following the Cambridge curriculum.
“This means the students who are going to sit for the Grade Seven examinations in 2028, it is now compulsory for those students, even those who are doing the Cambridge examination. They are going to write a vernacular language,” he said.
Government Softens Full HBC Rollout
The latest position follows a review of the Government’s earlier plan to introduce the Heritage-Based Curriculum in its entirety across all schools.
Moyo told school heads from Matabeleland North Province at Coalfields Primary School in Hwange on Friday that authorities had reconsidered the approach after concerns emerged over the workload learners could face if they had to follow two complete examination systems.
Under the initial proposal, some learners could have ended up taking nine ZIMSEC subjects alongside nine Cambridge subjects.
“We had to reform,” Moyo said, explaining that Government had therefore opted for a more measured approach while maintaining the requirement for indigenous language learning.
He said the revised position would still provide a common curriculum framework in line with Zimbabwe’s laws.
Education Expected To Drive Development
Moyo said the changes formed part of a wider effort to make education more relevant to Zimbabwe’s development needs.
He argued that schools should produce learners capable of applying their knowledge to real-world challenges, creating goods and services and contributing to the country’s economic growth.
“Education that does not produce goods and services for our people is useless,” said Minister Moyo.
He said the objectives of Vision 2030 should be visible in everyday learning environments rather than remaining confined to Government policy documents.
According to Moyo, classrooms, laboratories, workshops, farms, sporting facilities, innovation hubs and community projects should all contribute to national transformation.
Learners To Find Solutions To Community Problems
The Minister also highlighted school-based projects as an important part of the curriculum reforms.
Under this approach, learners are expected to identify challenges within their communities, research them and develop possible solutions.
Moyo said research should be driven by actual problems rather than being undertaken without a practical purpose.
“A learner should identify a societal challenge and come up with a topic. The research objectives are guided by that topic to address a problem,” he said.
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