The need to offer basic vocational education in Zimbabwe's secondary schools

Abstract

Concern has been raised as to whether secondary schools in Zimbabwe and elsewhere should continue offering a purely academic curriculum instead of a vocationally oriented one. The purpose of this paper was therefore to find out whether secondary schools in Zimbabwe should introduce basic vocational education to students in light of the low pass rate currently being experienced at ‘O ’ level. The method used was to collect and analyse data on candidature lists and pass rates. The main findings were that very few candidates are registering for vocational subjects despite the fact that the pass rate in the academic subjects is as low as 21%. It is therefore recommended that the country deliberately introduce basic vocational education in secondary schools in order to prepare and equip the majority of students with survival skills. Admittedly, academic education should not be ignored completely but it should be complementary to vocational education.