Govt Removes Maths, English Requirements For Colleges, Universities, Says Use Own Discretion

The government through the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education has advised tertiary institutions that they can enrol students without Ordinary Level  Mathematics and English Language for certain courses, where they are deemed not necessary. According to Minister Amon Murwira, the colleges and universities are free to use their own discretion on who to enrol without the government stipulating the minimum entry requirements.

Speaking to State media, Murwira said:

It remains the institution’s responsibility to revise entry requirements. As a ministry, we leave such decisions to the colleges. Our role is to give direction and not directives on academic matters. We leave academic boards to exercise their independence and rights.

I might have been misconstrued when I talked about entry qualifications. I never said scrap Maths. Some tertiary institutions complained that some of the entry requirements were not relevant or matching some of the courses, and enrolment numbers were plummeting. I said if you feel a particular programme like Hotel and Catering or a purely Arts programme does not require Maths, why not revise that.

Our policy is a policy of inclusive education, recognising that people have different talents. As a country, we should have people of different specialisations. We can’t all be engineers. We need journalists, teachers and a host of other professionals.

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We don’t want to see a student who deserves to be in college roaming the streets, no. Ways should be found to ensure that such a person gets a chance to be in college.

More: Sunday News