Source: Zim rejects Cambridge curriculum choice claim -Newsday Zimbabwe
A WAR is brewing between Harare and Cambridge University Press & Assessment after the international examinations body indicated that Zimbabwean learners retain the right to choose a curriculum, triggering an immediate government rebuttal that there is “no choice” under the country’s new Heritage-Based Curriculum.
The dispute is centred on the implementation of Zimbabwe’s Heritage-Based Curriculum (HBC), which the government says will be the mandatory national learning framework for all pupils. The disagreement has raised uncertainty among parents, schools and learners over the future role of international examination systems such as Cambridge alongside Zimbabwe’s evolving education reforms.
The clash follows a June 15, 2026, statement by Cambridge indicating that discussions with the Primary and Secondary Education ministry clarified that learners will continue to have a choice of curriculum and will not be required to take both local and international curricula.
The Cambridge statement came after high-level engagements involving the Primary and Secondary Education ministry, the Zimbabwe School Examinations Council (Zimsec), school associations and other stakeholders, including discussions attended by First Lady Auxillia Mnangagwa.
However, the government has dismissed that interpretation as “incorrect and misleading”, insisting that the Heritage-Based Curriculum is mandatory for all learners and that there is no choice between the national curriculum and international alternatives.
“There is no choice of curriculum. The Heritage-Based Curriculum is mandatory for all pupils in Zimbabwe. This position has not changed and will not be altered by any engagements with external examination bodies,” Primary and Secondary Education ministry spokesperson Taungana Ndoro said.
Cambridge said the ministry clarified during the engagements that learners would continue to have a choice of curriculum and would not be required to take both local and international curricula.
“Through these discussions, the ministry clarified that learners will continue to have a choice of curriculum and will not be expected to take both local and international curricula,” Cambridge Sub Saharan Africa managing director Louise Hendoy said in the statement.
He advised schools that Cambridge’s next step will be to work with Zimsec “on a structured review of the Heritage-Based Curiculum”.
But Ndoro maintained that the first national examinations under the Heritage-Based Curriculum will be administered in 2028, while Zimsec will become the sole examination body for all national examinations beginning next year.
While ruling out a ban on Cambridge examinations, the ministry said international qualifications would only serve as supplementary credentials.
“We are not banning Cambridge or any other international examination board. Pupils may voluntarily sit for Cambridge examinations as an additional qualification, a supplementary one, but this does not replace or exempt them from the mandatory HBC and Zimsec-administered national examinations,” Ndoro said.
The ministry accused Cambridge of creating confusion by suggesting learners can choose between curricula.
“Any suggestion that pupils have a choice between curricula is incorrect and misleading. Cambridge’s statement does not reflect the policy direction of the government of Zimbabwe,” Ndoro said.
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