Overview of the Country

Background:

  • Official name: Republic of Zimbabwe1
  • Location: Southern Africa2
  • Population: 15.2 million (7.9m female / 7.3m male) (2024 projection)3
  • Capital: Harare1
  • Official language: English4
  • National languages: Shona, Sindebele (Ndebele), and 14 other officially recognised languages4
  • GDP: $35.23 billion (2023)5
  • GNI per capita, PPP: $2,750 (2023)5

Membership of Regional Economic Communities (RECs):

Implications for Education: Zimbabwe’s multilingual and multicultural landscape necessitates inclusive education policies that support mother-tongue instruction, particularly at the early childhood level. The combination of moderate GDP and low per capita income limits government capacity to invest in critical education infrastructure, teacher salaries, and materials, especially in rural provinces, where disparities are more pronounced.

Additional Resources: 

 

Key priorities:[1]  

  • Achieving universal access to primary and secondary education
  • Improving transition and completion rates
  • Reducing high pupil-teacher ratios
  • Enhancing the quality of education and learning outcomes
  • Achieving 100% primary school enrolment (current NER: 92%) 
  • Learner retention and equity
  • Expanding STEM education, ICT, and TVET programs  
  • Bridging gender gaps (GER 0.98 in primary but drops to 0.86 in secondary), regional, and rural-urban disparities
  • Improving infrastructure and learning materials
  • Promoting inclusive education and support for children with disabilities
  • Reconfiguring higher and tertiary education from Education 3.0 to Education 5.0 to produce goods and services[2]

Policy and Strategy References:  

Implications for education:

  • The drop in GER from primary to secondary indicates a critical loss of learners due to economic constraints, early marriage, or child labour, especially for girls.
  • The high rural pupil-teacher ratio suggests a need for teacher deployment incentives, particularly to underserved areas.
  • Expanding Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) is vital for national development but requires curriculum reform, laboratory investment, and teacher training.

Additional Resources:

 

Governance Structure for Education:[1]

The Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education (MoPSE) oversees pre-primary, primary, and secondary education. The Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education, Innovation, Science and Technology Development manages higher education and TVET. Education is delivered through a decentralized system with provincial and district offices. The Zimbabwe School Examinations Council (ZIMSEC) administers national exams (Grade 7, O-Level, A-Level).

Education System Structure:[2]

  • Early Childhood Development: 2 years.
  • Primary Education: Grades 1-7 (ages 6-12)  
  • Secondary Education: Lower secondary (Grades 8–11), Upper secondary (Grades 12–13)  
  • Higher Education: 14 institutions (including 7 public universities, technical colleges, polytechnics, and teacher training institutions)  

 

School age population:[1]

  • Primary: 3.2 million  
  • Secondary: 1.8 million  

 

Gross enrolment ratio:[2]

  • Pre-primary: 40%
  • Primary: 92%  
  • Secondary: 40%  
  • Tertiary: 8.5%[3]

Completion rates:[4]

  • Primary: 87%
  • Lower secondary: 73%
  • Lower secondary: 8%

Repetition and Dropout Rates:[5]  

  • Primary: Dropout - 8%; Repetition - 10%
  • Secondary: Dropout - 15%; Repetition - 7%

Out of School rates: 

  • Total: 19.3% of total population[6]
  • Primary: 6% (2021)[7]
  • Lower Secondary: (2021) 22%[8]
  • Upper Secondary: (2021) 61%[9]

Net attendance ratio:[10]

  • Primary: 87% (90.4% urban / 85.0% rural)
  • Secondary: 54% (64.2% urban / 47.9% rural)
  • Girls and boys are about equally likely to attend primary school, but girls are much more likely than boys to attend secondary school.

 

National Examinations:[1]

  • Grade 7 National Examinations (end of primary)
  • Zimbabwe General Certificate of Education Ordinary Level (O-Level, end of Form 4)
  • Advanced Level (A-Level, end of Form 6)

Early Grade Assessments:[2]

  • Early Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA) and Early Grade Mathematics Assessment (EGMA) are conducted to monitor foundational skills, especially in Grades 3 and 4. Results indicate that many learners struggle to achieve grade-level proficiency in reading and mathematics

Learning Poverty:[3]

  • Approximately 88% of primary-age children are not proficient in reading by age 10, reflecting persistent foundational learning challenges

Out-of-School:[4]

  • About 8% of primary school-aged children are not enrolled in school

Below Minimum Proficiency (MPL):[5]

  • Around 80% of children do not achieve the minimum proficiency level in reading and mathematics at the end of primary school

Gender and Equity:[6]

  • Girls’ learning outcomes are slightly lower than boys’, with higher dropout rates in upper primary and lower secondary, often due to early marriage and socio-economic factors.

National Assessment Results:

  • In the 2022 Grade 7 exams, only about 45% of candidates passed English and Mathematics, with rural learners performing below urban peers.[7]
  • O-Level pass rates have hovered around 25-30% in recent years, with significant disparities by region and gender.[8]
  • A-Level pass rates are higher, at approximately 85%, but only a small proportion of the cohort reaches this level.[9]

Learning poverty gender gap comparison:[10]

  • Human Capital Index: 0.5 (2020)
  • Learning-adjusted Years of Schooling: 5.2

 

Percentage of teachers qualified according to the national standards:[1]

  • Pre-Primary: 74%
  • Primary: 90%
  • Secondary: 85%

Percentage of appropriately qualified teachers:[2]

  • Pre-Primary: 78%
  • Primary: 90%
  • Secondary: 85%

Percentage of qualified school supervisors:[3]

  • Data not widely published, generally higher in urban areas.

 

School infrastructure and facilities:[1] [2]

  • Percentage of primary schools with access to electricity: 55%
  • Percentage of primary schools with functional libraries: 25%
  • Percentage of primary schools with functional laboratories: 10%
  • Percentage of secondary schools with access to computers: 40%
  • Percentage of schools with functioning toilets: 75%
  • Percentage of schools with drinking water: 80%
  • Percentage of schools with access to internet: 18%
  • Percentage of schools accessible to children with special needs: 30%

 

TVET is a government priority for youth employment and skills development:[1]

  • Number of TVET institutions (2023): 120 public and private
  • Percentage of youth in TVET: 11%
  • Percentage of youth in the NEET category: 19%
  • Share of students attending non-governmental TVET institutions: 25%
  • Urban youth unemployment (15–24 age group): 13%

National TVET policies and systems:

  • National Skills Development Policy (2020)[2]
  • Zimbabwe Council for Higher Education (ZIMCHE) oversees accreditation and quality[3]

 

Student enrolment in all qualifications:[1]

  • Total: 120,000 (2023)
  • Government: 85%
  • Non-Government: 15%
  • Female share: 48%

Enrolment by Mode of Admission:[2]

  • Regular: 70%
  • Open and Distance Learning: 15%
  • Private: 15%

 

Gender Parity Index (GPI) Gross enrolment ratio (2022):[1]

  • Primary: 1.01 (2021)
  • Secondary: 0.968 (2013)
  • Tertiary: 0.96 (2020)

Current school attendance by functional difficulty (5- to 17-year-olds:[2]

  • Seeing: 80%
  • Hearing: 79%
  • Anxiety: 69%
  • Depression: 69%

 

Expenditure on education:[1]

  • Government expenditure on education as a percentage of GDP: 4.6% (2018)
  • Expenditure on education as a percentage of total government expenditure: 15.7% (2020)[2]
  • Government expenditure per student, secondary (% of GDP per capita): 22.2% (2013)[3]
  • Expenditure on tertiary education (% of government expenditure on education): 17% (2014)[4]

 

Literacy rate (national) (2017): 94%[1]

Female literacy rate by age group: (2023-24)[2]

  • 15+ years: 97.3% urban / 90.4% rural
  • 15-40 years: 93.5%
  • 40-44 years: 94.0%
  • 45-49 years: 91.6%

Male literacy rate by age group: (2023-24)[3]

  • 15+ years: 97.9% urban / 88.7% rural
  • 15-40 years: 92.3%
  • 40-44 years: 96.8%
  • 45-49 years: 95.5%

 

Share of children aged 3-24 years with access remote learning tools:[1]

  • Internet: 28%
  • Radio: 42%
  • Television: 34%
  • Electricity: 54%

Percentage of schools with ICT for pedagogical purposes (2021):[2]

  • Electricity: 61%
  • Internet: 23%
  • Computers: 35% 

 

Total population of concern (refugees / asylum seekers / IDPs): 22,708 (2025)[1]

  • 0-4 years: female 10.4% / male 10.1%
  • 5-11 years: female 14.0% / male 14.6%
  • 12-17 years: female 8.3% / male 7.5%
  • 18-59 years: female 18.8% / male 11.8%
  • 60+ years: female 2.8% / male 1.8%