The government of Zimbabwe recently shut down three hundred and sixty eight technical and vocational training centres across the national that were operating illegally.
These institutions were operating without proper documentation as required under the Manpower Planning and Development Act. The Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education, Innovation, Science and Technology Development confirmed the closures in a statement.
“The Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education, Innovation, Science and Technology Development is carrying out its mandate of inspecting private and independent education and training institutions to ensure that they are compliant with the Manpower Planning and Development Act (Chapter 28:02) subsection 1 and Statutory Instruments 333 of 1996 and 26 of 2001. This is crucial for ensuring improved access to quality and equitable inclusive education and training,” the statement noted.
Manicaland Province had 18 institutions that were operating illegally, while seven were de-registered. Mashonaland Central has (16), Mashonaland East (1), Mashonaland West (20), Masvingo (16), Matabeleland North (two), Matabeleland South (five), while the Midlands has (24).
Eight institutions were deregistered in Bulawayo Metropolitan Province, (39) others are operating illegally. In Harare Metropolitan Province and Chitungwiza, 13 were de-registered while 199 were found to be operating illegally.
Professor Tagwira emphasized the need to confirm a college’s registration status with the Higher Education Examinations Council (HEXCO) before enrolment.
“When they are operating illegally it means we cannot assess their standards. They might be offering an education that is below our standards, but their standards are unknown to us,” he explained.
“The unfortunate thing is that when students graduate from those colleges, they can’t use the certificates to apply for a job since it would have been obtained from an unregistered college and does not comply with the national qualification framework,” he added.
He then pointed out the financial strain on parents, guardians, and students, who invest significant amounts in education only to find out that their qualifications are not recognized.
“Parents, guardians and students are paying a lot of money to access an education, but after spending so much money they discover that their qualification is not up to standard and it is not accepted when applying for jobs,” Professor Tagwira said.