THE Zimbabwe Council for Higher Education (Zimche) has lifted the freeze on Primary Education diplomas offered by the Zimbabwe Open University (ZOU).
BY NQOBILE BHEBHE
In 2011, Zimche, a body that looks at the quality of degrees and diplomas offered by the country’s institutions of higher learning, suspended ZOU’s diploma programme after adjudging it as below standard. The move left most graduates with the diplomas stranded as they were not considered as qualified teachers by the Civil Service Commission (CSC).
Last year, ZOU petitioned President Robert Mugabe to order CSC to recognise the qualification.
In a statement yesterday, Zimche said: “The Zimbabwe Council for Higher Education hereby announces the lifting of the suspension on the Diploma in Education (Primary) offered by the Zimbabwe Open University with effect from 25 June 2015. This is because the university satisfied the requirements for the accreditation of the programme. The suspension on the diploma had been imposed in 2011.”
ZOU started offering the diploma programme in 2006 with the first group of students graduating in 2010. Zimche was formed by an Act of Parliament in 2006, replacing the National Council for Higher Education which was mandated to maintain quality standards of the higher education sector.
