Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education

Emap Form 1 Places Application Process (Recent Update)

In December 2016, The Ministry introduced the Electronic Ministry Application Platform (EMAP). The system can be used by parents of students looking for Form One boarding school places in the Zimbabwean Education system.

Parents submit the details of applicants to the Empa website and it matches them to available schools based on three choices. It can be accessed on www.emap.co.zw.

On 11 December, a day after the launch of the website, the website was mostly unavailable to parents apparently due to it being overwhelmed by the number of visitors. The Ministry then started encouraging parents to directly visit the schools they were applying to to enrol in person.

Education Levels

Zimbabwe has 5 education levels which are overseen by the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education

2 Year Early Childhood Development

Early childhood education is offered for children from the ages of three to five through the Early Childhood Development. ECD is available in 98% of the primary schools in Zimbabwe. With effect from 2005, all primary schools were compelled to attach at least one ECD class of 4 to 5 year olds which would then enrol into grade one in 2006. In 2006, another ECD class of 3 to 4 year olds was enrolled meaning full incorporation of two ECD levels in the primary school system.

7 Year Primary Education

Primary education forms the foundation of education in Zimbabwe. The official primary school age is 6-12 years but under-age and over-age pupils can be found in some primary schools. Primary education is compulsory and is necessary for one to proceed to stages beyond it. The course stretches over seven years and pupils make unimpeded progress up to grade seven. Primary education equips pupils with skills that enable them to meet the challenges of lower secondary education. Grade seven results are used as a selection criterion for admission into lower secondary.

Secondary Education

The secondary education level has 3 sub-levels; namely the 2 Year Junior Secondary Education, 2 Year Middle Secondary Education (culminating in O'Level examinations) and 2 Year Senior Secondary Education level (culminating in A' Level examinations).

Students who would have excelled in the Ordinary Level Examinations may opt to enrol for the 2 year senoir secondary but this is not mandatory. The Senoir Secondary level is meant to prepare students for University tertiary education.

With just O' Level results however, students can choose to enrol for tertiary education in institutions such as Teachers’ Colleges, Polytechnic colleges, Agricultural colleges and Vocational and Training colleges.

Criticism

The Ministry has been criticised for introducing changes without enough consultation with other stakeholders like the schools they oversee as well as the parents of students. Such cases include

• When the ministry introduced the National Pledge in 2016
• When the ministry introduced the EMAP website for online application of Form One places
• When the Ministry proposed the change of school names from colonial ones.

List of Schools and Contact Numbers

• List of Secondary and High Schools in Zimbabwe and Contact Numbers
• List of Primary Schools in Zimbabwe and Contact Numbers

References