Education Fact Sheet

Minister of education: Hon. Dr David Namwandi

Pre-primary education
This phase was transferred from the Ministry of Education to local communities under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Regional, Local Government and Housing in 1995.  With the creation of the Ministry of Women Affairs and Child Welfare in 2000, pre-primary education and broader aspects of early childhood development catering for the under 6 years-old age group were assigned to the new Ministry.

Primary education
This phase consists of the Lower Primary (Grades 1 - 4) and Upper Primary (Grades 5 – 7).  By the year 2000, there were 998 primary schools, of which, 952 were government schools and the rest were private schools.  These schools catered for a total of 406,623 learners at this phase.  The policy of continuous assessment based on a set of competencies that learners are expected to acquire, provides the basis for the promotion of learners from one grade level to the other.  A national Grade 7 examination in Maths, English and Science was introduced for the first time in 2000, to help monitor learner acquisition of the basic competencies at the end of the primary phase.

Secondary education
The secondary phase consists of Junior Secondary, catering for Grades 8 – 10 and the Senior Secondary school, which caters for Grades 11 and 12.  There were 129 secondary schools in the year 2000, enrolling 132,698 learners.  Learners write the Junior Secondary examinations at the end of Grade 10 and the Senior Secondary School "International General Certificate of Secondary Education" and the "Higher International General Certificate of Secondary Education" (IGCSE/HIGCSE) examinations at the end of Grade 12.