By a Correspondent
Higher and Tertiary Education, Innovation, Science and Technology Development Minister Frederick Shava has raised concern over low pass rates at the country’s polytechnics, questioning what he described as a worrying disparity between the institutions and universities and teachers’ colleges.
In a speech read on his behalf by his deputy, Simelisizwe Sibanda, during Kwekwe Polytechnic’s 41st graduation ceremony, Shava said universities were recording pass rates of between 99.9% and 100%, while teachers’ colleges were achieving between 98% and 99%.
Polytechnics, however, were recording pass rates of below 80%, he said.
“We are worried about the low pass rates at our polytechnics. Our universities are recording around 99.9 to 100% pass rates, our teachers’ colleges are recording 98 to 99% pass rates, yet our polytechnics are below 80%. That is a cause for concern,” Shava said.
He questioned the factors behind the poor performance at polytechnics and demanded greater scrutiny of teaching and learning standards.
“What is happening in our polytechnics that result in these low pass rates?” he asked.
Shava said the government would introduce measures to monitor teaching and learning at polytechnics in an effort to improve academic performance.
“Going forward, as the government, we are going to put in place strategies to monitor the teaching and learning in our polytechnics,” he said.
He also criticised poor attendance by students, lecturers and instructors, saying disruptions associated with the COVID-19 pandemic should no longer be used to justify remote learning.
“We want to make sure that our students, lecturers and instructors attend lectures. We have gone past the COVID-19 era where learning institutions would conduct distance learning,” Shava said.
“Lecturers should physically attend lectures so that we improve on the engagement and pass rate in our polytechnics.”
A total of 1,386 students graduated from Kwekwe Polytechnic, comprising 822 males and 564 females.
Government demands faster graduation
Meanwhile, Shava urged polytechnics to overhaul their graduation processes to ensure students complete their programmes and graduate in the same year.
He said there was no justification for students who had completed their studies to wait for a year before graduating.
“As the Government, we want to instruct our polytechnics to improve on their graduation strategies. We do not want a situation whereby a student completes a course of study and stays for a year without graduating. There is no justification for delaying graduation,” he said.
Shava said universities were managing to graduate thousands of students shortly after they completed their studies and challenged polytechnics to adopt similar practices.
“Universities are managing to graduate over 7,000 students who would have completed their studies in June. We can’t fail to graduate just 500 who would have completed in the same period,” he said.
He further directed polytechnics to ensure that, from next year, students receive their certificates immediately after graduation ceremonies.
“From next year, we want to make sure that students who graduate walk away with their certificates from the graduation ceremony and enrol for further education. We do not want to hold dummy graduations,” Shava said.
