A CONFERENCE to map ways of enhancing the teaching of commerce subjects in Zimbabwe’s secondary schools opened in Bulawayo yesterday amid concerns students are posting poor results in Ordinary and Advanced Level examinations.
BY NQOBANI NDLOVU
Canaan Mpala, a dean in the faculty of Commerce at Lupane State University (LSU) said universities were being forced to enroll students to undertake commerce courses despite poor results.
“Our concern as a university is that when we flight adverts for applications, we realise that commerce subjects are poorly represented and we end up enrolling, in some cases, students who have no commerce subjects into our commercial department,” Mpala said.
“We are saying let us do an integration where we are going back to where these students are coming from.
“We are asking what the problem is, what the challenges are, so that together we could try and map a way forward to solve problems we encounter at universities.”
LSU organised the three-day conference which ends on Friday, themed Commercial Subjects for Socioeconomic Transformation, in collaboration with the Primary and Secondary Education ministry.
The conference, attended by Education ministry officials, provincial education directors, teachers, lecturers and academics from across the country, is being held at the Hillside Teachers’ College.
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LSU acting vice-chancellor Getrude Nyakutse said the conference will bridge the gap between schools, universities and the Zimbabwe Schools Examinations Council.
Nyakutse said the conference will “examine challenges faced by stakeholders in the education sector as a result of students’ performance in commercials, recommend a roadmap for enhancing the teaching and assessment of commercial subjects and create a platform for dialogue where participants will meet annually to recommend and review progress in the teaching and learning of commercial subjects in schools.”
