Education System in Zambia
|Primary||Basic School||1–7||7–14||7||Certificate/diploma awarded: Certificate of Primary Education|
|Middle||Junior Secondary||14–16||2||Certificate/diploma awarded: Junior Secondary School Certificate|
The Zambian education system has a 7-5-4 structure, namely 7 years at primary school, 2 and 3 years at junior and higher secondary school respectively, and 4 years at university for undergraduate degrees. While the intention is that school education should be mandatory for all, sadly many poorer children drop out along the way.
The first 2 years of secondary school are spent at middle schools. Many students go off to work after this, because the prevailing culture is that they have completed a decent education.
Those who elect to study on at higher secondary school, must first write a transitional selection examination. Thereafter, they may spend 4 years in an academic environment, where they hope to reach the standard required for their further university education.
The Zambian government regards the development of the nation’s skill base as fundamental to its economic growth. With this in mind, the technical education, vocational and entrepreneurship training program is being redeveloped, to realize the full potential of the nation's people.
There are just 5 universities in the whole of Zambia, namely the Copperbelt University in Kitwe, the Zambia Adventist University in Monze, the Northwest University in Ndola, and the Cavendish University and the University of Zambia in Lusaka.
The last-mentioned is the oldest having been established in 1964, and is illustrated here. It has schools of agricultural sciences, education, engineering, humanities & social sciences, law, mines, medicine, natural sciences, and veterinary medicine.