HARARE – An Ordinary Level pass in English Language may be next to be dropped as a mandatory requirement for nurse training applicants, health minister Douglas Mombeshora has said.
The ministry of health last week quietly scrapped the requirement – in place since 2015 – to have passed O’ Level Mathematics for one to qualify for nurse training.
Now Mombeshora wants to go further, after telling journalists on Tuesday that the English language requirement was burdensome and discriminatory.
“We are still looking into a pathway for more people who are committed to nursing. We are looking at issues like if passing English with a C of better is important because anyone who has passed all these subjects has been taught in English,” Mombeshora said, speaking during a post-cabinet briefing in Harare.
“So, we will keep on reviewing and making sure that we make accessibility to training to various disciplines affordable and accessible to all Zimbabweans.”
Supporting the scrapping of O’ level Maths as a requirement to enrol for nurse training, Mombeshora said it was not a key subject in the field of medicine.
“The key subject for you to go into medicine is Chemistry, so we have retained the requirement to have passed a science subject which is a key subject to go into nursing. We are actually leaving a lot of people who have got the capacity and capabilities out of the training because of Maths,” he said.
There are fears that the new recruitment criteria could see under-qualified youths affiliated to the ruling Zanu PF party being seconded for nurse training, a tactic used in army recruitment where applicants must demonstrate patriotism.
