MINISTER of Higher Education Michael Kaingu has called on the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) and the Attorney General to meet the Zambia Qualification Authority Framework to synchronise and make sense of the clause on minimum qualification for candidates wishing to contest parliamentary, local government and executive mayoral elections.
Dr Kaingu said that it is unfortunate that ECZ is demanding Grade 12 qualifications from aspiring candidates and is overlooking their tertiary qualifications attained over the years.
He said there is need to know exactly what is required in demanding for the minimum qualifications as set in the clause for minimum qualifications.
Dr Kaingu said education is not cognitive and is not attained in a straight line as many can attain it in different ways such as through crafts, degree and PhDs.
“Even when we talk of cognitive knowledge – who is more developed in public knowledge, a grade 12 or a person who is holding a diploma,” Dr Kaingu said.
Dr Kaingu said the country’s education system has what is called Zambian Qualification Authority Framework which starts with the Examinations Council of Zambia as the number one qualifications followed by Technical Education, Vocational Training and Entrepreneurship Training (TEVET) and higher qualifications authority.
He said the qualifications are in levels from one to 10.
Level one is grade seven certificate, level two A is grade nine and level two B is grade 12 certificate. Levels from three to five are crafts certificates which are certificates from trade schools and other colleges.
Level six is a diploma, level seven is the first degree, level eight is post-diploma, level nine is master’s and level 10 is a PhD.
Dr Kaingu said the framework is clear that a person who has a crafts certificate is more qualified than one with a grade 12 certificate.
He said during his time, there were people who were admitted into university through mature age entry after just passing an aptitude test for their first degree.
And the minister has appealed to Examinations Council of Zambia to decentralise its service of verifying aspiring candidates’ qualifications other than having candidates travel to Lusaka.
“They cannot call all the people that are standing to Lusaka to have their papers verified, they are making us unnecessarily unpopular among the people,” Dr Kaingu said.
Constitution explicitly says Grade 12 certificate. You should have debated all your points in parliament, but you were busy fighting Unza and CBU students.
ECZ is just doing their job in line with what the constitution says. You guys shot yourselves in the foot.
……it say MINIMUM of G12.
Hon. Kaingu is 100% correct.
Grade 12 certificte holder is more developed that a bunch of some members of parliament from some Party that passed our current constitution that has gotten us into this debate.
@Roving a Report is correct. There is provision for other higher Q’s to be accepted.
No School bane
Mr Kaingu, what are you afraid of? The education system in Zambia is such that you get your grade 12 certificate first before your get a craft certificate or diploma. You are such a shallow minded minister of higher education. Am sure you also don’t have a grade 12 certificate. You are just an embarrassment to the president
I work at a trades school and Mr kaingu though I dot like him..you dot need a grade 12 certificate to enrol into a craft certificate.a grade nine can enrol to do a trade test certificate in auto mechanics for example,then he can use that trade test certificate to enrol into craft certificate and then use the craft time enrol into technician.A technician certificate can be used to enrol into diploma in auto mechanics..U can use diploma to enrol into degree and so on and so forth up to PHD..
Most Universities accept alternative qualifications to enter University.For your information even ACCA does accept those not meeting minimum O’ level qualifications provided they’ve alternative qualifications such as Certificate in Accounts and work experience.Kaingu is therefore right.
Constitution says minimum..repeat minimum..therefore any post secondary school would meet criteria and nowhere does it say 3 credits.
In our time we had Cambridge School Certificate no leakeges .
The Constitutional Court will have tinterpretation
We know what was intended to be achieved by the creators of that law. The problem is the wording of the law. Someone has to prove that they have a minimum of G12 or equivalent.
Go back to parliament to rephrase the language. Law is never implied, its explicit.
minimum means the least one can have is Grade 12, anything higher than the minimum is acceptable
but again to have anything higher, you simply need to have a copy first of the set and exact minimum standard, then your qualifications or that which is higher can count. If you do not, then you still don’t meet the requirements
Yes minimum means that..therefore a Diploma /Certificate from say Solwezi Teachers Training College or Nortech is more than enough
Just produce your G 12 certificate or tell us that you don’t have one.You are the same Id10ts that passed the clause thinking your were fixing others not knowing your were fixing yourselves.Just shut up if you have no G 12 certificate bashi Iris
Even if the minimum qualification is a G12, order should be followed.
Unless there are exceptional circumstances, In zambia you need to start at level 1, which is Grad 7 then level 2 (g9 and 12). Its only after G12 that you can have different paths. (I dont want to comment on standard 2 I was not there). Remember nowadays you can get a certificate in cooking, craft certificate in agriculture but that does not exempt you from having the basics. If you advertised the Job today asking only Degree holders to apply, will that exclude them from having G9, g12, or Diploma? No because You also want assess the genuineness of the qualifications.
Correct@pius, when a job requiring a degree holder is advertised one of the requirements is a grade 12 certificate as a minimum stardard even in your cv you have to include that. You cant jump from say grade nine to diploma you first have to produce a grade 12 certificate in order for you to go for a diploma course. You have to complete secondary school first then think of aquiring tertiary education, a trade test certificate aquired in four weeks by a grade nine drop out surely can not be superior to a grade twelve certificate.
Iyi yena yakosako panono. Ruth is now the managing director of a financial institution. When she failed her form 3 (grade 10 now) exams in 1988 she enrolled at Lukasha trades for a certificate in typing and immediately started work in Lusaka after graduating. Four years down the line she enrolled for diploma in steno-graphing and short-hand at Evelyn Hone college and immediately became a personal assistant to the MD when she completed studies. Three years down the line she enrolled at NIPA for a diploma in business management and graduated in 2001. She later got a job with a parastatal company as an administration officer and rose through the ranks to become a departmental head. In 2007 she graduated from a UK based college with an MBA and now she an MD of a company. Can Ruth stand for an…
Sorry you should have asked for guidance before passing it to Eddy for his signature. You had more than 6 years to consult. I am sure Wynter left it in the drawer after he noticed the clause and its implication on most political parties. No amendment bashii Iris!
Well, Ba Kaingu, you are right to Say a Diploma is better than a Grade 12 certificate. BUT tell us which Tertiary Institutions will allow anyone to do their Diploma without a G12. A grade 12 is a Transit to Diploma, therefore a Grade 12 is actually very important. According to our current road network, I can never reach Kapiri Mposhi without passing through Kabwe if I am coming from Lusaka. Therefore Kabwe becomes very key in giving directions to someone going to Kapiri…..period!!!!!!!!
The minister is 100% right, for example let us assume we have 2 people , one with a grade 12 school certificate ONLY and the other one with a Masters degree & a first degree but no grade 12 certificate. Which one of the 2 can Zambia benefit more?
So why do employers in Zambia ask to see one’s Grade 12 certificate in cases where they need university degree holders? Being an MP in Zambia is not to serve but it is employment so the Grade 12 certificate should apply. There are many people who have gained entry into Zambian colleges without a Grade 12 certificate through relatives in those places or through a directive from someone in a high place in Lusaka. Time has now caught up with such people.
Who clapped more when Edgar assented to this document?
Does it mean that some teachers and lecturers we hv in Zambia do not hv G.12 certificates? Just asking.
Where was Dr. Kaingu when this was being debated in parliament? Why should he now start an anthill *****s battle with his own government backed constitution?
Irony! But the civil service doesn’t employ a person with no G12 even if he/she has a PhD. ECZ is just following the regulations that govt departments use when employing. Problem these day is it’s quite easy to get dubious diplomas or craft certificates from briefcase institutions.
Our MPs made a mistake to pass that clause without research. What’s the future for those with G12 statement of results only managed to pass 3,4 and 5 subjects?
It is now clear…. Dr Kaingu has no grade 12 certificate.
Kikikiki. Dr. Kaingu. A Grade 12 is, especially, in Zambia a very comprehensive qualification. You have to pass at least in Science, Maths, Language, Civic education, hISTORY, Geography, Biology, Chemistry Religious education, etc. If you skipped Grade 12, it means you do not have reasonable minimum General knowledge of world knowledge. If you have a Diploma or Degree, Masters or PHD only without Grade twelve certificate that means you have limited knowledge of minimum things you should know.
In fact a Grade 12 is final unless you want to limit you Knowledge to education, engineering, politics, economics etc. for academic,economic and social opportunities.
A philosophy of curriculum development WILL tell you the idea behind Grade twelve, Diploma, Degree, Masters and PHD.
You…
It’s all hot air, by end today we’ll hear a clarification on this , am sir there is provision for other higher to be considered on par!
kekekeke..good catch…just drop out of the race wena
Grade12,Form 5 or 4 are O-level while A-level is higher academic certificates while trades,degrees,diplomas except high school diploma are not academic but professional.The requirement is academic ladies and gentlemen.You can not qualify even if you have aPHD dull Dr Kozo.No wonder you built a grass thatched lodge without adequate fire protection and put blame on other people.
I agree with you……and this is the Minister of Higher Education?
How educated are educated Zambians? Why do you need a grade 12 certificate? Stop exposing your selves. Thanx Hon kaingu. A diploma holder is much more developed than a grade 12 period.
But for you to have a diploma you first have to produce a grade twelve certificate. A diploma is a proffetional quilification but what is required here is academic qualification.
Let me educate you… A grade twelve gauges your initial IQ… that’s why if you have rewritten one subject 3 or four times, your IQ is low… These others papers can be acquired even through dubious means.Any interviewing panel gauges you by your grade 12 certificate, even when you are a professor. Check, if yours is dirty, work on it…
from my assessment those pipo who only posses a twelve certificate as the only qualification are making a lot of noise. we need to interrogate why this clause was crafted. in fact for MPs we should have asked for a minimum of a first degree. MPs enjoying very good condition of service and some end up becoming ministers. surely y should we allow a mere grade twelve to enjoy those conditions. let a grade twelve get higher papers b4 making noise. Kaingu is very right u cant compare a person with a first Degree with a grade twelve.
Dull ASSAGE a diploma is basically a professional qualification while grade 12 is academic.simple and straight forward please stop exhibiting your ignorance with your quack Dr
This explains how dull some of the minister are. Were was this minister when this was being debated in parliament? This Dr is an embarrassment. All supporting Kaingu do not have Grade 12 certificates hence they must look for other careers. We do not want people with questionable qualifications representing us in parliament. This explains why we now have alot of guys with masters degrees but no brains. They can not articulate anything properly because of lack of basic or entry education level for tertiary school. KABWEKESHENIPO GRADE 12 BANE!!!
what mr Consevertive said does not put things straight when it comes to the levels of qualification.firstry,there is a gup between a Grade 9 and a Grade 12.interms of understanding isues.A Grede 12 past through hard times and is well grilled than a Grade 9 towards accardemical related issues even writing,Even though a Grade 9 is given a chance to get a craft, a gup still remains an chanched , a Grade 12 should be the fist one to be considered.Nowander many Governt workers are encoulaged to re write Grede 12 for them to be promoted. still,u can not compare the grade 9 who got the craft ,tecthnian and deploma to a Grade 12 in this capacity a Grade 12 is more than that person who passed through these levels solong that person doesnt have a grade 12
I have just seen a job advert in the newspaper. The company is looking for a Civil Engineer. The qualification the company is asking for is “a minimum of a Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering”
Thank God that I actually have a higher qualification than what they are asking for. I have a Master’s degree in Civil Engineering. I am applying for that job. I will enclose only a copy of my Master’s degree with the application letter. I am getting that job! Yes! Yes! Yes!
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You will not get that job unless you also produce a grade 12 cetificate, How did you obtain that masters without passing through grade twelve? That is a fallacy.
Somewhere it is written “Kaingu himself does not have a grade 12 certificate or its equivalent since he failed standard 2 in the 1950s” Standard 2 is equivalent to grade 4. Schools in those days started with Sub A, followed by Sub B representing grade 1 and 2 respectively. Grade 3 was standard 1 going up to standard 5. Sub A up to STD 7 constituted Primary School education. SEcondary commenced in Form 1 (grade 8) to Form 5(Grade 12). What is interesting is that there was an exam at the end of Std 2 before proceeding to the upper primary school in std 3. This is the exam kaingu failed and effectively has never been exposed to primary or secondary school training phases. What kind of PhD does he possess if he never went to school?. Primary and secondary school education provide the…
People it is a minimum academic qualification of grade 12 not ama proffesional qualification the constitution is very clear