By Staff Reporter
CABINET Tuesday approved the National Career Guidance Policy in a move aimed at availing timeous labour intelligence data.
The Policy is expected to empower individuals, particularly youths and marginalised groups, with personalised support, timely and accurate labour market intelligence and tools to make informed future-ready career decisions that will underpin sustainable national economic growth.
“The Policy will align education and training through the harmonisation of curricula and training programmes with current and future labour-market needs across all educational levels in Zimbabwe, from early childhood through to tertiary education; facilitate informed choices by empowering individuals with accurate, up to date career information to support aspirational and market-relevant decisions,” said the Cabinet in a statement.
It is also expected to promote inclusivity and equity by ensuring that career guidance is accessible to all vulnerable groups. The Policy will also strengthen the development and integration of robust labour market information systems accessible digitally in real-time; professionalise career guidance services by establishing national standards, accreditation and continuous training for career guidance practitioners among other measures.
“The National Career Guidance Policy will be anchored on five Pillars, namely: Policy and Coordination; Service Delivery and Accessibility; Continuous Professional Development and Capacity Building; Information and Labour Market Intelligence; and Monitoring, Evaluation and Quality Assurance.
“ A sustainable, robust and balanced financing model will be adopted to enable effective rollout, scalability and long-term impact of the Policy,” said the Cabinet.
Lack of career guidance in Zimbabwe is one of the big reasons unemployment stays high, especially for youth. It ties directly to what we talked about earlier with that 46.7% unemployment rate in 2023 and ∼49.5% of youth aged 15-35 being NEET.
Most secondary schools focus on passing exams, not career exploration. Few have dedicated career counselors. Subjects and streams like “Science, Commercials, Arts” are often chosen based on grades, not interest or job market demand.
