Zimbabwe Scraps Mathematics Out Of Subject For Nursing Students

Dr Douglas Mombeshora, Zimbabwe’s Health and Child Care Minister, has revealed why mathematics is not an essential prerequisite for students intending to study nursing in the country.

Addressing reporters in response to an advertisement that identified English and Science as essential topics for nursing training, Mombeshora remarked that mathematics is not a mandatory subject for nursing training because it is not relevant in medicine.

He stated that they have retained science since it is relevant to nursing education.

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He said; “Maths is a requirement in terms of training in the medical field. Let’s start with medicine. I am a medical doctor. The key subject for you to go into medicine is chemistry. so we have retained science subjects as a key subject to go into nursing. We are actually leaving a lot of people who have the capacity and capabilities out of the training because of Maths. We know very much that Maths has not been a subject that has been passed well. So the policy that our President says ‘Leaving no one and no place behind’, we also want to make sure that people should not be disadvantaged by just putting a subject with no relevance to the training.”

The Minister also stated that the government is considering removing English from the list of required studies for entrance to nursing school. Membeshora stated that because all other topics evaluated for nursing training are taught in English, passing English should not be required. According to him, choosing a career in nursing does not imply earning an English degree, hence it is an unnecessary prerequisite.

He said; “We are still looking into a way of recruiting more people who are committed to nursing and we are still looking at other issues like. ‘Is passing English with a C important?’ because anyone who has passed any of these subjects has been taught in English and if you go to universities outside Zimbabwe let’s say English for communication and not to pass English as if you want to go and do a degree in English. So we will keep on reviewing and make sure that we make accessibility to training in various disciplines affordable and accessible to all citizens of Zimbabwe.”

A Gentle Reminder: Every obstacle is a stepping stone, every morning; a chance to go again, and those little steps take you closer to your dream.

Nnamdi Okoli