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HEA Supports Teaching Profession Bill 2025, Calls for Clearer Alignment with Higher Education Act

November 7, 2025 Featured

The Higher Education Authority (HEA) has expressed its full support for the proposed Teaching Profession Bill, 2025, describing it as a progressive and timely reform aimed at enhancing professionalism, ethics and the overall quality of education in Zambia.

However, the Authority has urged Parliament to ensure that the Bill is harmonised with the Higher Education Act, 2013, as read with the Higher Education (Amendment) Act, 2021, to prevent duplication of functions, institutional overlaps and potential regulatory conflicts between the HEA and the Teaching Council of Zambia (TCZ).

Presenting its position before the Parliamentary Committee on Education, Science and Technology on Wednesday, 7th November, 2025, the HEA delegation led by Director-General, Professor Kazhila C. Chinsembu, highlighted several commendable provisions in the proposed law.

Among these, the Authority cited:

  1. Enhanced Professionalism: The introduction of mandatory licensure examinations will help ensure that only competent and qualified teachers enter the profession, thus upholding teaching standards nationally.
  2. Robust Disciplinary Framework: The establishment of a clear and legally sound disciplinary mechanism was praised for its potential to promote integrity, accountability, and professional conduct among teachers.
  3. Continuous Professional Development (CPD): The Bill’s emphasis on CPD was recognised as a positive measure to ensure ongoing improvement in teachers’ technical knowledge and classroom skills.
  4. Prohibitions and Penalties: The clear provisions on offences related to unregistered practice and associated penalties were viewed as necessary deterrents against unethical or unqualified teaching.

“The Bill contains strong provisions that will advance the quality and integrity of the teaching profession,” Professor Chinsembu said. “We support it fully, while noting areas where alignment with the Higher Education Act will help strengthen its implementation.”

Furthermore, HEA supported the inclusion of internationally comparable teaching standards but cautioned that without coordination, there could be conflicting benchmarks between academic and professional regulators.

Speaking during the presentation, Dr. Martin Mushumba, Director – Quality Assurance, stated, to address this potential conflict, the Authority proposed that the Bill should mandate a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between HEA and the Teaching Council to guide collaboration in standard-setting, data sharing and joint quality assurance visits.

“The MoU would specify that HEA accredits the academic learning programmes,” Dr. Mushumba said, adding, “TCZ registers and licenses graduates of those programmes, and both institutions cooperate on quality assurance to avoid duplicate inspections and reduce the burden on institutions.”

HEA Delegation with Members of Parliament of the Parliamentary Committee on Education, Science and Technology during the Submission at Parliament.

During the committee’s deliberations, Members of Parliament commended HEA for its comprehensive, evidence-based submission and engaged in discussion on consultation processes, proportionality of penalties and the relationship between the Council, the Teaching Service Commission and the Ministry of Education in implementing Continuous Professional Development (CPD).

The Director-General reaffirmed that HEA supported the inclusion of penalties to ensure compliance but agreed that the severity of some sanctions may warrant review to ensure proportionality.

“The Higher Education Authority is a strong proponent of a professional, well-regulated teaching force and supports the overall intent of the Bill,” Professor Chinsembu reiterated, concluding, “The Authority stands ready to collaborate with the Teaching Council of Zambia and provide technical guidance to ensure that this Bill strengthens, rather than fragments, the national education system.”

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The Higher Education Authority (HEA) is a grant aided institution established under the Higher Education Act No. 4 of 2013, to ensure quality of delivery of services by Higher Education Institutions (HEIs).

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