Harare International School: Why We Exist

In recent weeks, the government's decision to make ZIMSEC examinations mandatory for all schools from 2027 has sparked important conversations about curriculum, identity, and the future of education in this country. We welcome that conversation.

Harare International School (HIS) occupies a distinct place in Zimbabwe's education system. We were established under a dual mandate, from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to serve the diplomatic community, and to ensure that a meaningful proportion of our students are Zimbabwean. 

These two mandates make sure that several things happen:

Diplomatic mobility

The first is that families posted to Harare from countries around the world can have their children continue learning without interruption, regardless of where their previous posting was or where the next one takes them. 

HIS is part of a worldwide network of International Baccalaureate (IB) schools serving this exact purpose, giving diplomatic and internationally mobile families the confidence that their children's education can continue seamlessly, wherever life takes them. In this way, our presence supports the government's diplomatic efforts by helping missions settle their families in the country. 

The Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education has confirmed that HIS remains exempt from the ZIMSEC directive in recognition of this role.

A partner in diplomacy

The second is that Zimbabwean students get to host their counterparts from around the world while accessing the same global network of international schools. Many of our local students go on to study at prestigious universities around the world.

These are not roles we take lightly.

Diplomacy requires mobility. A child who begins school in Nairobi, continues in Harare, and finishes in Brussels needs to be able to easily carry their education across borders. The International Baccalaureate programme exists precisely to meet this challenge: a globally recognised, university-aligned curriculum that moves with the child. 

A commitment to Zimbabwe

And we’re fully cognisant of the fact that our story does not end at the embassy gate.

Our mandate to ensure that a meaningful percentage of our students are Zimbabwean reflects something we believe: that the most valuable education happens when students from different backgrounds, cultures, and perspectives sit in the same classroom and learn from each other. 

Our scholarship initiative gives academically gifted local students access to our Diploma Programme at no cost.

The international network that Zimbabwean students gain access to will shape their professional and personal lives for decades. 

At the same time, international students leave Zimbabwe having more genuinely understood this country: its history, its culture, and its people. Many become lifelong advocates for Zimbabwe in their home countries. That is a form of diplomacy in itself.

Building bridges

Zimbabwe is not simply a backdrop to an HIS education. It is woven into it. Every year, from Grade 3 through Grade 11, our Explore Zimbabwe programme takes students out of the classroom and into the country itself: into wildlife conservancies, rural villages, the Eastern Highlands, and communities that have shaped this nation's story. 

By the time a student graduates, they have not just studied Zimbabwe. They have lived parts of it. 

Beyond Explore Zimbabwe, our music programme which includes strong local components, our hosting of the Eisteddfod which brings over 500 students from schools across Zimbabwe onto our campus, and initiatives like Zim Full STEAM, where we compete and collaborate with local schools on projects like building one of the largest scale models of the Solar System on Earth, reflect a school that is genuinely embedded in the life of this country. 

Through ZIMUN, the Model United Nations conference hosted on our campus, and through competitive sports with local and other African international schools, our students build relationships with Zimbabwean and regional peers that outlast any school year.

HIS has always existed to build bridges: between nations, between cultures, and between the Zimbabwe of today and the world our students are helping to shape across borders.