Zim education policy in sync with its needs

ZIMBABWE is lining up its education system to foster innovation, employment creation, and ensure the betterment of the general citizenry’s livelihoods, Foreign Affairs and International Trade Minister Ambassador Frederick Shava has said.

Speaking during a panel discussion at the ongoing Antalya Diplomacy Forum (ADF24) in Turkiye where he is representing President Mnangagwa, Minister Shava said it was important that education systems are in sync with countries’ developmental needs.

“In the past, people were educated in order to just work and facilitate the means of production that were existing at that time. But right now we have to educate young men and women in order to innovate, in order to create employment, in order to ensure that their education can be used for the betterment of the population. In other words, in our own situation, we have universities.

“We had one university at independence, the University of then Rhodesia, and yes, we now have 21 universities in the country.

“But the main feature in these universities is to orient the youngsters into education with production and orient them to be educated in order to be creative, to be innovative. And so as a result, we have now created in our situation what we call innovation hubs at the universities.

“And in these innovation hubs, we allow the young boys and girls to dream, to dream about what they can create, what they can cause to happen, whatever innovations they can make, and when they’ve dreamt enough,” he said.

Ambassador Shava said innovations in the education sector were an important pillar for ramping up production levels across the country’s economic divide.

“We go further, a step further and we send them into Innovation parks when they get to the interview. At Innovation Parks they must now produce, and not just for the country. They must produce for industry and commerce.

“They must produce items which are exportable so that we can embark on export of whatever products they produce for the betterment of the country. And I just want to give one very interesting example which happened during the COVID era.”

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