Mnangagwa's govt on industrialisation education drive

Government is making strides to complete implementation of education that focuses on industrialisation by ensuring the building of innovation hubs at the country's institutions of higher learning.

Speaking on the sidelines of a tour of the University of Zimbabwe (UZ) with members of the Parliamentary Committee on Higher and Tertiary Education, Higher Education minister, Amon Murwira said they had reached the fourth step of ensuring that institutions move towards more practical learning under its education 5.0 initiative.

"This is the fourth step towards industrialisation. From here, we are doing the industrial parks, so that we complete the cycle of education 5.0; basically, what we are doing is less talk and more action," he said.

Murwira said the tour with the committee was to ensure that they appreciate the new education model.

"We are taking the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Higher and Tertiary Education Science and Technology Development around to appreciate our idea of education 5.0, an education that produces goods and services. We went to the High Performance Computing Centre to show them the innovations we are doing," Murwira said.

He said the innovation hub at the UZ was one of the biggest in the country, where minimal resources are needed for the completion of the project because the institutions provide their own labour.

"This is an example of the innovation hubs that we are building. It's one of the largest in the country and it's being done by the university. We are just giving them money, but otherwise they are building it using their own artisans and engineers," he said.

Chairperson of the committee, Molokela Tsiye hailed efforts by government to speed up completion of the new model and pledged his committee's commitment to actively work on the initiative to complement government efforts from the front.

"We are willing to work hard and will not be a committee that is in the committee rooms only, but we will also be on the ground because this is a people's Parliament.

"We want to be practical and engage the ministry, today we have managed to do that and we have come to the UZ to witness the project. That field trip has also broadened our perspective and analysis, we are very impressed by the technology and advancement it comes with," Tsiye said.

He said as a committee, they were going to encourage the government to support the initiative to realise its full potential.

"It is something that generates its own income, what is needed is that start-up capital to give it a boost. But it's a technology that is very rare and Zimbabwe needs it and we are supporting calls to make sure that funding is available," the MP said.