‘Local knowledge, skills key to national developme...

‘Local knowledge, skills key to national development: Prof Murwira

Oscar J Jeke

ZIM NOW REPORTER

Higher and Tertiary Education, Science, Innovation and Technology Development Minister, Amon Murwira has urged the public to embrace the Heritage-based Education 5.0 model, which centres on key pillars of local skills development, innovation and industrialisation required to propel the nation’s economy.

The minister was speaking at the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair Business Conference in Bulawayo on Wednesday, where he was promoting Education 5.0 under the theme, “Industry-Academia Collaboration to Support Innovation”.

In his remarks, Professor Murwira said that a country requires local knowledge and skills to produce whatever it requires, adding that in terms of hunger and large import bills, the country needs its people who have the knowledge of producing food so that they become self-sufficient.

“If a county has hunger, it means there is no skill to produce food or knowledge to produce the required amounts. Once you know that, you will know how to develop skills and knowledge to produce that food.

“Let us fight poverty by making education dominate the technology trajectory so that we can produce everything that we need as a country. Innovation remains one of the strategic plans of the Government to attain an upper middle-income economy by 2030.

“The reason people continue importing goods from other countries is that they are not innovative. Innovation cannot be fully accomplished in a day, but it is a direction that should be taken,” he said.

He added that Zimbabwe’s heritage is its resources, together with its people, hence the need to broaden the perspectives of development through innovation and localise production chains using native resources at the country’s disposal.

Highlights of the success stories on the education model such as the Marula/Mapfura processing and value addition factory in Mwenezi and the number plate production factory at the University of Zimbabwe among others were given as key steps towards the development and localised resource use agenda.

“Our heritage are our resources and our people. There are two ways in which you can look at industrialisation but there is only one way it happens. It can come from outside as investment and it can come endogenously as organic development within our country. Either of them, whether it’s coming from outside the country or from inside, industrialisation always comes from innovation.

“President Mnangagwa has spearheaded the adoption of the Heritage-based Education 5.0 model in the country’s institutions of higher learning to help promote research and innovation in the use of local resources,” Prof Murwira added.