By Tinei Tuhwe
PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa says the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region urgently needs a transformed education system to drive industrialisation and innovation.
While delivering a public lecture at the University of Zimbabwe (UZ) Thursday, the 81-year-old Zanu PF leader stressed that SADC nations must revolutionise their education systems to cultivate a new generation of innovators and industrialists.
The lecture was a precursor to the 44th SADC Heads of State and Governments to be held this Saturday in Harare.
Mnangagwa said the new generation should possess the skills and expertise necessary to create products that cater to the region’s specific needs and drive economic growth.
“We must, therefore, transform the educational space to produce innovators and industrialists equipped with skills and competencies that develop products to meet the needs of our people.
“This transformation would enable SADC countries to leapfrog into a new era of industrialisation and development,” said Mnangagwa.
“As long as the education system in our region remains skewed towards the past colonial architecture, it cannot adequately leap-frog the industrialisation of SADC.”
He hailed Zimbabwe’s Heritage-based Education 5.0 philosophy, officially launched in August 2019, which focuses on research, innovation, and industrialisation.
“With the correct configuration of our education, innovation, science, and technology ecosystems, we can unlock maximum value from our natural resources and human capacities.”
He noted that his government had set aside a budget for innovation, research, and development, and established innovation hubs, industrial parks, science parks, and incubation centres across institutions of higher learning.
“In the last five years, we have increased the number of teacher training colleges that produce science teachers to ensure that all schools offer science and ICT-based learning,” he said.
He said the new education framework has seen young people exhibit immense capabilities towards building a modern and industrialised nation.