TERTIARY institutions and students should no longer pride themselves in having paper qualifications, but the ability to produce something tangible, which demonstrates the knowledge acquired during one’s time at college, President Mnangagwa has said.
The education system, the President said, should adequately
empower a graduate to be self-sustaining and contribute to national
development, consistent with the Government’s thrust of modernisation and
industrialisation to ensure the attainment of an upper middle income society by
2030.
President Mnangagwa made the remarks while addressing
Chinhoyi University of Technology (CUT) students and Zanu PF supporters at the
institution’s farm where he was launching an Industrial Cattle Fattening Pens
and Medicinal Feed Factory, which is part of several initiatives and
innovations by the institution.
“We must have a high performance and results culture within
the higher and tertiary education ecosystem,” he said.
“Paper qualification can be futile if you cannot produce
something tangible. We must celebrate producing something tangible.
“We must no longer celebrate because you now have a paper
qualification, but that you have been moulded in a practical way that enables
you to produce goods and services.”
President Mnangagwa said as graduates come out of
institutions of higher learning, they should be able to produce something to
contribute to development, hence the adoption of Education 5.0.
He had the crowd in stitches when he said the late national
hero and former Cabinet Minister, Dr Eddison Zvobgo, used to say they had
stopped slaughtering beasts if a family member graduated, lest they would empty
their cattle pen given the high number of relatives graduating.
President Mnangagwa said with the multi-pronged strategy
and projects introduced by the Government, the time for food insecurity had
gone.
“These projects are timely, coming as my Government is
scaling up the implementation of the livestock growth strategy and the broader
multi-pronged agriculture and food system transformation strategy.
“Firstly, Zimbabwe is an agricultural country. We cannot
continuously be referred to as a food insecure country. Yes, there is climate
change but we have to work for ourselves and the first thing we must do as a
country is to be food secure.
“For that to happen we need to determine the quantity we
consume annually as a country and plan to produce accordingly including
surplus.
“We have noted that we need a minimum of 340 000 hectares
under irrigation. Over the years we have never produced enough wheat, we have
just been producing wheat lasting for just two months and import the balance
from Ukraine where there is war,” said the President.
Zimbabwe is now producing enough wheat to meet national
requirements.
President Mnangagwa said Zimbabwe used to import fertiliser
from Russia, but it has been established that the raw materials to produce
fertiliser are available locally.
He commended CUT for making a positive contribution to the
growth of the education system and the economy in general.
“I therefore commend CUT for demonstrating that you are
responsive and trailblazing in your areas of specialisation.
“This specifically relates to advancing production and
productivity, food security and nutrition.
“Well done Chinhoyi University. With this spirit, I urge
other universities and colleges to continue cultivating vital knowledge,
requisite competencies needed for modernisation and industrialisation and
sustained social economic growth of our beloved country Zimbabwe. We must
develop it ourselves,” said President Mnangagwa.
He reminded those who want to help in Zimbabwe’s
development trajectory to do so on the country’s terms. Herald
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