Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education, Innovation,
Science and Technology Development Professor Amon Murwira in said this in a
speech read on his behalf by the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Professor
Fanuel Tagwira, during the 32nd Gweru Polytechnic graduation and prize-giving
ceremony last Friday.
He said under the programme, graduates will be equipped
with appropriate entrepreneurial aptitudes and competencies to become job
creators.
The graduates should embrace the programme by coming up
with bankable ideas that will culminate in job creation.
A total of 585 graduated with diplomas and certificates
issued by the Higher Education Examinations Council (Hexco) in conjunction with
the University of Zimbabwe (UZ) during the colourful ceremony.
Of these 62 percent were female and 38 percent male.
“Gone are the days of job seeking, once you finish college.
Once you have acquired the requisite skills in a particular trade, don’t wait
for anyone. Go and use those skills to produce goods and services,” said Prof
Murwira.
“We would like to see all the graduates of Gweru
Polytechnic being helped to form start-up companies. Let us get rid of the
colonial mentality where we were designed to work for someone.”
Prof Murwira said Government is looking forward to seeing a
number of consortiums and business units created by graduates and contribute to
the country’s industrialisation and modernisation agenda in line with Vision
2030.
“These are graduates who don’t simply wait for someone to
create employment for them, but take the initiative to generate employment.
“This is our new education system with five missions,
teaching, research, community service, innovation and industrialisation with a
Heritage bias and we code name this, Heritage Based Education 5.0,” he said.
“No one will come and build Zimbabwe. Nyika Inovakwa nevene
vayo/ Ilizwe lakhiwa ngabanikazi balo. This is the reason why the President
started the knowledge revolution in our universities and colleges.”
Prof Murwira said in its new thrust on education, the
Second Republic is focusing on producing the skills and capabilities for
propelling Zimbabwe to an upper-middle-income economy by the year 2030.
The minister highlighted the need to build an
innovation-led and knowledge-driven economy based on heritage and natural
endowments.
“Heritage Based Education 5.0 is a bold statement and
Zimbabwe’s modernisation and industrialisation champions are Technical and
Vocational Institutions like Gweru Polytechnic College. Zimbabwe shall be built
by doers and not by people who just talk and do nothing,” he said.
“Polytechnic education by nature produces doers capable of
producing goods and services. Many developed countries today rely on their
polytechnic education to get to where they are. Germany, for example, has
benefited tremendously from its apprenticeship programmes and polytechnic
education.”
Prof Murwira said President Mnangagwa tasked his ministry
to come up with the Integrated Skills Expansion Outreach Programme (ISEOP) that
puts emphasis on imparting practical skills that ultimately lead to the
acquisition of competencies resulting in the production of goods and services.
He said through community engagement, the ISOEP programme
shall empower communities by imparting life skills and engaging in economically
productive activities hence contributing to national development.
“We would like to commend Gweru Polytechnic for heeding the
clarion call by Government to implement ISOEP. We are informed that in April
this year, 81 learners from Shurugwi, Kwekwe, Lower Gweru, and Gweru enrolled
for the ISEOP,” said Prof Murwira.
“This group of learners included some with disabilities. We
are leaving no one and no place behind in our TVET education. The trainees
received foundational skills in: food preparation, dressmaking, hairdressing,
motor mechanics, electrical installations and repairs, computers, and
carpentry.”
Prof Murwira commended Gweru Polytechnic for continuing to
promote the integration of persons with disabilities into mainstream technical
and vocational education and training.
“Keep your eyes on the poor and those on the margins of
society. They are your conscience, and as you scale the heights of your
selected careers, remember that not everyone in our society is as privileged as
you are,” he said.
Prof Murwira urged the graduates to desist from drugs and
substance abuse.
“Do what you can, when you can, to make positive
contributions to society as responsible corporate citizens. Herald
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