The beneficiaries and areas of study will be informed by
the need to bridge the human resources gap identified by the Government
initiated skills gap audit of 2018.
The offer comes after Vice President Dr Constantino
Chiwenga recently led Zimbabwe’s participation at the second Iran-Africa
International Economic Conference.
Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education, Innovation,
Science and Technology Development Permanent Secretary Professor Fanuel Tagwira
said the programme would target staff from the polytechnics and industrial
colleges.
“We believe in action. We believe in implementation and we
have learnt a lot since coming here. Clearly there are a number of things that
have happened. With the partnership we now have with Iran, they have offered us
1 000 scholarships for our education.
“We sat down and went through their training centre and we
saw what they are providing and as we go home, we are going to mobilise so that
we can send the first batch of our teachers who are in polytechnics and
industrial colleges to come here and acquire skills for a period of six months
then they will become trainers.
“This is a training of trainers and for each discipline, we
will send a batch of 12 people to make a full class so that they can teach them
in English and they will acquire the skills and after six months they go back
and train others, said Prof Tagwira.
The programme was ready to roll out and the two parties had
agreed on the implementation modalities and timelines.
“We have met with their ministry of science and technology
and innovation and as we discussed with them, we already have a memorandum of
understanding with them and they are saying let’s move. Our first step is
establishing a steering committee that will be responsible for agreeing on the
programmes that we want to work on.”
The Iranians had expressed a desire for Zimbabwe to benefit
from expertise in the area of science and technology.
The Iranians wanted to know what technology was required to
move the nation forward and then to work together to make sure that knowledge
was available in Zimbabwe.
Iran boasts some of the most advanced technologies in the
world and has a vibrant manufacturing sector that has kept its economy afloat
despite operating under the weight of illegal economic sanctions for close to
45 years.
Prof Tagwira said Zimbabwe’s thrust was to value add its
raw materials from sectors like mining and ensure higher export receipts and
accelerated economic development.
That was why the Ministry had started a programme to give
people the relevant skills needed in developing the nation. Herald
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