By Evans Dakwa, Senior Reporter
Chikomba, Mashonaland East- The Government of Zimbabwe is committed to the development of human capital through scaling up of investments in education, as part of the Second Republic’s charge towards producing globally competitive killed man power. This was said by His Excellency, President Emmerson Mnangagwa at the official opening of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Counties Funded Schools in Chikomba.
The commissioning of the OPEC funded schools is part of the measures reflective of Government’s unwavering desire to improve education through infrastructure development in the sector and the President reiterated the importance of education in the development matrix of the country when he addressed the gathering in Chikomba
“Education remains one of the central pillars of my Government’s endeavours to improve the quality of life of our citizenry and ultimately the socio-economic transformation of our country. We are, therefore, scaling up investment in the education sector to ensure the country’s education product is competitive and relevant to the needs of our economy and emerging global realities,” said President Mnangagwa
“In this light, yesterday I attended the meetings of the African Development Bank where issues of human capital development were raised as critical enablers for the development of our countries and the continent as a whole, he added.
In its education, Zimbabwe has adopted the heritage-based education curriculum which promotes the teaching of Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics disciplines in sync with global trends leaning towards science and technology being at the heart of the development agenda.
“This has shifted the paradigms in the education sector by nurturing entrepreneurs, innovators and inventors, who must produce goods and services. We must nurture education systems which empower our young people with the requisite knowledge and skills so that we are able to feed ourselves, modernise and industrialise our countries to propel the development of the continent as a whole.”
President Mnangagwa chronicled the immense potential for investments in the country’s education system calling for investors to seize the available opportunities.
“The education sector provides scope for investment which is estimated at more than US$4 billion. I, therefore, invite investors to take advantage of the investment prospects that the education sector has to offer. Opportunities have arisen for Public-Private Partnerships and Joint Ventures in the development of the education sector, while creating long-term returns for various stakeholders.”