BY BRENT SHAMU/GRACIOUS DANIEL
GOVERNMENT has set sights on increasing workers’ skills levels which has dropped to 38% although the country’s literacy rate remained above 90%, a senior government official have said.
A national critical skills audit conducted recently showed that the national skills levels are still very low although the national literacy rate was 94%.
Officiating at a graduation ceremony at Msasa Industrial Training College in Harare last week, Higher and Tertiary Education minister Amon Murwira said production of goods and services can only happen when knowledge is put to practice.
“Knowledge is of no value unless you put it into practice. We now know that this mismatch between knowledge and skills was largely a result of the inherited colonial education which focused on three missions; teaching, research and community engagement,” he said.
“Under the second republic, we reconfigured our education system by adding innovation and industrialisation to the traditional tripartite missions and also anchored our education system on our Heritage, thus Heritage Based Education 5.0.”
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Meanwhile, Murwira said that the graduands were expected to build their own companies and if they are in need of assistance they are free to come to the government and get the start-up funds.
“Our obligation as government is then to provide an enabling environment through funding and legal frameworks. To you graduands, you must no longer celebrate because you have a paper qualification but that you have been moulded in a practical way that enables you to produce goods and services,” he said.
“Knowledge, skills and attitude will make a country what it is; this Msasa Industry College is a very important pillar in the tertiary education system it teaches skills and knowledge and mostly emphasising 80% skills.”