It’s my great pleasure to attend today’s Open House Event for Educators.
Firstly, I want to extend warmest greetings from ambassador Zhou Ding to all of you, who is accompanying President Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa’s state visit in China now. I am very glad to introduce madam Lyu Renhong, wife of the ambassador to all of you.
We are very glad she hosts and joins us today. Initiated by the ambassador and his wife, the embassy just started our pen house events this year.
The first one is for children. Today we have our second one for educators.
When we talk about education, I am deeply touched by the motto of the University of Zimbabwe “Educating to Change Lives”.
There are similar sayings in China like “Education changes destiny” and “A powerful education system means a powerful nation”.
We all believe that education is a cornerstone of social progress and a sustainable pathway to a prosperous future.
I’m impressed by Zimbabwe’s Heritage-Based Education 5.0 Philosophy which emphasizes the integration of teaching, research, community service, innovation and industrialisation.
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It aligns closely with China’s approach to education which was stressed by the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, emphasising the importance of education, science and technology and talent function for Chinese modernisation.
My hometown Shandong Province, located on the east coast of China is the birthplace of Confucius, one of the greatest educators, philosophers and thinkers over 2,500 years ago.
He remarked “when walking with two other people, at least I can learn something new from one of them.” Anyone can volunteer to tell me this saying in Chinese.
Guided by this ancient philosophy, Chinese people are always committed to promoting international cooperation in education and cultural exchanges.
The Confucius Institute at the University of Zimbabwe is a testimony of China-Zimbabwe education cooperation.
Over the past 17 years, around 3000 students graduated from the Institute and over 16,000 students studied Chinese language and cultures at the Institute and its teaching sites.
The teachers and volunteers especially the local teachers devoted themselves into language classes, training workshops, editing textbooks, Chinese language competitions, etc. They are great contributors to our friendship and active practitioners of cross-cultural communications. I propose a round of applause for them.
In the past the years, China has offered around 100 governmental scholarships to Zimbabwean students.
This year, 11 students have got the governmental scholarships.
Today we have seven of them here who are ready to set out.
I want to extend warm congratulations to them and hope they will serve as goodwill ambassadors, study hard in China, enjoy the life in China and return home with more knowledge and skills for their motherland and people.
Also for this year, we have already invited 260 local friends to attend short-term training programmes in China.
I think Ms. Angela and Mr. Maponga really enjoyed their trip and stay in China. I believe they got better understanding on China and contributed their insights from the Zimbabwean perspectives.
As we all know, President Mnangagwa has started his state visit to China yesterday and will attend the 2024 FOCAC Beijing Summit.
The president’s visit will be a historic event for our bilateral relations and will open up new vistas for China-Africa and China-Zimbabwe relationship.
And with no doubt, it will forge a fresh start for our pragmatic cooperation including education cooperation.
As a Chinese saying goes, “It takes ten years to grow trees, and a hundred years to cultivate talents.”
How we view and conduct educational cooperation today will deeply shape the future of our countries in a significant way.
Let’s continue to work together on more university and school exchanges, more scholarship opportunities, more short term visits or programmes, more experience sharing and so on, to enrich our friendship and bilateral cooperation for our peoples’ shared future.
Thank you once again for gracing us with your presence. Hope you enjoy this event.
*Cheng Yan is the minister counsellor at the Chinese embassy in Zimbabwe.
He delivered this speech at an open house event for educators to commemorate President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s ongoing state visit to China.
