Ray Bande
Mutare Bureau
A TOTAL of 1 273 graduates received credentials during the 66th Mutare Teachers College graduation ceremony held in Mutare on Monday.
Of the graduates, 918 are females, and 355 are males. The 2026 ceremony was held under the theme “Transforming teacher education through innovation and industrialisation.”
Deputy Minister for Higher and Tertiary Education, Innovation, Science and Technology Development, Honourable Simelisiswe Sibanda, said teachers grounded in innovation and industrialisation will cultivate that ethos in learners.
“This year’s graduation theme, transforming teacher education through innovation and industrialisation, speaks to the need to continuously reflect on and change the way we educate teachers so that teacher education aligns itself with and remains relevant to the developmental goals of the nation as enunciated in Vision 2030 and the National Development Strategy 2 (NDS2),” he said.
“The Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education, Science, Innovation and Technology Development has heeded the national call by introducing Education 5.0 as the guiding philosophy for higher and tertiary institutions. Our teacher education cannot, therefore, be left out of the discourse on and practice of innovation and industrialisation because it is the bedrock of the human capital required for innovation and industrialisation.
“If we, as a country, are earnest about innovation and industrialisation, then innovation and industrialisation should be the staple in teacher education institutions. Teachers grounded in innovation and industrialisation will ensure that they cultivate the ethos of innovation and industrialisation in the learners that pass through their hands.
“Such teachers will thus ensure that Zimbabwe continuously reproduces citizens with an innovative and industrial mindset required in knowledge and innovation-driven contemporary economies,” he said.
Honourable Sibanda said the thrust of teacher training in the country is transforming to mould graduates who will create employment instead of seeking employment.
“In light of these new realities, yesteryear’s teacher education is no longer fit for purpose. With its narrow focus on preparation for employment, yesteryear’s education is incompatible with the modernisation agenda of the second republic,” he said.
“Education in the second Republic must thus, through innovation and industrialisation, contribute to the attainment of an upper middle-class economy by 2030 as envisioned by His Excellency, the President, Cde Dr ED Mnangagwa.
“ I find this year’s graduation theme to be a befitting one as it speaks to national aspirations. The task for teachers’ colleges now is to inculcate, over and above teaching, researching, and community service, the values and practice of innovation and industrialisation in pre-service teachers so that the same values can be cascaded to lower levels of education.
“To nurture a national culture of innovation and entrepreneurship, we must instil these same values in our citizens while they are still young. In doing so, we follow a biblical precept captured in Proverbs 22:6 that states that ‘Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it. This task can only be accomplished if teacher education institutions become centres where pre-service teachers experience innovation and industrialisation not only in theory but in practice as well.”
Manicaland Provincial Affairs and Devolution Minister, Advocate Misheck Mugadza, who was represented by the director of policy coordination in his office, Mr Joseph Mashingaidze, said the graduates are the foot soldiers in the education sector transformation and urged them to uphold patriotism and professionalism.
The 1 273 graduates completed a post O Level three-year programme, a post A Level two-year programme and the pedagogics programme for students with other qualifications from universities and polytechnic colleges.
