COMMENT: Results based education is the way to go

Zimbabwe on Thursday celebrated another milestone development when President Mnangagwa commissioned an oxygen and solar plant in Mutare.

The gas plant and the solar project are products of Verify Engineering, an offshoot of the Harare Institute of Technology (HIT).

Commissioning the gas plant, President Mnangagwa said fruits of his Government’s deliberate policies to promote a results-based education system were now being realised.

“The commissioning of this plant is yet another show of the local capabilities and skills by our young men and women who can now be depended on to set up new industries and other ventures from scratch. This is how we must continue to build this great country,” said President Mnangagwa.

He said the commissioning of the gas plant comes in handy as the country is facing a third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, a respiratory disease that requires quality oxygen for seriously ill patients.

The plant has an installed capacity to produce 20 tonnes of oxygen gas, 16,5 tonnes of liquid oxygen and 2,5 tonnes of nitrogen a day.

President Mnangagwa said the local production of the gases at the new plant will benefit the health sector and industry.

Cde Mnangagwa has on many fora urged Zimbabweans to leapfrog the country’s development through science and technology and what is encouraging is that institutions of higher learning have taken heed.

The 5.0 education model that the Second Republic is promoting, is already paying dividends as it inspires innovation.

The National University of Science and Technology (Nust), the Midlands State University (MSU) and Great Zimbabwe University took a lead in the fight against Covid-19 pandemic by manufacturing face masks, sanitisers and other consumables.

Now HIT has joined by producing the oxygen gas that is required by the seriously ill Covid-19 patients.

The oxygen and nitrogen will also benefit industry and the agricultural sector.

Chinhoyi University of Technology (CUT) has built a state-of-the-art facility that produces and stores at least seven million semen straws per year.

These innovation projects by the different institutions of higher learning are a confirmation that our institutions have responded positively to President Mnangagwa’s call for them to produce graduates capable of producing transformative innovations which he said are critical for Zimbabwe to achieve rapid modernisation. These institutions have already demonstrated that given the necessary support they can address many of the challenges facing the country.

Technological innovation underpins Zimbabwe’s endeavour to industrialise and create a prosperous economy. Our universities and colleges are fast becoming centres of excellence in science education which is the thrust of the Second Republic.