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Columbus Mabika Herald Reporter
Primary and Secondary Education Minister Paul Mavima last week said Government would modernise 6 000 schools through adoption of Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) before year-end.
He said the move is part of enhancing President Mnangagwa’s vision of a 21st Century education system in Zimbabwe. Officially launching the 21st Century Learning Environment at Lusitania Primary School in Harare, Minister Mavima said the drive to digitise the education sector was motivated by the benefits offered by emerging technologies that possessed power to transform the learning environment in schools.
The 21st Century Learning Environment concept at Lusitania was facilitated by Direct E-Learning Intentional, a subsidiary company of Microsoft, after signing an agreement with Government.
“The overall agenda for children learning in the 21st century is that in order for the world to survive and prosper in the new century, people will need to learn more and learn differently,” said Minister Mavima.
“A child entering the new century will likely face more risks and uncertainties and will need to gain more knowledge and master more skills than generations before, ICTs have proven to give learners these capabilities.
“In line with the President’s vision, my ministry is working on modalities to modernise 6 000 schools throughout the country with ICTs in a move aimed to prepare learners for jobs of the century.”
Minister Mavima said 21st Century learning environment and technologies acted as catalyst for inclusive and quality education that Government was committed to providing.
“Technology has become a necessity in education,” he said. “Preparing students to use technology has become an unavoidable reality.”
Minister Mavima called on schools without electricity to quickly find alternative means to pave way for the digitisation programme.
He said the competence based curriculum being implemented by his ministry was embracing multi-literacy, multi-tasking, lifelong learning and competence based education for learners with great focus on practical competences necessary for life, critical thinking, problem solving, leadership and team building skills.
Speaking during the same event, Portugal’s ambassador to Zimbabwe Dr Ricardo Pracana commended Government’s strides towards providing quality education.
“The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals for education sets targets, among others full access to high quality education from early childhood to secondary, and the Government of Zimbabwe approach to this is quite exemplary,” he said.
“This is a notable springboard for the achievement of Vision 2030 goals and targets set by the Government.”
Online Reporter