daniel chigunwe
Mutsawashe Mashandure
Herald Correspondent
The implementation of the Heritage-based Education 5.0, is beginning to bear fruit as the nation gears towards attainment of an upper middle-income economy by 2030, Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development Minister, Professor Amon Murwira, said this week.
Education 5.0 makes best use of the huge investment in education by ensuring it is based on teaching, research, community service, innovation and industrialisation and it seeks to move the nation forward toward an innovation-led and knowledge-driven economy being spearheaded under the Second Republic initiatives to develop the nation.
He was speaking on Wednesday at the commissioning of a microbiology laboratory at the Harare Institute of Technology, a laboratory built in partnership with the Turkish cooperation and coordination Agency (TIKA).
Minister Murwira, who was represented by his Permanent Secretary Professor Fanuel Tagwira, said the laboratory would improve objectives of the National Development Strategy 1 programme
“Through studying our own traditional and non-traditional food-making microbiological processes, we will optimise these processes and have better food security and improved nutritional content of food. Spoilage of food and waste could be reduced and health and well-being improved.
“The study and understanding of microbiology profoundly influences the way efficacious and safe medications may be developed. HIT is already working on a SADC-sponsored project to develop herbal remedies for managing the HIV/AIDS condition. The laboratory will be used to assess the antimicrobial properties of the herbs as part of the product development process,” he said.
“The new equipment goes a long way in addressing heritage-based Education 5.0. Hitherto impossible experiments will now become possible, thus expanding the scope, accuracy, and speed of our microbiology investigation.
Prof Murwira challenged the university to grow national capacity in industrial biotechnology.
“With the other biotech tools that HIT already has, I challenge the university to further leverage this capacity and grow national capacity in the dimensions of pharmaceutical biotechnology, fermentation processes, recombinant DNA technology, drug discovery and development, as well as industrial biotechnology, to improve our competitiveness,” he said.
“Let me also, on behalf of all Zimbabweans, thank the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency for identifying HIT as a trustworthy partner in the advancement of science and technology as vehicles of development.
“We stand in full support of the project and look forward to the realisation of all its set objectives. At this point, may I take this opportunity to officially declare the microbiology laboratory at the Harare Institute of Technology open,” he said.
Speaking at the same event, Turkish Ambassador Ms Berna Kasnakli Vesteden said that through the NDS1 Turkey supported Zimbabwe through technical assistance.
“In our projects, we also take into consideration the Government’s aim of reaching the Sustainable Development Goals through its policies in various areas, such as the National Development Strategy. My embassy’s doors are open to discuss ideas to further our cooperation,” she said.
“This is why we established a micro-biology laboratory with the assistance of TIKA.
“That is how we started to develop the idea and here we are and will continue to support its implementation through technical assistance,” she said.
Ms Berna hoped that the microbiology laboratory would develop pharmaceuticals.
“I am looking forward to receiving the news about breakthroughs and products developed with the assistance of the laboratory we have just commissioned,” she said.
Harare Institute of Technology Vice Chancellor Professor Quinton Kanhukamwe applauded the initiative.
“I would like to thank TIKA and our government for their support and commendable work at our university and identifying us as a suitable partner and host of this laboratory equipped with UV/VIS spectrophotometers, analytical balances, fume cabinets, shaking incubators, refrigerated centrifuges, vortex machines, orbital shakers, laboratory ovens as well as high-resolution optical microscopes.
“HIT will avail the microbiology lab to different industries like food and beverage- including dairy, fruits and vegetables, meat, pharmaceuticals, and cosmetics for use in training and research to improve the competitiveness and value-added goods and services that will feed to the national economy,” he said.
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