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From Audrey Chihota-Charamba in New York
Ongoing discussions on Innovation and technological change, and education in the digital age for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls could not have come at a better time for Zimbabwe as this has become the thrust of the education sector, the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education has said.
Speaking at the ongoing Commission on the Status of Women (CSW67) conference in New York yesterday, the Permanent Secretary of Higher and Tertiary Education, Innovation Science and Technology Development Prof Fanuel Tagwira, applauded the choice of this year’s theme, which recognises that the world is transitioning to the digital age.
“Zimbabwe’s critical skills audit in 2018 showed that there was critical shortage of skills in Science Technology disciplines. The percentage of women training in STEM disciplines was also low, hence the deliberate thrust taken by government to establish innovation hubs and industrial parks in Universities and colleges where ideas are incubated and prototypes developed for possible commercialization at the industrial hubs,” he said.
The Ministry had already begun training of science teachers to capacitance schools for the teaching of STEM subjects. Since inception, the programme has increased the number of apprentices admitted into tertiary institutions from insignificant numbers to 1000 students per year, across the country.
Deliberate increase in the enrolment of girls is part of the government’s thrust to promote gender equality, in line with the National Development Strategy as well as the Sustainable Development Goal 5 of promoting Gender Equality, he said. The Ministry envisages that a total of 5000 more science teachers will be trained by 2025, with 70percent comprising women.
MoHTE is currently in the process of finalising a Tertiary Vocational Education and Training (TVET) policy, aimed at addressing both gender equity and equality, to align with the national and global agenda, Prof Tagwira said. He expressed hope that through various innovations, economic development will be enhanced even among the grassroots communities.
Currently, academic institutions have begun ensuring the establishment of industries such as the Marula plant in Mwenezi which seeks to add value on the fruit in many ways. It is currently benefitting the rural communities by creating employment mostly for women and girls in the local communities, while ensuring capacity utilisation of the marula as a plant and fruit.
While traditionally women and girls have always collected the fruit to make peanut butter and roast nuts, through the use of technology, value addition is enhanced in less labour-intensive ways. MoHTE is setting up similar plants in Mashonaland Central to process other fruit such as masawu, while in Manicaland, the baobab fruit and others wild fruit. As such, women and girls become the primary target beneficiaries for these projects.
CSW 67 is advancing ensuring the improvement of quality of life for women and girls, to reduce their vulnerability and economic dependence, in line with SDG5 of promoting Gender Equality.
Online Reporter