Online Reporter
Sharon Jiyamwa
Herald Reporter
THE media has been urged to help change societal attitudes towards technical and vocational education and training (TVET) and promote skills development among young people as Zimbabwe prepares to host Africa Skills Week 2026.
The continental event, scheduled for October 12 to 16, will bring together African countries, ministers, development partners and skills development experts to discuss the role of technical and vocational skills in driving industrialisation and economic development.
Speaking during a media sensitisation workshop ahead of the event, Permanent Secretary for Skills Audit and Development Ambassador Dr Rudo Chitiga said the media had an important role to play in changing perceptions that vocational and technical education was a second-class form of learning.
She said the workshop was aimed at familiarising journalists with the programme for Africa Skills Week, the participating countries and the importance of TVET in supporting Zimbabwe’s development goals.
“This workshop is really to get the media on board, to sensitise them about Africa Skills Week, to share with them what will be happening during the week, which is from 12th to 16th, the countries that will be coming, and also to look at the importance of TVET in our own national mindset,” said Ambassador Chitiga.
She said Zimbabwe needed to change the perception that young people who pursued technical and vocational training had failed academically or could not pursue university education.
“Zimbabwe as a society needs to start changing its mindset to realise that it is the technical skills that can create self-employment, it is the technical skills that can create value addition, and it is the technical skills that can lead to industrialisation,” she said.
Ambassador Chitiga said technical skills were critical in addressing unemployment among young people by equipping them with practical competencies that could enable them to create businesses and provide services.
She said Africa Skills Week would expose journalists to developments in skills training across the continent, including emerging areas such as artificial intelligence, innovation and future skills.
“You can become an expert in your own media house, so that when you talk about skills, you are not just talking about mechanics, carpenters and all that. You are looking at the skills of the future, you are looking at the impact of AI on skills,” she said.
The Permanent Secretary said the event would provide local media with an opportunity to engage ministers, permanent secretaries, heads of technical colleges and other experts from different African countries.
She said more than 13 ministers responsible for education and training were expected to attend, together with permanent secretaries and heads of technical colleges from across the continent.
“All the African countries have been invited. I hear about 900 people are coming,” she said.
Development partners including the International Labour Organisation (ILO), International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and UNESCO, as well as the African union Secretariat, are also expected to participate.
Ambassador Chitiga said African countries faced common challenges around technology, industrialisation and the transformation of education systems to incorporate practical and skills-based learning.
She said Zimbabwe’s Education 5.0 approach, which promotes practical application of knowledge, could contribute to the continent’s efforts to build a workforce capable of producing goods and services.
“The African countries are all battling the issues of technology, the issues of industrialisation, and moving education from the education of the past, which is knowledge education, to include, as we say in Education 5.0, kuita kuziva kuita (doing is knowing how to do it), the skills part of the education,” she said.
She said Africa Skills Week would therefore provide an opportunity for Zimbabwe and other African countries to share experiences, benchmark their skills development systems and explore ways of strengthening technical and vocational training.
Ambassador Chitiga urged media houses to use the event to broaden public understanding of TVET and highlight opportunities available to young people through skills development.
The event is being held under the African Union, with Zimbabwe serving as the host country, and is expected to bring together stakeholders to discuss skills development and its contribution to industrial and economic transformation across the continent.
