adminPamela Shumba Senior Reporter
TERTIARY institutions have been challenged to prioritise value addition and beneficiation in their training programmes in order to provide quality and relevant education that creates employment and eradicates poverty in the country.
Addressing delegates during the graduation of 1,114 students at the Bulawayo Polytechnic yesterday, the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development, Machivenyika Mapuranga, said education and training for value addition must be well placed in tertiary institutions.
The theme for this year’s graduation and prize giving ceremony was, “Technical and vocational education for value addition”.
“Education and training for value addition must be well placed in our tertiary institutions to stimulate creativity in students, enable them to identify opportunities for innovation and motivate them to transform the ideas into practical and targeted opportunities,” said Mapuranga.
“I therefore challenge institutions to channel their efforts to value addition and beneficiation and come up with affordable technology that will be used to beneficiate raw produce into finished products.”
The permanent secretary said the government had identified various opportunities for value addition in the agriculture sector as outlined in ZimAsset.
“Some of the opportunities that have been identified include beef canning, fruit juice manufacturing, oil extraction, fruit jam and avocado processing, the cotton and clothing industry development as well as the leather and allied industries development,” he said.
“In order to provide quality and relevant education, institutions should establish elaborate and efficient internal quality assurance mechanisms and launch new courses that equip students with innovative skills so that they can be able to add value to raw products.”
Mapuranga said training programmes should help students to start their own businesses and create employment for others.
He reiterated that the government was determined to increase access to education by funding students through the cadetship scheme.
“I also note with gratitude that some institutions are already in these partnerships. The ministry has already disseminated guidelines of entering into such partnerships,” Mapuranga said.
Bulawayo Polytechnic principal Gilbert Mabasa said the institution’s vision was to be the leading provider of highly empowered human capital through excellent scientific, technical and vocational education and training for economic development.
“We’re committed towards the provision of qualitative technological education and training in order to satisfy the current and future human needs of the formal and informal sector in the country,” said Mabasa.
The institution also presented long service awards to its members of staff who have worked there for 20 years.
Bongani Ndlovu
Online Reporter