Prof Moyo challenges colleges

Zimbabwe's Information Minister Jonathon Moyo arrives at Parliament January 29, 2001. Moyo is expecting his much criticized media bill, which severly restricts independent and foreign media, to be read by the House and passed into law even though the Parliamentary Legal Committee has deemed most of the bill to be unconstitutional. REUTERS/Howard Burditt

Bulawayo Bureau
THE Government has challenged polytechnics to start offering programmes that address community needs in line with the country’s industrialisation and modernisation drive.

Speaking during the Bulawayo Polytechnic graduation ceremony on Thursday, the Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development, Professor Jonathan Moyo, challenged the institution to brace for the ministry’s policy review.

He said his ministry was in the process of reviewing the higher and tertiary education sector which will see polytechnics offering degree programmes in line with the Government’s Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) thrust.

“The ministry’s policy on STEM centres of excellence is that each polytechnic must offer programmes that respond to the needs of communities where the polytechnic is located. The STEM artisans, technicians, technologists and engineers produced by the country’s polytechnics should sustain Zimbabwe’s industrialisation agenda by providing technology solutions based on revise engineering,” Prof Moyo said.

He said institutions such as Bulawayo Polytechnic should interrogate societal problems before offering programmes.

He said polytechnics should start producing graduates that will industrialise the country instead of wearing gowns and demanding jobs.