The Sunday News
Sunday News Reporter
THE country’s education system, in particular the competence-based curriculum taught at primary schools, must aim to produce innovative learners that are able to adapt to the ever-changing business and be drivers of economic transformation.
This was said by a Bulawayo-based educationist and businessman Mr Clemence Kunzekweguta when he addressed a gathering of pupils, academics and stakeholders in the education sector at Kumalo Primary School prize-giving and bus commissioning ceremony last Tuesday.
Mr Kunzekweguta, known for his hard stance campaign for sustainable education, said teachers have a duty to impart knowledge that will position pupils to think outside the box and desist from the ‘‘job seeking’’ mentality.
“The reason we are churning out graduates who do not have jobs is probably that we are not giving them the requisite skills and knowledge that will enable them to grab new opportunities.
“Ask yourselves why engineering graduates are selling airtime instead of applying their creativity to reinvent industry. We have such an excellent record in literacy and education but no guts to venture into entrepreneurship and bring new thought to the way we do business. In other parts of the world, they no longer teach like we do. What was in textbooks 20 years ago is not taught now. Education elsewhere is advancing and becoming relevant to the needs of today. Our education system has to go with world trends. We are not responding to the skills that they need and might want to use today. That is where our education system needs to be corrected.”
Mr Kunzekweguta also took time to urge college and university boards to upgrade courses so that they align them with obtaining industrial and social needs.
“A paradigm shift is essential at colleges and universities. Those tasked with policymaking at these institutions are encouraged to research on the needs of today’s world. Our tertiary education should address the needs and wants of commerce and industry. If we find out what commerce and industry requires then we know what skills to impart to our children.”
His clarion call comes at a time when the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education has tabled plans to establish a Centre for Education Research, Innovation and Development which is expected to inculcate a culture of research among personnel.
