Wallace Ruzvidzo — The Second Republic's Heritage-Based Education 5.0 continues to prove itself a masterstroke, with President Mnangagwa set to officially commission Mutare Teachers College's flagship fruit juice and water processing plant tomorrow.
The processing plant, which is at an advanced stage of implementation, is a project fully funded by Government through the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education, Innovation, Science and Technology Development.
Its factory has been constructed by personnel from the country's tertiary institutions with no outside contractors, in line with Education 5.0.
Higher and Tertiary Education, Innovation, Science and Technology Development Permanent Secretary Professor Fanuel Tagwira yesterday told The Herald that all systems were in place for the plant's commissioning.
Prof Tagwira said President Mnangagwa's insistence on home-grown solutions to the Zimbabwe's developmental efforts had proved to be a turning point in the country's education system.
Zimbabweans, particularly those in the country's educational institutions, he said, were increasingly becoming active players in the productive sectors.
"The President's masterstroke was affording Zimbabweans a chance to develop the country themselves, he said give them a chance to develop things and if they fail it's okay, they will try again.
"We had been so much used to being told that if we import things, say machinery, we were told not to touch it, not to scrutinise how it works by those who would have developed it, they would even threaten to penalise us if we did that, the idea was to make sure that we never know how the product is made.
"But now we are saying open it and scrutinise it. Even if we buy a piece of machinery and equipment anywhere in the world and if it doesn't work as we want it to, we tell our people to open it and fix it to match what we want," he said.
President Mnangagwa, said Prof Tagwira, had championed a new dawn of the liberalisation of learners and the general citizenry's minds.
"That is what we call development and if we do not do that as a people we will not go far, so, this is what is happening in our institutions, there is now what is called Chimurenga chepfungwa (liberation of our minds) that was started by President Mnangagwa because he has faith in the young people in this country."
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Prof Tagwira went on to give instances where learners in the country's institutions of higher learning had demonstrated their prowess, thanks to an enabling environment ushered in by the President.
"At the Mapfura (Marula) plant we bought a system that would process 200kg of Mapfura, but we saw that with the quantities being delivered, it was too small as many loads were coming in for processing, so we told Masvingo Polytechnic to open it up and see what they can do and they recalibrated it.
"Now it's processing up to one tonne from 200kg, and its even more suitable now for processing the marula fruit ever since they made adjustments to it," he said.
Under President Mnangagwa, Government has been actively promoting linkages between industry and tertiary institutions to modernise industrial processes and promote import substitution.
So far the country's universities have registered 140 patents.
The University of Zimbabwe leads the race with 100 patents submitted so far, followed by the Harare Institute of Technology (30), Midlands State University (five) and Bindura University of Science and Technology (three).
