Professor Amon Murwira
Diana Gondongwe
The Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education, Professor Amon Murwira has said five senses alone are not what it takes to develop a country, adding that only if a people formulate the best education practices will they stand a better chance of developing .
Speaking at a conference on devolution in Masvingo on Monday, Murwira said for too long, Zimbabwe’s education was not practicals-oriented.
“As Zimbabweans, our problem is we focus on theories that Europeans came up with and these theories do not apply to our context. We should have an education system which reflects on who we are and be able to create our own industries based on what we have and our cultures thus developing our nation,” said Murwira.
He said students must become creators while tertiary institutions must move away from analysis to innovative and industrial education.
Murwira said the country must use its resources to develop the nation and not focus on exporting raw materials and importing finished goods.
“For devolution to be a success, we must be able to make use of the available resources. We are misusing the raw materials we need for development because we lack knowledge. Resources are not resources unless we know they are resources,” he added.
Murwira said a country cannot develop using imported goods because imported goods entail imported minds and students, therefore, should move from the comfort zone and create goods that do not exist today.
His view was supported by the president of the National Council of Chiefs Fortune Charumbira who said the country could come up with its own developmental model based on its own culture.
“No country can develop by abandoning their own culture, therefore, we must stop the cut and paste practice and we must work to develop our economy,” said Charumbira.
