Technology and Science Minister Felix Mutati has said technology and innovation is the new normal which Zambians must begin to embrace as new way of life.
And Mutati has commissioned the K3 million 1 by 4 classroom block which will be the Centre of Excellence for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) at Kasempa Day Secondary School in North Western Province.
Speaking at the event today, Mutati said the new dawn government under the leadership of President Hakainde Hichilema is very clear on its national agenda which must be pursued.
Mutati said technology and innovation in the near future will be the country’s biggest export where it will earn more revenue once there is a change of mindset amongst the population.
“The new dawn government is very clear on the national agenda we must pursue. Apart from free education and recruitment of more than 30,000 teachers next year, government is saying technology and innovation is the new normal, a new way of life” Mutati said.
The minister said Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics STEM once fully embraced will transform the country’s fortunes because there is already existing capacity to create competence and ability amongst the people.
Mutati said the country’s conversation should also change rather than focusing on the removal of fuel subsidies but focus on how the nation can find new solutions and answers to alternative fuel such as bio-fuel through STEM so that the country is no longer dependent on the importation of fuel.
“Our conversation should not be focused on fuel subsidies removal as a country but how as a nation we can find new solutions and answers to alternative fuel such as bio-fuel and hydrogen” he said.
Meanwhile, Mutati said the commissioning of the 1 by 4 classroom block which is fully equiped in Kasempa reaffirms that the new dawn government is not selective in its delivery mechanism.
The classroom block which will be used to equip boys and girls with STEM knowledge consists two (2) science laboratories, one (1) computer laboratory and a library.
With the K65 million stolen by the PF and given to Faith Musonda, we can build just over 21 such classrooms in Zambia. But Edgar Lungu had no time to think like that.
Coming up with the science centre is a good initiative to diffuse knowledge through projects and small scale scientific research to address Zambia’s sociology-economic challenges.
Since a science centre is a place for the transfer of knowledge, information and insight, it is hoped that it will produce massive amounts of scientifically literate students, with creativity and enthusiasm, and whose intellectual skills are developed. I commend Minister Mutati under the leadership of double H7, in his statement where he said technology and innovation is the new normal which Zambians should begin to embrace as a new way of life. This is important because high-technology increasingly depends on the creativity for its constant innovation.
Now, in order that the science centre achieves its intended objectives, there is need to encourage environmental activism, informal learning, flexible and a less regulated environment similar to a laboratory for the development and testing of innovative ideas that can later be transferred to public sectors and industry. Science centers like this should be perceived as places where public education is brought into question in the interest of making it more functional to the requirements of the community and the country at large.
It is hoped that this science centre will delivery both technical and social skills which will intervene as an independent agent of problem-solvers, problem identifiers and strategic brokers of ideas.
It is hoped that this science centre will demonstrate some kind of informal learning extended to the delivery of new mind-sets such self-reliance and desire for self employment initiatives which will ultimately be beneficial in terms of earning more revenue from the country’s exports.
It is expected that the Centre will embrace informal learning that is “demand-led” or “customer- led” education, in which the customer enjoys a “high degree of autonomy.”
The aforementioned intended targets of the science centre can be achieved through accommodating partnerships with corporations rather than leave everything to the new dawn government.