Creation of new universities is also part of human capital development enshrined in Malawi 2063 Vision—Chakwera
President Lazarus Chakwera has praised the existence of Malawi University of Science & Technology (MUST), saying going forward, creation of new universities is part of human capital development as enshrined in the Malawi 2063 Vision.
The President said this when he presided over MUST’s 2021 graduation ceremony on Tuesday at its campus at Goliati in Thyolo where he first took cognizance of the role played by former President, late Bingu wa Mutharika in establishing the university.
He said Bingu had plans to establish six new public universities and that MUST “was the first step in the direction of realizing that vision”.
But, Chakwera said, “the creation of new universities is not merely a solution to the common shortage of admission space, nor is it merely an extension of Bingu’s vision, but is the implementation of one of the seven enablers of Malawi 2063, namely Human Capital Development”.
“Underpinning the work of developing human capital is our belief that
before we can create a new kind of country, we must create a new kind of citizen, one capable of desiring, envisioning, and building a future that is better than the past.
“And when it comes to developing human capital, especially enmasse, nothing does the trick quite like tertiary education.”
He added that those being educated in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) as MUST is, are foundational and indispensable to the government’s ability to realize the socioeconomic potential of the education that others receive in the Arts and Humanities.
“There may be a talented and university-educated Malawian painter out there, just waiting to create and sell beautiful paintings, but those paintings cannot be created until a STEM graduate first creates the right kind of paint in the lab.
“More importantly, STEM graduates from universities like MUST are integral to our collective pursuit of that national vision called Malawi 2063, a vision that transcends presidents and their Administrations.
“As you may recall, that national vision is to become “an inclusively wealthy and self-reliant industrialized upper-middle-income country”.
“But how can any of our natural wealth be made inclusive unless it is turned into developmental and economic wealth?
“And how can we turn that natural wealth into developmental wealth without science and technology? The same rule applies to our quest to become a self-reliant and industrialized country at household, community, and national levels.”
When launching the Malawi 2063, President Chakwera said time has come for the country to create wealth in an inclusive manner and be self-reliant.
He said Malawi is endowed with abundant natural, human and cultural resources and the “youth-centric 2063 Vision shall take us from the basics for attaining economic freedom to our children living dignified lives and forever walking tall on the face of the Earth”.
He urged the citizenry that the onus of creating the new desired Malawi, “wokomera aliyense” is for “all take an active part in the implementation and realization of our Vision”.
As a nation, Chakwera had said everyone should move away from concentrating on negatives and challenges that have beset the country this far to believing in the possibilities around the people.
“Time has come to change our mindset and develop this country ourselves. We cannot wait for someone to develop this country for us.
“We need a mindset change that embodies a national consciousness built around belief in our own capabilities, home-grown solutions and a positive value system — a system that recognizes unity of purpose, hard work, self-reliance, patriotism, integrity and hate for hand-outs.
“We shall demand of our development partners and non-state actors to join us in designing and implementing only those initiatives that catalyze and sustain our inclusive wealth creation and self-reliance Vision.
“Let us all know that, for sure, posterity will be there to judge us if we leave a Malawi worse off than that we ourselves found. That is why this is a youth-centric Vision. So, let us hold each other accountable all the way to 2063.”
Follow and Subscribe Nyasa TV :
