Minister says Malawi govt to invest heavily in technical education
Minister of Education Science and Technology, Dr. William Susuwele Banda Friday said his Ministry will start investing heavily in technical education saying this is the only way the country could develop.
Speaking at a graduation ceremony of 39 secondary school teachers who have completed six-week training in Technical Education at the Malawi Polytechnic, he said responsive skill development was key to socio-economic development of the country.
“In the past we used to have Technical Education but that died out many years ago. However, time has come for us to revamp the sector because currently, the job market demands technical education.
“We will in the Ministry develop means on how we could make this a priority and make it prominent,” Dr. Banda said promising to seriously re-organise the Ministry as long as he remains the Minister in the Ministry.
He underscored that many countries in the world and Africa in particular were developing because they had invested so much in technical education.
“The introduction of community technical colleges is one big step into a brighter future, however, we still need to start from secondary education level,” the Minister said.
Dr. Banda appealed to the graduating students to translate the knowledge and skills acquired to students and inspire them to take up technical studies.
Malawi Polytechnic was entrusted with responsibility to train the first cohort of teachers, Prof. Principal of the College, Grant Kululanga said as college it was such an honour to train teachers who would reach out to many young Malawians with technical skill and knowledge.
He said the country could develop is by adopting and investing in the technical education.
“We have countries like Singapore, Malaysia and many more; they developed because they had well established education system that prioritised technical education. I salute the President Prof Peter Mutharika for establishing community technical colleges that will help in shaping the future of the country,” Prof. Kululanga said.
The Principal commended the European Union (EU) for providing funds that necessitated the training of the 39 teachers in technical education.
One of the graduating students, Fynesi Mitaya promised to rightfully use the skill and knowledge gained for the benefit of many students.
She said most of the secondary school only focused on science subjects and little attention was paid to technical education.
Mitaya added that the re-establishment of these studies would help generate ‘ready for work’ Malawians.
“This is the rebirth of technical education in Malawi and as a first cohort, we promise our total dedication to work and ensure that we engage more students in technical education,” she said.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology plans to re-introduce vocational subjects in the 24 model Primary Schools and strengthen the 12 Vocational Secondary Schools.
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I think the people who develop the curriculum in Ministry of Education do not know their job. They change the curriculum just for the sake of changing and to please the book publishers so that they can get more in book sales. This needs to be checked.