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Michael Magoronga Midlands Correspondent
Government is set to establish technical high schools, science training institutions, as well as arts centres that will offer free education as a way of promoting science technology for the development of the country, an official has said.

Speaking during the Midlands Provincial Speech and Prize Giving Day held at Manunure High School in Kwekwe last Friday, Primary and Secondary Education Minister Professor Paul Mavima said technology was the way to go the world over.

Prof Mavima said each of the centres will have a carrying capacity of 1 000 learners.

He said the recently introduced competency based curriculum had started yielding results, adding that the centres will complement the curriculum.

“We are going to have 10 technical high schools across the country,” he said.

“We are going to put state-of-the-art equipment and we are going to recruit from all over the country through psychometric testing,” said Prof Mavima.

“Learners will go to these schools free of charge and it is my hope that we will have the first lot by 2020.”

Prof Mavima said new music and performing arts academies were also going to be set up.

“We are going to set up two music and performing arts academies, one in the northern region and one for the southern region in Bulawayo,” he said. “These will be based on block release basis where we will identify the most promising learners from across the country and sharpen their performances.

“We are looking forward that they will be complete by end of 2020.”

Prof Mavima said besides improving the training of science teachers and lecturers, the programme was also aimed at encouraging innovation and value addition of local resources.

“We want to develop science innovators that will lead the socio-economic development of this country,” he said. “As a nation, we are endowed with vast minerals and natural resources, but we are not innovative enough to benefit from our own resources.”