At a high profile event jointly organised by ICDL Zambia and the Flemish Association for Development Co-operation and Assistance (VVOB), the Minister for Education (Ms. Dora Silyia) spoke of Zambia’s need to invest heavily in education (especially ICT education) to secure the employment prospects of the country’s youth, and through a skilled workforce to attract foreign direct investment which might otherwise go to competing countries in the region. These measures are in line with the goals of the Government’s Vision 2030 initiative which aims to gradually make Zambia a middle-income country.
The Minister stated that to achieve these aims, investment in education must be weighted toward subjects that would not have traditionally been included in the Zambian educational curriculum, particularly ICT education. This forward-looking policy of funding allocation would both redress the balance of Zambia’s comparatively poor student/teacher ratio, and position the country as an extremely attractive investment prospect with a well educated, skills-based workforce.
The implementation of ICDL as an internationally recognised certification is considered by the Minister as an extremely useful measure in helping to achieve the Government’s progressive and ambitious aims in the area of education:
“"We are not there yet, but the amazing outcome of the ICDL boot camp and the opportunities that this outcome offers colleges has definitely brightened our horizon," she said.
To help the Government achieve these aims, ICDL Zambia has partnered with international technologies company i-Connect and VVOB to open up skills and training centres at the University of Zambia and selected secondary schools to provide special facilities for the training and delivery of ICDL.
The Minister also acknowledged the importance of the forthcoming eLearning Africa Conference which this year is being hosted in Zambia (May 26th-28th), which will both raise the country’s international ICT profile and open the eyes of Zambia’s students to the exciting employment prospects available to those with well developed ICT skills.
