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Thursday, 15 June 2006 |
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Prior
to the establishment of the Science and Technology Act No. 26
of 1992 activities in the fields of Science, Technology and
Research were poorly co-ordinated. Each Ministry pursued its
own reserch and technology activities and this led to duplication,
unnecessary overlaps and wastage of resources.
The
Ministry of Science, Technology and Vocational Training which
has the mandate to manage the country's policies on Science
and Technology one one hand and the practice of vocational
and technical education on the other, has formulated new laws
through the Science and Technology Act No. 26 of 1997 and
the Technical and Vocational and Tentreprenuership Training
Act No. 13 of 1998.
These Acts provide the legal framework for the activities
arising out of the Ministry's Mission Statement.
The entire training system has therefore been overhauled to
make it more relevant to the new economic realities. The reforms
encompass the entreprenuership training, the creation of conditions
for the development of an entreprenuership culture and its
related skills through industry-wide representative body,
TEVETA, revised curricula, Management Boards in training institutions
and the TEVET Development Plan.
The
vision of the MMD government for the next five years is to
reverse the trend whereby the percentage of informal sector
employment has been increasing and dominating the employment
sector. The reversal includes the encouragement of further
but gradual privatization of the economy and the development
of effective operational systems for linking TEVET institutions
with providers of business development services.
The
Government hopes to create by the year 2020, new Research
and Development support centres which will include the Technology
Business Centre; the Science and Technology Information Centres;
Zambia Forestry Research Institute and the Medical Research
Institute. Others are the Mining and Minerals Research Institute;
the Animal Health and Production Research Institute and the
National Institute for Fishers Research.
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Science & Technology
