Mulungushi University Vice Chancellor Professor Hellicy Ng’ambi says it is ironic that most African countries cry about brain drain in the context of profession attrition levels, yet there are large number of unemployed graduates roaming the streets.

Speaking at the 4th Graduation ceremony of Kwame Nkrumah University in Kabwe of more than 1,000 graduates, Professor Ng’ambi said she was confident that the graduates were equal to the task of transforming the Zambian job market through value addition.

“I find it paradoxical that in as much African countries cry about brain drain in the context of profession attrition levels, we claim that we do not have enough educated people who can be gainfully and productively employed; yet we still find a large number of the unemployed graduates roaming the streets. I trust that this will not be the case. I am confident that our graduates will add value onto the pool of teaching staff in this country,” Professor Ng’ambi said.

Professor Ng’ambi who was earlier this year appointed as care-taker Vice Chancellor for Kwame Nkrumah University by the Minister of Higher Education, Professor Nkandu Luo, pledged to transform the university to be a leader in teacher education.

“Our graduates this year, are a product of synergies, exerted by multiple management teams toward the realisation of our shared vision of a Kwame Nkrumah University whose core values are: to be a student centred, innovative, entrepreneurial, research focused and value-driven institution. On the part of management, rest assured that we shall initiate and accelerate this transformation process, in order to raise the pedigree of our university to higher levels, so that Kwame Nkrumah remains a leader in teacher education,” she said.

And Professor Ng’ambi further said that the education system should produce men and women who were willing to fight intellectual battles for self-sustenance as equal players in the emerging globalised world.

“Sustainable education views development as a product of social transformation. It should produce enlightened individuals and communities capable of determining their own destinies. This is for the simple fact that sustainable development is participatory and people centred. It creates new paradigms that enables countries like Zambia to knowledgeably choose between developing their competence necessary for the knowledge economy or face a future of increasing exclusion,” said Professor Ng’ambi.