Patriotic Front secretary general Davies Mwila says the PF government is enhancing the role of science, technology and innovation to promote productivity and competitiveness in the Zambian economy.

In the PF’s weekly newsletter to News Diggers! Mwila noted that the PF government was enhancing the role of science, technology and innovation to promote productivity and competitiveness in the Zambian economy, thereby, helping to achieve Vision 2030.

“The PF government is enhancing the role of science, technology and innovation in order to promote productivity, innovation and competitiveness in the Zambian economy, as well as driving the creation of new products and new ways of producing existing products efficiently. To this end, various 7NDP prescribed programmes, including, the science and technology human capital development programme; science and technology infrastructure development programme; and science, technology and innovation (STI) financing programme, etc. are being implemented,” Mwila stated.

“The PF government remains resolute in enhancing the role of science, technology and innovation to enhance human development, as a means of achieving the Vision 2030 objective. The most important resource in the development of any country is human capital. Accordingly, the PF government is currently improving education and skills development to enhance human development, and by so doing, accelerate the transformation of Zambia into “a prosperous middle-income nation” by 2030.”

Mwila, however, observed that since the objective of the Vision 2030 was for Zambia to become a prosperous middle-income nation by then, the vision could only be achieved if the country continued investing in people through education and training.

“In line with the 7NDP, the PF government is making significant progress in infrastructure development; teacher training, recruitment and deployment improvement; equity and inclusive education enhancement; youth and adult literacy expansion and improvement; and policy coordination, planning and information management improvement,” Mwila stated.

Mwila added that the PF government was further enhancing private sector participation.

“The PF government is cognizant of the fact that public resources in any nation are always limited and, therefore, government cannot single-handedly attain its goals without the support of the private sector and other stakeholders, through public-private partnership models and other beneficial models aimed at promoting education quality, relevance and access to every Zambian,” stated Mwila.

“In order to enhance private sector participation in the education sector, the PF government is providing a conducive environment for private sector participation, while ensuring continuous improvement of education standards and compliance to guidelines by all private sector participants.”