By MAIMBOLWA MULIKELELA –
THE AFRICAN Development Bank (AfDB) has provided US$22.22 million (K160 million) to the Zambian Government for the implementation of the Support to Science and Technology Education (SSTEP) project.
The project will improve the quality and relevance of skills development levels in Zambia for job creation and youth employability.
This project will be implemented for a period of five years at a cost of $25.51 million (K180 million).
AfDB officer-in-charge for Zambia Philip Boahen said the bank had provided financing worth $22.22 million towards the SSTEP project.
Mr Boahen said this when he launched the Support to Science and Technology Education project in Lusaka yesterday.
“It will train 200 Zambians at masters and PhD levels and we hope to train at least 80 women, 300 under-qualified teaching staff in higher education and TEVET lecturers with at least 120 women,” he said.
Mr Boahen said the Government would contribute about $3.29 million towards the cost of the project.
This project would rehabilitate and expand learning areas mainly in Information Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure, workshops, laboratories and libraries for the five Technical Education, Vocational and Entrepreneurship Training (TEVET) institutions.
This would also include faculty buildings, laboratories and library extensions for three institutions to expand access for over 290,000.
He said the project would support skills training in areas such as engineering, mining, geology and metallurgy for about 4,000 youths through scholarship awards.
“The project intends to provide scholarship for work-based training for at least 2,000 school leavers and out-of-school youths,” he said.
He said the African Development Bank would step up its support for science, technology and innovation through its human capital strategy.
It would focus on building critical skills in several sectors of the economy including infrastructure and natural resources management, to enhance competitiveness.
Speaking at the same event, Education, Science, Vocational Training and Early Education Permanent Secretary Patrick Nkanza said the loan is the first intervention by AfDB in the TEVET and higher education sectors in Zambia.
He noted that most of the bank’s interventions in the past have been in primary and secondary education.
“For us in the TEVET and higher education sectors, this assistance has come at the right time as its goals are in conformity with those of the revised Sixth National Development Plan, which emphasises on increasing access to quality education,” Dr Nkanza said.
The project would involve the collaboration of institutions of learning and industries to foster linkages between training and industry in skills development.