Education Minister, Hon. Douglas Syakalima has challenged academicians to embrace research and be innovative in their various fields.
The Minister has said his Ministry is encouraging all Universities to think beyond the lecture theater and help the country find solutions to the prevailing challenges such as drought.
Hon. Syakalima was speaking when he toured newly constructed offices for the Zambia Research and Education Network (ZAMREN) located at the University of Zambia Great East road campus.
“In the country we need innovation for development which is why my Ministry is encouraging scholars to seriously pursue innovations. All academicians young and old must always be inquisitive to find ways where there are no ways and solutions to problems facing the country.” Hon. Syakalima said.
He pointed out that Zambia is currently facing a drought and scholars must take advantage and come up with innovative ways of scaling up irrigation to counter the effects of drought in the Agriculture sector.
The Education Minister added that Zambia must embrace Information Communication Technology (ICT) in their course of their research.
Hon. Syakalima added that with the coming up of Artificial intelligence (AI), Zambian academicians cannot afford to ignore ICTs.
And University of Zambia Vice Chancellor, Prof. Mundia Muya, said the University management is proud with the strides that ZAMREN has made in the provision of internet learning and research in the country’s education sector.
Prof. Muya who is also in-coming ZAMREN Board Chairperson said the Low cost internet pricing of ZAMREN is benefiting many students.
ZAMREN is a specialised internet service provider dedicated to supporting the needs of the research and education communities in Zambia.
The purpose of ZAMREN is to provide the inter-institutional connectivity in terms of a National Research and Education Network (NREN), and to connect it to the Regional Research and Education Network (RREN) in Eastern and Southern Africa.