ZNA fully behind STEM General Philip Valerio Sibanda
Lieutenant-General Philip Valerio Sibanda

Lieutenant-General Philip Valerio Sibanda

Nqobile Tshili, Chronicle Correspondent
Zimbabwe National Army Commander Lieutenant-General Philip Valerio Sibanda has said the army is pro-science education in schools hence the military has adopted a deliberate education policy to promote the teaching of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).

Lt-Gen Sibanda said this yesterday at Mbalabala Secondary School in Mbalabala where he had visited the school which is being constructed by the army.

The school is situated just a few metres from the Zimbabwe School of Infantry in Mbalabala. It has one classroom block with three classes and two other blocks are in line for construction.

It is being constructed in a community without a secondary school within a 10km radius.

Lt-Gen Sibanda said the military cannot ignore the fact that the world was technology driven hence their deliberate policy to support STEM.

“We have decided that our education must be directed towards science subjects. We’re inclined towards STEM. The reason being, the world is developing, developing very fast. There is nothing that is happening today without a bit of some technology,” he said.

“And we need this because our soldiers of tomorrow are going to come from schools like this one.

“We need to have them sharpened a bit and then we can develop them further. It’s important that we have that inclination towards science subjects.”

He said today’s leaders should be responsible and be cognisant of the fact that the decisions they make have a bearing on the future of the children.

Lt-Gen Sibanda said the ZNA was committed to educating the nation as an empowering tool for the future.

“In short I’m saying we, here right now have a responsibility to ensure that the kids that are going to come out from this school or any other school are people that we can be proud of. They must be people who can contribute to the development of this country,” said Lt-Gen Sibanda.

Lt-Gen Sibanda hailed Baker’s Inn for donating $30 000 for the construction of a classroom block at the school. The ZNA commander was briefed on challenges affecting the school such as the fact that it does not have ablution facilities and shortage of qualified science teachers among others. — @nqotshili

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