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Thandeka Moyo, Chronicle Reporter
THE Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development will start handing over the STEM Initiative A-Level prizes countrywide with effect from next week Monday.

The Government this year launched a programme to pay school fees for students who take Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjects at A-Level in a bid to empower Zimbabweans to become globally competitive.

STEM subjects include Mathematics, Biology, Chemistry and Physics.

In a statement, the Ministry said prizes include cash, laptops and IPads, a bus and trips to a science conference in the United States.

“The provincial handover programmes will run from September 12 to October 10 this year in all the country’s 10 provinces. The Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics winners USA trip send-off ceremony will be held at the Harare Polytechnic on December 2,” read the statement.

“For Bulawayo, the ceremony will be held at the National University of Science and Technology on September 28 while Matabeleland North winners will meet at Lupane State University on October 5. Winners for Matabeleland South will gather at JM Nkomo Polytechnic on October 4.”

About 4 000 A-Level pupils who registered for STEM qualified for the 10 draws which were conducted in each province. After the draws, Mashonaland Central province walked away with a $100 000 cash prize and Manicaland won the STEM bus.

One pupil from each province was selected to travel to Silicon Valley for a STEM conference in the USA facilitated by the State University of New York.

Bulawayo province had about 500 pupils while Matabeleland North and South had 145 and 500 pupils respectively. The STEM initiative is designed to revamp the education system so that it produces innovative graduates that create employment instead of waiting to be employed after completing studies.

It is being championed by the Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development, Professor Jonathan Moyo.

The minister is on record as saying the country’s industrialisation drive cannot be achieved if locals are not trained in STEM subjects.

“STEM has become a very important focus of national policy. Primarily because his Excellency the President, first in our country as a natural expression of the Zim-Asset policy, secondly when he was the chair Sadc and thirdly when he was [chair] of African Union, spearheaded a policy whose conclusion was that a time has come for our country to industrialise and modernise.

“The policy thrust and logical consequence of Zim-Asset is the industrialisation of Zimbabwe,” said Prof Moyo.

@thamamoe