The Sunday Mail
Priscilla Kamurira
Harare Polytechnic is working on a project to build a manufacturing plant for light emitting diode (LED) bulbs as part of its drive towards embracing solutions-based education.
This comes after the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education is moving from the traditional 3.0 which includes teaching, research and community service and adding innovation and industrialisation, now known as 5.0.
“We are definitely moving in that direction, we are setting up industrial parks, and these are at different stages of implementation and Harare Polytechnic is part of the bandwagon of all polytechnics who are moving towards this industrialisation agenda,” said the Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development, Professor Amon Murwira.
Professor Amon Murwira addresses guests during the Harare Polytechnic College graduation ceremony
The Minister was speaking during the recent graduation ceremony held by Harare Polytechnic College, which saw 3 048 graduates being capped.
The college was designated a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) by the Government.
“We are in discussion with a Chinese technical school, Zhuhai, which is located in a SEZ and we signed a memorandum of understanding with them. Last year we visited China to understand and appreciate how they run their school in a special economic zone,” said Harare Polytechnic principal, Dr Engineer Tafadzwa Mudondo.
This partnership between Harare Polytechnic and Zhuhai College resonates with the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education’s drive on innovation and industrialisation.
Professor Murwira (seated) shakes hands with Harare Polytechnic College principal Engineer Tafadzwa Mudondo
It also speaks to the national policy on import substitution and will go a long way in ensuring that LED bulbs are available to local consumers at affordable prices.
In 2017, through Statutory Instrument 21 of 2017, Government banned T10 and T12 halo phosphate fluorescent lamps and/or magnetic ballasts, lighting products with a power factor less than 0,55 for lamps less than 25 watts and less than 0,9 for lamps greater than or equal to 25 watts.
“We agreed to manufacture these bulbs and technically the Chinese have identified a company which has also agreed to work with the college,” said Dr Mudondo.
