A private college in Harare, First Link College, has embarked on entrepreneurial skills training as a way of producing students who will be able to start and run businesses after high school.
BY NQOBILE NKIWANE
Speaking to Standardcommunity last week, the principal, Lenos Ncube said the entrepreneurship skills training was aimed at providing pupils with other skills outside the usual curriculum.
“We aim to produce innovative students who will be able to apply their skills as entrepreneurs for the benefit of the country as a whole,” he said.
The college has since the beginning of the year introduced the entrepreneurship subject aimed at equipping students with the ability to start and maintain income generating projects after school.
The subject’s teacher, Brighton Mutambiranwa said the entrepreneurial skills training was the answer to the challenges of unemployment in the country.
“We aim to produce students who will be well equipped and able to create their own employment so as to reduce unemployment and dependency rates among our youth,” he said. “Entrepreneurship teaches the students to be responsible for any project they understand. We want to produce students who will have a positive impact on tomorrow’s economy”.
Mutambiranwa went on to say the pupils had already started growing potatoes in sacks, adding that they had sourced the inputs themselves so that they learn to invest and take risks in any project they undertake.
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“We do not intend to seek funds for the projects but we want to do away with the dependency system,” he said.
“We have received a lot of support from parents and one of them has offered us land to extend our projects at his farm in Marondera.” The teachers have allocated two hours a week for the entrepreneurial skills training for all pupils.
The school also intends to partner with successful entrepreneurs so as to get assistance in the training.
“We have partnered with locksmiths who come to teach our children how to make and repair keys every day for an hour,” said Mutambiranwa.
Going forward, the school intends to engage with the Ministry of Education and draft an entrepreneurship syllabus suitable for primary and secondary schools.