Chamisa Promises Data-Driven Plan To Address Joblessness
Former opposition leader Nelson Chamisa of the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) has pledged to implement a comprehensive citizens’ affairs plan focused on data, evidence, and statistical models to tackle Zimbabwe’s brain drain upon assuming office.
Chamisa said the citizens’ affairs plan aims to ensure that university and college graduates can effectively contribute to economic growth and prosperity.
In a statement released on Monday, September 16, Chamisa said he will ensure that the thousands of graduates produced annually by higher education institutions are absorbed in the job market.
He said this will be done by assigning a national identity, social security, citizen number and voter registration identification to each citizen at birth, which will then be activated upon completion of testing and qualification. Said Chamisa:
Our New Citizens government will introduce and roll out a comprehensive citizens’ affairs plan based on data, evidence, figures and statistical models.
Our data-led government model begins at birth and guides each individual citizen’s development throughout their life. This plan will be launched from Day one of the new administration.
Just this past weekend, we had the University of Zimbabwe’s 43rd graduation ceremony. A whopping 6,778 students graduated from the University of Zimbabwe, including 200 medical doctors among the 898 medical specialists, 256 lawyers and 327 engineers.
Sadly, we only had 16 dentists and 83 pharmacists graduating, an area that calls for significant improvement.
Yet, the market has no corresponding absorption capacity on account of the industry shrinking due to the economic and political environment.
We produce graduates but we have no viable market absorption plan to cater for the trained professionals we spew out year in and out.
Despite the huge investments made especially by students and sacrifices by families in these difficult times, there is currently no effective citizens’ affairs plan to provide these graduates with a clear career path.
This lack of opportunity and strategic planning means that our nation’s investment in education often fails to yield meaningful returns which could move us forward as a country.
We then suffer a significant brain drain and a human capital haemorrhage with our shining young talent building other nations outside of Zimbabwe.
Too many graduates either leave to seek greener pastures and employment opportunities abroad or remain unemployed at home, joining the thousands already struggling without gainful employment or enterprise.
Only by implementing a radical, elaborate, thoughtful and inclusive citizens’ affairs plan can educational achievements be transformed into tangible growth and prosperity for all, for everyone and for the whole nation!
As a proposal, these issue should be addressed from birth through rigorous system that from birth assigns a national identity assigning each citizen a birth, identity, social security, citizen number and voter registration identification to be triggered active when the testing and qualification is completed.
Through this level of monitoring and relationship with other data across the economic and social sectors, there is an opportunity to ensure when each student graduates with a qualification, the job market is ready to receive them with the most ideal opportunity best placed to move forward our country’s transformational and developmental needs.
This idea of graduates being jobless or trained professionals joining the jobless heap must be and will be a thing of the past.
More: Pindula News
