Human capital development, NDS1

29 Jan, 2021 - 00:01 0 Views
Human capital development, NDS1 The National Development Strategy 1 booklet

eBusiness Weekly

Alfred M. Mthimkhulu 

Chapter 8 of the National Development Strategy 1 is titled Human Capital Development and Innovation. The chapter can be read in 20 minutes, generous allowance for pauses to reflect included. The NDS1 full document is available online.  

“Human Capital Development and Innovation are the engine which will drive the NDS1 and the country’s progress towards Vision 2030”, the Chapter begins. Paragraphs 620 to 633 then follow with a candid appraisal of the current state of education: a drop in completion rates in secondary schools, a decline in numeracy skills and the poor infrastructure evinced by increased hot-sittings. NDS1 further acknowledges the sad reality of parents forking-out extra funds for school infrastructure and to supplement teaching resources. 

We read in paragraph 625 that “between 2013 and 2019, the pupil to classroom ratio for ECD increased from 38.4:1 to 60:1, while the ratio for primary increased from 42.6:1 to 46:1.” 

All this and cyclones destroying schools has widened the gap between rich and poor, a gap further widening right now on the back of the coronavirus. 

How can the engine that must drive Zimbabwe towards Vision 2030 but is clearly crumbling be resuscitated? How does the NDS1 intend to fix it? 

Paragraph 651 lists 15 sub-strategies to be implemented between January 2021 and December 2025, the duration of the NDS1. 

Among the strategies is adoption of “innovative technologies that support effective instruction and blended learning as well as alternative learning approaches from ECD upward”. 

In addition to these rather convoluted terms, NDS1 will promote Private-Public Partnerships to provide school infrastructure.  

The 15 sub-strategies will not be of much surprise to an ardent tracker of Zimbabwe public policy except perhaps for one strategy which the NDS1 calls “Study in Zimbabwe”. 

Study in Zimbabwe seeks to improve the quality of skills produced locally while also generating foreign currency by attracting foreign students. Is that feasible? 

Back in the 1980s, Setswana was one of the widely spoken languages in the streets of Bulawayo City Centre. 

Many Botswana nationals then sent their children to study in local secondary schools and colleges. A handful still do though South Africa is now the region’s education hub. 

Interestingly, one is certain to meet lots of Zimbabwean students and academics in South African schools, colleges and universities — a clear loss of revenue and human capital for Zimbabwe. 

Are those losses reversible? Or, as per Study in Zimbabwe, can the country attract foreign students?   

Let us for now focus on varsity students and assume that humanity will prevail over the coronavirus. 

To attract foreign students, we can quickly draw-up a to-do list: have good facilities of study in our universities (which are currently lacking); have good residential facilities for students (which are currently lacking); have well-published and internationally recognised scholars in our universities (which are currently lacking); have a stable and predictable macroeconomic environment (which is currently lacking) and a few global brands of fast-foods outlets and hotels (which are currently lacking). 

More can be easily be added to this list but to do so helps no one and yields nothing. 

What the to-do list tells us, as clearly as the initial paragraphs of Chapter 8 candidly appraised the current state of education in the country, is that it will be difficult to deliver “Study in Zimbabwe” by 2025 given deficits in soft and hard infrastructure. However, it is possible that in 15 or so years the deficits can be eliminated by specific strategies set in motion in the here and now and monitored meticulously till then, all other macro factors being conducive.  

This takes us to planning. As with other sub-strategies, Study in Zimbabwe is likely to be overseen by a taskforce which the NDS1 call “Thematic Groups”. 

The Thematic Group can, in this case, look into years it took other countries to be attract significant inflows of foreign students. It could conduct surveys on foreign students and parents to determine what they look for when choosing study destinations. 

The taskforce could also conduct surveys on lecturers locally and elsewhere to determine what would make them buy into the strategy. 

Can the Government 

do all this?  

A key feature of the NDS1 is the Monitoring and Evaluation Department in the Office of President and Cabinet. There is a diagram on page 233 of the NDS1 which shows the reporting structure of the NDS1 wherein the M&E Department oversees implementation. 

The structure emphasises a “Whole of Government Approach” meant to eliminate the current “silo mentality” in Government departments replacing it with a culture of “collective accountability”. 

The M&E Department will gather data from implementing departments, analyse the data and advise the Ministerial Committee chaired by the Minister of Finance and Economic Development.  

It is through this M&E-anchored structure that the 15 sub-strategies on Human Capital Development and all others in (Agriculture, Health, Housing and so on) will be implemented. But as the discussion on ‘Study in Zimbabwe’ suggests, there is need to reflect more judiciously on what can be accomplished by December 2025 and what realistically lies beyond that date. When the NDS1 implementation gathers momentum, it is likely that some of the original sub-strategies and targets will be moderated by appraisals from M&E and other less-rushed analysis. 

Such are the makings of a robust public policy framework: it is driven by robust analysis than mere hunches. 

Alfred M. Mthimkhulu is an economist and can be contacted on email: [email protected]; Twitter: @mthimz

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