His Worship the Mayor of the City of Kitwe – Eng Christopher Kang’ombe officiated at the ZAQA workshop on the development and validation of National Occupational Standards (NOS). The workshop was organised to develop NOS in
the mining sector for six (6) occupations namely, mine sampler, ore processing operator, mine safety officer, mining blaster, winding engine operator and mine data entry operator. Further, the experts will validate NOS developed in the
construction sector for six (6) occupations namely: electrician – low voltage, general bricklayer, draughts person, land surveyor, metal fabricator and steel fixer.
In his remarks Mr. Kang’ombe emphasised that quality education and training is a key prerequisite to robust and sustainable economic development as an educated population provides the type of labour force necessary for industrial development.
He commended the Authority for fulfilling their mandate to develop National Occupational Standards that resonates well with the government’s policy of ensuring availability of skilled workforce across the various sectors of the
economy as espoused in the seventh National Development Plan.
His Worship further highlighted the important role that national occupational standards (NOS) play in skills development and therefore cannot be downplayed as they are used globally in the development of curricula and learning programmes, which leads to recognisable and internationally comparable qualifications.
Occupational standards prescribe what an individual needs to do and know for them to be able to perform their duties effectively and efficiently in their place of work. As a result, development of these standards will ensure that curricula and
learning programmes are tailored to meet the aspirations of industry.
In addition, he alluded that employers in the mining and construction sectors to enhance capacity of their workers through in-house training programs will use the NOS that will be developed and validated.
The Mayor was happy to note that the Embassy of Ireland in Zambia has been supporting the Authority in various activities one of which was the development of national occupational standards that we are witnessing today.
As he concluded, he urged all organisations in the aforementioned sectors to support and work closely with ZAQA in the development and implementation of National Occupational Standards.
