To fulfil its function stipulated in the Zambia Qualifications Authority Act No. 13 of 2011 in Part III, Section 9; (i.e. (1) (h) determine national standards for any occupation), ZAQA held a Stakeholders’ Workshop on the development of National Occupational Standards (NOS) with the Mining sector on Wednesday, 27th March 2019, at Pamo Hotel in Kitwe.
The Workshop was attended by 54 participants from various subsectors and sections of the Mining sector, which included Government Ministries and Departments, Mining Houses, Labour Unions, Sector Associations, Academia, Professional Bodies, Civil Society Organisations, the Media, ZAQA Staff and other interested parties.
The Kitwe District Commissioner (DC), Mr. Binwell Mpundu, officiated at the workshop which was also attended by senior officials from the Ministry of Labour and Social Security as well as the Mines Safety Department.
Mr. Binwell Mpundu was elated by the participants for having favourably responded to ZAQA’s call to attend the workshop. The DC, who was officiating on behalf of the PS Copperbelt Province, said that the holding of the workshop was timely and critical in that Government was ever alive to and stood ready to support interventions aimed at enhancing the quality of education in the country, one such intervention being the development of National Occupational Standards (NOS).
The DC indicated that the step taken by ZAQA to initiate the development of NOS resonated well with Government’s policy as highlighted in the 7th National Development Plan, of ensuring availability of skilled workforce across various sectors of Zambia’s economy. He further reiterated the important role that National Occupational Standards play in skills development. He mentioned that occupational standards are used globally in the development of curricula and learning programmes, which lead to recognisable and internationally comparable qualifications.
He also informed the workshop that the mining sector and the country at large, stood to benefit greatly from the recently signed African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Agreement if the quality and quantity of production was enhanced, which partly can be achieved by upscaling the levels of adequately and appropriately trained and skilled workforce, which the development and implementation of NOS sets out to facilitate.
The DC, in officially opening the workshop, wished the participants fruitful deliberations and said that he looked forward to the development of occupational standards covering at least five (5) occupations in the mining sector.
DC Binwell Mpundu Deivering speech at NOS workshop
Participants at the NOS Workshop
The Director and CEO Mrs. Mirriam Chiyaba giving an overview of ZAQA
Acting Assistant Director Technical – Mr. Tyson Simuzigili Presenting on the importance of NOS
