Pursuant to 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) on Wednesday, 30th January 2019, at Intercontinental hotel in Lusaka.
The Workshop was attended by 115 participants, from various sectors which included Government Ministries and Departments, Tourism, Agriculture, Manufacturing, Energy, Construction, Sector Regulators, Sector Associations, Academia, Professional Bodies, the Media, ZAQA and other interested parties.
The workshop was officiated by the Minister of Higher Education, Prof. Nkandu Luo, who was elated by the participants for having responded to ZAQA’s call to attend the workshop. She further mentioned that the holding of the workshop was timely and critical as it would provide solutions to some of the challenges identified during the recently held Zambia National Education Conference organised by the Ministries of Higher and General Education, in relation to the quality of education and graduates being trained in the country.
The Minister also emphasised the importance of National Occupational Standards and the role that they would play in reshaping and transforming the education sector in Zambia. She stated that the development of NOS would inform the reengineering process of the education system in the country by ensuring that education and training was tailored to respond to industry needs and promote skills development.
Furthermore, the Minister reiterated that the use of NOS in designing learning and training curricula and programmes would promote the enhancement of skills and result in an increase in properly and appropriately skilled workforce that would help spur economic development through increased productivity and present employment opportunities for the skilled youth.
The Minister, in officially opening the workshop, wished the participants fruitful deliberations and pointed out that she looked forward to feedback from the workshop. She also encouraged industry to support and work closely with ZAQA to ensure the successful development and implementation of NOS, as the enhancement of quality of education and training required a multi-sectoral approach.
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