Zimbabwe no longer regards exodus of professional and skilled people as brain drain but brain circulation

HON. MAPIKI: Thank you Mr. Speaker.  My supplementary question to the Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education is that in countries like Cuba, they trained doctors and send them to Africa.  They also trained teachers whom they send to Rwanda and Sudan.  So, as Zimbabwe, looking at our educated children who are loitering, can we not find opportunities for them so that we earn foreign currency through that?  I thank you

HON. PROF. MURWIRA: Thank you Hon. Speaker.  I think I have gone deep into philosophy.  We, Zimbabwe, with its high level of education which we are actually even increasing so that it becomes higher, we believe that we will become a source of export of expertise into the world.  We have started this organised way of doing things with Rwanda and we believe we will be able to do it even more.  We are in talks, for example, with neighbouring countries about this kind of approach whereby our people can be of use to those countries but also of use to us because we are basically exporting expertise.

So, what the Hon. Member is saying is very useful and very important and we agree because this is our policy.  That is why we were saying we should no longer talk about brain drain.  We talk about brain circulation.  We will be able to train our people so that they are useful to us either locally or elsewhere and they will be able to do things and be able to be useful to the country.  This idea, as we go into the future, is very important so that the debate of being employed and employ, and working and working for someone becomes a completely different issue.  Thank you.

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