THE Parliamentary Committee for Education, Culture and Sports has commended the Dar es Salaam Institute of Technology (DIT) for embracing technological innovations.
Among other technological innovations, the committee was moved by the step taken by the Institute to design and manufacture spare parts for tricycles, mainly suspension bushes.
Committee’s Deputy Chairperson, Ms Husna Sekiboko, said: “We want those spare parts to be of good quality so that when we start marketing them we do not get complaints from buyers.”
Ms Sekiboko noted that the committee was impressed by the fact that the institute had lived up to its core role of enhancing technology which is a solution to various socio-economic challenges.
She went further commending the government for its efforts to increase the number of girls studying science subjects by allocating more funds for construction of more science secondary schools for girls.
Minister for Education, Science and Technology, Professor Adolf Mkenda, briefed the committee that the institute’s focus was to prepare youth who would go to bring reforms to local industries.
“It must reach a time when we should vocationalise some degrees so as we have two types of degrees; vocationalised and academic degrees,” Prof Mkenda hinted.
He assured that the DIT plant for manufacturing tricycle spare parts will soon go commercial.
Earlier, DIT Rector Professor Preksedis Ndomba told the committee that the institute was offering courses that prepare the youth to participate in the strategic project implementation instead of leaving those jobs to foreigners.
“We also focus on employability, we want our youth become employable in efforts to address unemployment challenge,” Prof Ndomba stated.
In enhancing knowledge and technology transfer, the institute has entered into agreements with some higher learning institutions abroad for exchange programmes involving students and lecturers.
On his part, Dr Richard Masika, Board Chairman of the DIT, thanked the committee for touring the institute where they witnessed various technological innovations, some of which are already in the market.
Dr Masika said they had taken the directives of the committee for implementation.