Source: Introduce mining at primary school level | The Sunday Mail
Tendai Chara
CALLS for Government to introduce mining studies at primary school level are getting louder by the day, the Sunday Mail Online has gathered.
Paulus Emias Nyathi, a miner and mining researcher who is also the president of Serious Monitoring All Resources Together (SMART), an organisation which advocates for maximum utilisation of the country’s natural resources, recently added his voice, calling for a re-look into the school curricula.
According to Nyathi, mining, geology and mine survey and management, which is currently being taught at tertiary level, should be introduced at primary level.
“As a country, we are saying that mining and agriculture are the pillars of our economy. If that is the case, then why are not taking mining studies seriously? In my view, mining studies should be introduced at primary school level,” Nyathi said.
In 2015, the former Minister of Mines and Mining Development, Walter Chidakwa, made a similar call during a graduation ceremony at the Zimbabwe School of Mines.
The South African government, in 2019, announced that it was going to introduce mining sciences as a subject in primary schools.
Nyathi said miners should also engage in agricultural activities.
“We have miners who are wasting the water they are pumping from their shafts by allowing it to soak back into the ground. In my view, I think that it is wise for the miners to use the water they are pumping from their shaft to irrigate crops,” Nyathi added.
Added Nyathi: “We hear that some mines are waterlogged. I suggest that the water that is pumped from the mining shafts should not be wasted. If one miner could have, say two hectares of maize under irrigation, then this country would be food secure.”
SMART, which works mostly with small-scale miners, has so far assisted six miners acquire state-of-the art mining machinery.
The miners received compressors, concentrators and double hammer crushers among other mining equipment.
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