Technological capacity key to sustain Ethiopia’s growth: Dr Debretsion

Addis Ababa, March 18, 2016 (FBC) –Due attention should be given for technology so as to sustain Ethiopia’s ongoing growth, Dr Debretsion Gebremichael, Deputy Prime Minister for Finance and Economic Cluster and Minister of Communication and Information Technology said.
In an exclusive interview with FBC, Dr Debretsion, said prime attention has been attached towards building technological capacity and nurturing competent manpower in the country.

However, works focused on building research capacity and maintaining education quality should not be left for tomorrow, he said.

Rigorous efforts are underway to produce skilled manpower in science and technology, he said, citing 70/30 (70 natural science and 30 social science students) university enrolment ratio as a case in point.

Moreover, universities mandated to produce trained manpower in science and technology were established and are producing a large number of skilled manpower in the sector, he said.

However, there are problems in producing skilled manpower that meets the needs of the growing economy and on education quality, due to less focus on research and financial constraints, he added.

In order to address these problems, the government has put directions by conducting consultations with private educational institutions, Dr Debretsion state.

He further said broad activities should be carried out on technology transfer.