The Minister of Education, Arts, and Culture has called for a demand-driven education system.

Anna Nghipondoka says that it is high time that Namibia moves away from importing a skilled workforce.

Nghipondoka made the remarks at the launch of the IMN Technology Mentorship Institute, which aims to assist the public education sector in preparing and training competent and technologically advanced individuals who are ready to develop a competitive economy for Namibia.

"We have an implementation plan that emanated from the resolutions from the Education Conference; it is finally approved by Cabinet, which has specific areas of change that we need to implement for seven years. Digital transformation is one of those areas of change, and we really need to have very specific activities that we can already roll out each year."

The IMN Technology Mentorship Institute will provide training in coding, artificial intelligence, app development, and robotics, among others.

Its mission is to effectively infuse smart technologies into the education process and to produce students who use technology as a tool to accomplish meaningful work in a rapidly changing world.

In the long run, the institute wants to solve the education skills gap from the school level to the job market and provide sustainable technological business solutions, which are slowly becoming a necessity to develop Namibia into a fourth industrially compatible country.