FINAL WORD
“
IRRESPECTIVE OF HOW
CONNECTED AND TECHNOLOGY
-ENABLED SOCIETY BECOMES,
THERE WILL ALWAYS BE A NEED
FOR ARTISANS.
latter two have technicians and artisans in
mind. MIT proposes a 1:4:10 ratio between
engineers, technicians and artisans to make
things work in the digital future.
Irrespective of how connected and
technology-enabled society becomes,
there will always be a need for artisans.
The potential of automation, Artificial
Intelligence and Machine Learning can only
do so much. Human resources, especially
those with technical and vocational skills, will
remain integral to how we live and work.
Gideon Potgieter, CEO of Resolution Circle
degree that they might not be able to get
full value from.
In many developed economies, only a
small percentage of the top learners go
to university with the majority pursuing
vocational training. The point is that learners
do not have to spend two additional years
in school if an internationally accepted
alternative path is open to them.
Preparing for the Fourth
Industrial Revolution
More recently, the government has been
pushing a technology-driven agenda to
meet the needs of the Fourth Industrial
Revolution (4IR). Some might argue that
this is heavily reliant on degreed students.
And yet, the digital world requires more
than just office workers.
Additionally, learners at Grade 9 level already
have sufficient knowledge to learn how to
build and programme robots. Having the
language skills in place to master grammar
and spelling to code properly and a basic
understanding of maths form the foundation
of going into Robotics and even the Internet
of Things. Furthermore, there is a global
shortage of draughtsmen. Following Grade
9, learners can go on a vocational path to
get the qualifications for both these career
choices that will be essential in the future.
Already, training providers have started
developing short programmes and courses
built around 4IR. Given how many of the
jobs of the future do not exist yet, this
provides learners with exciting opportunities
to be at the forefront of innovation and
go beyond many of the traditional options
available to them.
And when compared to other countries
when it comes to vocational training, South
Africa performs better than middle income
countries like Brazil and Turkey, according
to the World Economic Forum Global
Competitiveness Review.
Private sector importance
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology
(MIT) speaks of the concept of design,
conceptualise, implement and maintain.
The first two focus on engineers while the
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INTELLIGENTCIO
Refocusing on vocational training is not only
the responsibility of parents, learners and
government. The private sector also has a
critical role to play in this regard. Currently,
the challenge for those doing vocational
training is what happens after the theory
is completed. Yes, students will receive a
certificate but still lack vital job experience.
If these students want to go into formal
apprenticeships to register as artisans, there
are not that many opportunities available to
them. More needs to be done to change this.
However, much of this comes down
to securing the required corporate
funding to give more students access to
experiential training that is currently highly
oversubscribed. From a business perspective,
sponsoring these initiatives make sense.
It assists corporates with their B-BBEE
compliance and enable them to claim back a
percentage of this expenditure against their
skills development levy payments over the
course of the financial year.
These claims apply whether they send their
own employees for upskilling, or if they
sponsor learners with their workshop and
experiential training programmes.
Examples of where new programmes have
been launched include the YES4Youth
programme that addresses the shortage
of internships to a certain extent. This sees
large corporates committing to taking on
interns, but it is still limited given the number
of students in the country. More companies
need to come on board.
And then there is Harambee that offers an
excellent programme for unemployed Grade
12s. It works with corporates to identify their
needs when it comes to the skills required in
the workplace. Harambee then matches this
to its database of unemployed learners and
provide them with training programmes to
give them the skills to fill those holes in the
private sector.
No matter how you look at it, this is not an
easy problem to solve. Skills development
must remain at the forefront of the
government and corporate agenda.
But what is vital is that parents and learners
realise that there are options open to them
other than only relying on Grade 12 and a
university degree. The economic growth of
the country depends on it. n
www.intelligentcio.com