The world is rapidly changing, and so is the way the youth will be taught in schools and which career opportunities they will have. However, South Africa risks falling behind if we are unable to keep up.
Lumka Tshiki from Tshikululu Social Investments says that the world as we know it is changing rapidly and that technology is a big contributor to the direction we're heading in; and if we don't take our children along on the journey, it'll take many years for them to catch up with the rest of the world.
"The skills and the jobs that are in demand today are very different from the skills and jobs that will be in demand 10 years from now, and it becomes important now more than ever to be able to capacitate our learners and to be able to upskill them, essentially 'future proofing' our learners to be able to thrive in a future that is unknown," says Tshiki.
According to Tshiki, subjects such as coding and robotics are "critical" as they can provide learners with the skills they'll need for careers in the future.
The Department of Basic Education's (DBE's) plan to introduce Coding and Robotics as subjects in schools is underway. This forms part of the Three Streams Model, which is gradually being introduced to the school curriculum and aims to provide different offerings to learners and respond to the technological skills needed in the world right now.
In 2020, the pilot of this curriculum took place in Grade R to Grade 3 and in 2021, Grade 4 to Grade 6 were introduced to this curriculum.
The DBE said that teaching coding and robotics to learners in lower grades will help them to develop the necessary digital skills which are required to land them jobs in the current world of work.
This year, the last phase of piloting will take place for Grade 7 to Grade 9.
"It's not so much the subjects themselves but rather the skills and what we're wanting to impart on students today, is the ability to think quite critically, the ability to be creative and skills that can be adapted into any context, into any job," further explains Tshiki, saying it is interesting that jobs of the future are not even in creation in our present.
South Africa's education system has big gaps in education equality that still need to be addressed, such as the fact that many schools are severely under-funded, as well as the fact that almost 80% of Grade 4 learners cannot read for meaning, along with 63% of Grade 5 learners who cannot do basic maths.
These schools, without the same resources as other well-maintained schools in the country, run the risk of learners falling behind, while everyone else advances into the future.
"It is important to 'future proof' our learners for [a] tomorrow that is unknown, but at the same time, it is also critically important to make sure we are addressing today's issues, today; and that is to get learners literate and to get them numerate [...] what we don't want is for the Quintile One to Three schools to be left behind, and the Fours and Fives to thrive further, exacerbating this divide we already have," concludes Tshiki.
The subjects of coding and robotics will expose learners to digital literacy, virtual reality, augmented reality, machine learning, artificial intelligence, and the Internet of Things (IoT).
