Studies also suggests that if South Africa does not prioritize coding and robotics, it will be around 100 years behind compared to other countries in how the next generation is taught and are equipped with the necessary tools and skills to keep up with new technologies.
Prompted by the ever-changing global quality standard of education earlier this year, the Department of Education Basic Education (DBE) confirmed that Robotics and Coding will be officially added to the country’s school curriculum for the 2023 academic year.
To do so, the department plans to collaborate with higher education institutions to assist with upskilling and training teachers who will be teaching the new subjects in schools.
The new subjects not only aim to ramp-up education but also prepare learners for employment opportunities that will be in demand in the future.
Lumka Tshiki from Tshikululu Social Investments says that the skills and jobs that are in demand today are very different from the skills and jobs that will be in demand 10 years from now.
Therefore, it is important now more than ever to be able to capacitate and upskill learners and essentially future proofing them to thrive in a future that is unknown, she adds.
“Coding and robotics are critical in terms of the skills that learners get from these subjects to be able to take them on that journey.”
According to surveys on jobs that are on demand, when looking at jobs that will be in demand in the future, coding, robotics, and artificial intelligence will become central to the jobs that will be needed in the future.
"More than anything, it's not so much the subjects itself but rather the skills and what we’re wanting to impart on students today is the ability to think critically, the ability to be creative and skills that can be adapted into any context or job."
Despite the urgency to include the subjects into the curriculum, many have expressed concerns on how the department plans to introduce these new subjects to the curriculum when it is already struggling to address several gaps that are currently prevalent in the South African education system.
Tshiki says that recent statistics have shown that the schooling system in South Africa has very glaring gaps in terms of literacy and numeracy rates and therefore it is important for government to capacitate itself to solve these issues.
Although the government has been proactive in adapting new policies and change, it is still critical to address the current issues in the education system while also thinking about the future and how it aims to prepare the next generation.
