Countries today are competing in a knowledge-based global market, where the key differentiators are skills, expertise, know-how and the ability to deliver excellent services speedily, with agility and efficiently.
This is the word from Minister in the Presidency Jeff Radebe, speaking at a World Economic Forum workhshop entitled “Shaping the Future of Education and Skills”.
In other words, and for every country, economic competitiveness increasingly depends on the quality of our education systems, he says.
“The jobs that have driven rapid economic development in the past, from agriculture to light manufacturing, are disappearing and the jobs of the future will be ever more technology-intensive – requiring a higher-skilled workforce.
“To access these jobs, people will need skills to be able to analyse, adapt, problem solve, manage and work in an increasingly connected way. There is therefore no more time to lose and this discussion comes at a very opportune moment.”
Developing countries can learn from what oter countries have done, and seeing what has worked, Radebe says.
Early childhood development is crucial, he says, to allow children to develop literacy and soft skills. “In most African countries, large numbers of schoolgoers drop out early; and large parts of the workforce have little knowledge and few skills that would make them more employable.
“Early childhood interventions can make a huge difference. Introducing modules focused on literacy and soft skills as part of basic and secondary education and training programs can also help break the vicious circle of the unskilled being trapped in jobs that require fewer skills, and establish accessible pathways for acquiring skills.”
Government has a huge role to play in regulation, standard setting, monitoring and evaluation (M&E), and the financing of skills development.
“Also, M&E plays an important role in the design and delivery of skills programmes,” Radebe says. “I cannot stress this enough. Always evaluate programs, and feed these lessons back to policymakers so that they can make informed decisions about improving the design and implementation of programs. The effectiveness of the skills development programmes has been driven by strong M&E systems.”
Other interventions that have proved successful in other countries include ensuring that stakeholders have an important voice at the table at the policy level and be involved in decision making at the institutional level.
Raising the productivity of the informal sector is also important, Radebe says. “We need to find mechanisms to unlock and open up a stronger informal sector, and ensure that we enhance their productivity through skills development will lead to faster economic growth.”
Co-operation with other countries and economies will help to drive better skills development, he adds. “We are all eminently aware that competing in todays’ globally interconnected, and almost, daily shifting, economy is a complex affair. Our countries not only need advanced education both technical and vocational-it needs dynamic, fast paced and ever evolving skills, and also, a flexible workforce that can adjust to these rapid shifts in demand.
“That is why investing in education and skills, the right skills, I must add, has become such a vital element to a country’s economic growth, development and competitiveness.”
