Electricity + Control September 2018

ENGINEERING THE FUTURE

Digital technologies

are transforming our capacity to provide rapid knowledge transfer.

cessible to an elite segment of society; it is the glue that binds a collective of digital natives, tran- scending specific classes, backgrounds and cul- tures. And as previously suggested, millennials in Africa use digital technology just as intuitively as anyone else in the world. More than at any other point in our industrial history, therefore, we have the educational infra- structure to realign what is taught in our education systems to the skills required in the modern mar- ketplace.

sible medium, is there not the potential to scale these applications down into broader learning en- vironments ― perhaps even schools ― putting more relevant skills into the reach of our nation’s learn- ers? Could the focus of our educational CSI be to tailor derivatives of suitable training material to an educational class experience? Let us bring weld- ing, assembly, customer service, machine and plant operating and engineering into formal learn- ing streams using the educational technologies that already exist in the corporate world. Perhaps the classroom required for this type of technical learning looks slightly different to the model that has been in service, largely unchanged, for over a century. Perhaps these ‘classrooms’ be- come more decentralised, with companies open- ing their training facilities, boardrooms, AV equip- ment and so on to scheduled technical classes. However if the precise logistics of deploying this new approach to education are to materialise, it will need the support and encouragement of government to enable, formalise and regulate edu- cational streams based around skills acquisition to be successful. With the public and private sector dedicated to mobilising the power of educational technology to improve the possibilities for learn- ing in the classroom, we can begin to build a sys- tem where the completion of a schooling stream produces people who are more prepared for the demands of the formal economy, and can be far more quickly and gainfully employed as such. This is how we can begin to ensure our youth becomes a dividend, not a burden.

Because it is not just a shortage of jobs that’s fuel- ling the unemployment of six million young people in South Africa. In many areas, our workforce is simply inadequately skilled. So while recent gov- ernment initiatives are incentivising private busi- ness to employ young people ― with the most re- cent YES (Youth Employment Service) campaign aiming to make over one million employment positions available to young workers ― we need to ensure that our youths are sufficiently skilled to prosper in the work place. Any solution to getting our youth moving needs to more directly address the underlying skills deficit as well. With a constantly expanding portfolio of train- ing material used in the workplace on an acces-

Barry Elliott is the Managing Director of Rock- well Automation Sub-Saharan Africa.

Electricity + Control

SEPTEMBER 2018

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