Embracing technology key to future success, star pupil says
Songo Mpangwe, a grade 10 pupil at The Centre of Excellence school in East London, spends his holidays at his grandmother’s farm.
He is one of only 4% of pupils in SA who face a clear road through to university once he matriculates in 2024.
Songo is confident about flying through tertiary education, based on his ability with maths and science.
His main concern is not for himself, but for his fellow SA pupils.
He worries that so few will get a decent job matching their qualifications.
Last week, Songo was one of many pupils who attended the ITC summit in East London.
In June, higher education, science and innovation minister Blade Nzimande acknowledged that of the more than 900,000 pupils who would write matric in 2022, only 12% would get into university, and of those only 4% would leave with a degree or without failing one or more years.
Songo’s maths and science ability has allowed him to map out his career.
“My career choice is not yet final, but I think it will be between robotics and biomedical engineering.
“However, technology is shifting so fast that there will be developments within these two areas, so I may have to change track.”
He said the ICT summit had cemented the belief of many participants that their futures were bound to the future of technology.
Even at the tender age of 16, he believes SA’S long-term success will hinge on job creators’ commitment to embracing the ongoing 4th Industrial Revolution and IT advances.
If the government does not embrace IT, these work opportunities will be restricted to the private sector, which cannot be expected to employ all the graduates, though those with firstclass passes will still have many employment choices.
Songo said pupils and the country should be concerned that slow acceptance of new strategies would strangle job creation, and that should not be allowed to happen.
“IT equals work. Teach it well and it will end the current trend of pupils having to listen to the horror stories of 70%, and rising, of the youth not finding work.”
He noted the government’s message that agriculture could be the saviour of the Eastern Cape by encouraging young people to stay on the land and choose to farm.
“Before technology, farming was driven by indigenous knowledge, from our grandparents all the way back to our forefathers.
“It has to be time that old systems, which worked, are blended with new technology.”
Backing his view is a report from Sciencedirect that huge, machine-driven farms, with reduced labour, might not be the only — or the best — solution to food security and job creation.
In fact, various reports argue that small farms, where the owners actively work their own land, are as productive.
In some countries, including India, studies reveal that smaller farms have been associated with greater productivity.
There are many reasons for this, including that smaller farms allow more targeted inputs such as fertiliser and drip irrigation, as well as more intensive farming and pride of ownership. What was eyeopening for Songo was how the new IT derivatives were opening new markets.
According to a report by the Institute For The Future, 85% of the jobs that will exist in 2030 either haven’t been invented, or are still in the experimental stage.
Jobs on the horizon include quantum programmers, climate change scientists, rocket design architects, spacecraft pilots, autonomous vehicle designers, blockchain crypto specialists, cultured meat farmers and hazardous waste engineers.
Jobs where automation can do them better are fading fast, including retail checkout assistants, telephone receptionists and clerks.
This list will grow as new technology companies nudge out old unproductive methods, and the people employed to work with them.
Maths and science could be the best solution for future work.