Pupils need entrepreneurial skills, not driving lessons

WHY is it important that driving lessons should be included in the South African school curriculum?

I mean, I will be highly hyped if The Road Traffic Infringement Agency and the Department of Basic Education have announced a partnership which includes extending entrepreneurship lessons into high school curriculum.

We don’t need pupils who can drive but those who are businessminded, with strong ideas to uplift our economy – a youth that will strategise on the type of businesses we need in the country to boost our economy, a youth that will not rely on government hand-outs but who will be proactive to make their dreams become a reality.

If we say we need to give driving lessons to these learners because we are trying to promote and ensure road safety, then we are missing a point. At school all that learners worry about is passing their subjects excellently so they could enrol at universities. The last pressure they need is to understand cars, which they can’t even afford.

Besides all that, I am failing to understand the point of this initiative because normally road accidents are mostly not caused by youth under the age of 21 years but by irresponsible, mature drivers.

So, I don’t understand how this partnership is a solution to our economy. Rather, it will encourage licensed learners to steal their parents’ cars and go have fun with their friends, and that’s when stats of road accidents will increase.

Again, I just feel the right way to do things is to let everyone take driving lessons when they are mature and know exactly what they are doing in their lives.

Here, I am trying to envisage the lives of pupils who reside in rural areas. They study in mud schools. They have no resources and some of them end up failing in high school because of all the bad conditions they find themselves in, but now they are promised driving lessons so they could drive.

Why give them driving lessons, and how is that a priority? Give them entrepreneurship skills so they could make money and improve their lives and those of their families.

Let us not find short-term solutions that will only benefit a few, but let’s look at these issues from a bigger perspective and create opportunities that will improve our communities, country and the world. I know some will argue that once these learners begin to drive, those who couldn’t be enrolled at universities will benefit as some could be employed as drivers. But then how much are most drivers paid by their companies? Peanuts.

We want a youth that is fruitful. And don’t get me wrong: I am not saying that people who drive trucks or taxis are not fruitful. But I know from experience that not many drivers like their jobs. Most of them work hard and long hours, earning less money, which leave a lot of them with no savings or investments whatsoever. That’s not what we want. We want to groom young professionals who will be directors, CEOs, shareholders and managers. We need young learners who, from the information and knowledge they obtain through entrepreneurship subjects at school, would become role players in the financial sector and contribute towards the realisation of their full potential.

We need development programmes around entrepreneurship that will allow learners to participate in forums and seminars on key industry issues shaping the financial industry. We need subjects in school that will help us bridge the gap between high school, university and the corporate world by enabling professional development from a young age.

We need learners who will have an appetite to acquire knowledge about the opportunities available in the industry and how they can contribute to our financial services sector. And I believe all that can only be achieved if we train our pupils to be independent, creative and business-minded from an early stage.

Entrepreneurship skills are what we need, not some driving lessons.

“Let everyone take driving lessons when they are mature