So, the African National Congress has promised to create millions of jobs over the next few years if it wins the upcoming elections. That's awesome, fantastic, brilliant... (insert more superlatives here).
Apart from a few small flies in the ointment, as it were. The most immediate problem with this promise is the question that springs to mind about the last time such a promise was made. Can anyone tell me just how many of those promised jobs were delivered? Because the way I see it, the job rate in this country is a far cry from going forward.
The less obvious issue I have with the statement - which is going to get me labelled as an elitist - is whether these jobs will be the sort that add value to the economy in the long-term, or whether they will be, at best, menial, and at worst, temporary.
Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not negating the fact that many, many, South Africans go to bed every night without having eaten that day. A quick look at the nearest intersection will bear out the fact that we need lots of jobs, and we need them now.
No, what I'm saying is that, way before this promise was made, someone - or a team of 'someones' - should have looked at exactly what sort of jobs were needed to boost the economy.
Filling the need
Simply put, do we need people who can lay bricks and plant trees, or should we be working out how to get them from that role into jobs like quantity surveying and engineering? My argument is that we should, and must.
This is especially critical in areas where innovation is key to improving our global competitive standing, such as areas involving ICT. Just imagine if we could turn out a few more Mark Shuttleworths or Elon Musks.
Just imagine if we could take several young people with limited prospects and get them into ICT at a junior level, but make sure they learn, so they have the ability to move up the ranks.
What I'm seeing is a potential future filled with innovative hardware (think raspberry pi), fresh and original software, companies that are so cool and have such a wow factor that international entities snap them up.
Companies that are started by today's unemployed youth, grow, hire, and add real value to the economy - and I'm not just talking in terms of rands.
Aim low, young man
Sadly, this is clearly nothing more than a pipe dream. For starters, the country will need a group of young people who do not believe that mediocrity is acceptable; that knowing 30% of a subject means you have passed it; and that it's cool to drop mathematics in favour of mathematics literacy.
The country will need a group of young people who do not believe mediocrity is acceptable.
We need many more people who aim way beyond just 'good enough'. There are not nearly enough of these. The number of students who passed mathematics with 40% or more was a third less than those who passed with 30%. I have no idea what those figures look like as we go up the curve, because the Department of Basic Education did not, as it did for several other subjects, strip this out in its report.
Granted, we have a really super matric - or National Senior Certificate - pass rate. And hats off to those who clinched that certificate, especially to those who scored a ridiculous amount of distinctions.
But, sorry, the only thing we have achieved by saying someone is good to go when they do not know 70% of a subject is a growing number of young people who don't have the basic skills to make it further.
Those who do make it into the limited tertiary education seats will be those at the top end of the mark spectrum. Those who do not, and have no viable job prospects, will join the ranks of the unemployed, swelling them even more.
Goodness only knows where the 60% who never finished school ended up. Many, I fear, on a sidewalk near you.
And this is where the problem lies. All of these people need jobs, but they need jobs that provide them with skills. Without a basic understanding of the key ICT building blocks of mathematics and physical science, these opportunities are not going to come from the ICT sector.
Ditto other careers where SA is desperately short of staff, like accounting, engineering, teaching...
For the sake of the country, we need to swallow our pride and go back to basics, making sure kids are really learning key subjects from an early age so they are employable, or entrepreneurial, and can be taken up in a system where jobs are created with a focus on the future.
1+1 = 2, after all.
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