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WENDY MOTHATA
THE Mlumati TVET College has launched their Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) centre last week. The launch signals the second launch of the 4IR projects funded by the ETDP SETA for TVET colleges.
Delivering his speech, MEC for Education in Mpumalanga, Bonakele Majuba, said it’s an exciting day for the Department of Educaton, Ehlazeni TVET College and its stakeholders.
“We urgently need to develop our capabilities in the areas of science, technology, and innovation. We will soon establish a Digital Industrial Revolution Commission, which will include the private sector and civil society, to ensure that our country is in a position to seize the opportunities and manage the challenges of rapid advances in information and communication technology.”
Majuba said the drive towards the digital industrial revolution will be underpinned by the availability of efficient networks.
The MEC said that the Minister of Higher Education and the Department took seriously the line of march from the President and worked collaboratively with the ETDP SETA to roll out the 4IR concept at TVET Colleges in the country.
“This constructive action by the DHET and ETDP SETA has its basis on the conviction that the 4IR represents a fundamental change in the way we live, work and relate to each other. It is inevitable that, as with any revolution, it will effect change in desirable and undesirable ways.”
The MEC said the nature of the labour required is likely to be more skill-intensive, “which could exacerbate the structural unemployment due to skills mismatch prevalent in South Africa.”
The World Bank has estimated that, 65% of children entering primary school today will ultimately end up working in completely new jobs that don’t exist yet.
The same applies to TVET Colleges and universities.
It is anticipated that a wide range of occupations will require a higher degree of cognitive abilities, such as creativity, logical reasoning, and problem solving, as part of their core skills.
“The 4IR is all about new solutions and new technologies that can provide new, better, and faster solutions,” Majuba said.
“Consequently, as a department, we support projects such as these between the ETDP SETA and the ten identified colleges. We are confident that Ehlanzeni TVET College will optimally utilize the infrastructure and training of lecturers that this project has delivered for the benefit of our students.”
“We need students that will be able to compete with the best in the world. The Mpumalanga Department of Education, in line with the 4IR, has introduced a pilot project on coding and robotics starting with 17 schools for Grade R-3 and 111 schools for Grade 7. This will be incrementally introduced to other grades until grade 9 in 2024. This centre, therefore, truly resonated with our current plan of action,” MEC said.
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