Slow digital skills development stalls SA’s digital revolution – ATS

While the development of the economy seems to rely heavily on the advancements made in technology industry, a report titled The Digital Skills Gap Index by Afrika Tikkun Services (ATS), which measures how well countries are meeting the skills demanded, shows that those advancements may not be as up to standard as needed.

The index scores African countries between 1.8 and 5.

This pales in comparison to the global average of 6, meaning Africa has a lot of catching up to do.

ALSO READ: Skills shortage driven by poverty plaguing South Africa’s economy

The failure of traditional institutions

But what exactly is holding the country back from scoring higher? According to ATS, which is also a skills development and placement organisation, the main challenges South Africa faces include a gap in educational quality and a failure for traditional institutions to provide the skills demanded by the economy.

The organisation reckons that one of the major issues holding the industry back is persistent skills shortage.

While industry has set out to engage with educational institutions, to align the sort of skills taught with that needed by industry, progress on this is still slow.

Private sector enterprises need to step up

Onyi Nwaneri, CEO of Afrika Tikkun Services (ATS), says that it is now up to entities within the private sector to offer skills development programmes to bridge this gap and get the ball rolling.

“It’s no longer up to government-initiated programmes and systems to create a streamlined pipeline from school to the workplace for young people,” she said.

NOW READ: South Africans must prepare for jobs of the future – here’s how

“Partnership between private entities, corporations; NGOs and social enterprises have proven to move much faster in some crucial areas of skills development in South Africa. In many ways, these partnerships have led the way for creating results-based skills development initiatives that have helped thousands of unemployed youths join the workforce and contribute to South Africa’s economic growth,” she added.

Technology industry expected to grow 12% per annum

Nwaneri said that traditional jobs and ways of working are becoming obsolete without an informal technology-related upgrade, and as such – perspectives within industries need to shift to align with this.

The organisation shared that the information technology industry is expected to grow by 12% per annum over the next few years, according to analysts at Simply Wall Street. 

“We need to encourage young people, the people who teach them, the people that employ them and those that raise them to take digital skills development seriously,” Nwaneri said.

Trends have demonstrated that economic recovery has heavily relied on entrepreneurship.

“We need more young people hiring young people. A robust and multi-sectoral digital skills revolution is needed in order to create workers who will be hired and entrepreneurs who will go on to create jobs as they empower themselves and their communities,” she concluded.

*Compiled by Devina Haripersad