SEATTLE — Although it is clear that the number of global STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Math) jobs increases year to year, a lively debate exists as to whether or not investment in STEM education (in lieu of arts and humanities education) will benefit the developing countries of Africa in the way that those education systems most need.
The Huffington Post reports that 70 percent of domestic and international jobs require core STEM skills, and this number is only increasing as new tech industries emerge on a yearly basis. However, in Africa, these new STEM jobs are increasingly sent abroad as the gap between jobs created and qualified candidates grows wider.
For example, in 2014, 87 different Chinese engineering and building crews were brought in to Kenya to oversee the construction of the country’s Standard Gauge railroad. Kenya simply did not have the manpower to field the project themselves.
Oley Dibba-Wadda, Executive Secretary of the Association for the Development of Education in Africa, said that “African governments must increase the funding allocation for STEM research and development from the current 0.6 percent of national GDP to 1 percent as agreed by the Heads of State in 2007.” Otherwise, Africa will continue to fall behind in STEM education-related fields.
Earlier this month, at the Global Education and Skills Forum in Dubai, educators and philanthropists came together to discuss these issues and tried to reconcile the need for a solid STEM education foundation with the simultaneous need for humanities interpersonal skills.
Although many leaders agreed that STEM education is vitally important to creating internationally competitive markets and centers of innovation, some also expressed concerns that a shift to a purely STEM focus could quash the already struggling education system, leaving students with a better understanding of STEM concepts but without interpersonal skills or cultural understanding. “Wherever education becomes utilitarian,” said Miriam Mason-Sesay, Country Director of EducAid in Sierra Leone, “rather than an opportunity for fuller realization of our humanity, the whole community loses and so does the individual.”
The International Labour Organization estimated that between the years 2000 and 2008, 73 million new jobs were created in Africa, but only 16 million of those jobs went to young workers based in African countries themselves.
Clearly, a more qualified entry-level workforce would keep millions of jobs within the countries of Africa, but the wrong route towards increasing STEM education could damage communities and put undue financial strain on already struggling African countries. As Kenya’s Secretary of Education Tendai Lewa Mtana said, “Education should not only contribute to progressing people and societies but also to making them live diligently. In that way, we can ensure that technological developments are used to create solutions that provide equity and dignified care for all.”
Investment in African education, both in STEM fields and as a whole, is the key to developing the next generation of African innovation and global competitiveness.
– Sage Smiley
Photo: Flickr