Durban — KwaZulu-Natal Premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube said the province has a skilled population and massive potential to grow the digital economy, which are key catalysts for a thriving province.
Dube-Ncube was speaking at the launch of the Mobile Digital Analytic Skills Laboratories at Orient Heights Primary School in Pietermaritzburg on Thursday, where she unveiled a bold plan for the province to be recognised as an economic and technology powerhouse.
The launch forms part of the broader Connected Smart Province Project that includes “Broadband Connectivity, 4IR Skills Development, Innovation Incubation, Technology Production, Commercialisation of Innovation, and Solving Social Issues with Smart Business Processes and Technology”.
A mobile lab aimed at helping young people advance their technological skills was also introduced. It is solar powered and has back-up generators to ensure learning and teaching continues even if there’s a power outage.
Dube-Ncube said the lab launch would give children with different backgrounds an opportunity to compete in the workspace. She said the main objective of the project was to expose pupils from a young age to a world of new horizons of work and careers, which are broadened to include Space Technology, Data Analytics, Multimedia Production and 9D Technology.
“We believe that a child of a domestic worker, farmworker or general worker is now going to be exposed to the world out there, introducing them to dreaming big. Through the possibilities we bring, we want every child to know their dreams are possible. The future starts today, as we ready our youth and learners to enter what is conservatively estimated as being a multitrillion rand digital economy globally.”
Dube-Ncube encouraged the youth to take advantage of this digital economy and start working on the technology gadgets provided, which are linked to Robotics, Drone Technology, Mechatronics and other technologies.
She said this was the beginning of a long-term programme that would be rolled out to the rest of the province as part of the move towards the digitisation of the economy.
Mayor of uMgungundlovu District Municipality, Mzi Zuma, said they were grateful the municipality was the first to be chosen to host the programme.
He said it was important that the fourth industrial development was also embraced by the education sector.
“Basic education is where the foundation must be laid. We have to take the country forward and into the future with regard to the skills that will be produced.
“You cannot expect tertiaries to produce skills if the foundation was never laid at basic foundation level.”
Zuma said the skills produced by the basic education sector should match the requirements of the economy.
“We do not want people to sit at home unemployed or unobserved by the job market or the economy due to lack of skills required by the economy’s market,” he said.
District speaker Eunice Majola applauded Dube-Ncube for placing KZN on course to become an innovation and technology hub.
Majola said the initiative would enhance the importance of technology, science, engineering and maths and open up opportunities for children.
“While technology continues to evolve, the next generation in our province will be the ones driving innovation and change.
“Therefore, it is imperative that they learn how to utilise, understand and adapt to the new advancements that we are continuously seeing daily,” said Majola.
Daily News
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