An estimated 2.5 million more engineers are needed in sub-Saharan Africa to tackle its development challenges, yet, as things stand, the region falls short of meeting this demand. What is the missing link?
Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) represents a vast and crucial domain of knowledge. Integrated STEM Education, a dynamic pedagogical approach, surpasses traditional teaching methods by intentionally weaving these four fields into a single cross-disciplinary program. It cultivates both technical and 21st-century skills through real-world problem-solving.
In principle, STEM skills encompass a blend of technical and soft skills acquired through authentic integrated STEM programs. However, globally, STEM skills typically refer to the technical competencies acquired through STEM education, without strict adherence to a specific pedagogical approach.
The question now is: Can STEM skills unlock Africa’s path to prosperity?
Revolutionizing Africa’s STEM ecosystem
Now more than ever, automation, artificial intelligence, and the internet of things continue to drive the fourth industrial revolution and the future of work. Revolutionizing Africa’s STEM ecosystem is urgent. These fields are highly STEM dependent and research shows that countries with high STEM human capital are competitive, productive, and experience high economic growth.
The African Union’s Agenda 2063 recognizes the strategic role STEM education can play in fast-tracking Africa’s development. Therefore, Africa needs to capitalize on STEM education and skills to leapfrog as a global leader in addressing mega developmental trends in emerging technologies, cyber security, climate change, green economy, and global health. Most importantly, the ability of Africa to convert its youth dividend–with a projected 362 million young people between 15-24 years by 2050—into a highly skilled STEM workforce can be a game changer.
Challenges for STEM education
Although Africa is committed to promoting STEM, as evidenced in regional and national science, technology and innovation or STEM education policies in Ethiopia, South Africa and Nigeria, numerous challenges hinder STEM education.
A major constraint is low participation and a weak pipeline in STEM fields, with less than 25% of higher education students pursuing STEM fields, of whom less than 30% are women. This trend subsequently impacts graduation rates (figure 1). Only 18% to 31% of science researchers are women. This issue is partially due to the lack of students’ awareness of the career opportunities in STEM.
Another constraint in Africa is inadequate infrastructure and resources including low access to electricity and internet connectivity, combined with lack of smart classrooms, science laboratories and equipment. Approximately, 4 out of 5 of secondary schools in Africa do not have access to electricity and over 90% of schools lack appropriate science labs, however, this figure varies from country to country. In Rwanda for example, 21.6% of secondary schools have science labs compared to 18% in South Africa.
Although most African countries adopted a competence-based curriculum, which is skills-oriented and learner-centered, lack of capacity and inadequate training oblige STEM teachers to resort to traditional, teacher-centered techniques, which are ineffective for STEM learning.
Listen to podcast here: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/youth-voices-ais-impact-on-education-and-employment/id1523333192?i=1000652860753
Read more here: https://blogs.worldbank.org/en/education/empowering-africas-future-prioritizing-stem-skills-youth-and-economic-prosperity
