Governments under fire for failing to prepare youth

“This house believes African governments are failing to provide young people with the skills they need to prepare for the future,” was the successful motion emanating from a highly charged debate in the closing stages of the 14th International Conference and Exhibition on ICT for Education, Training and Skills Development, or eLearning Africa 2019, in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, on 25 October.

Proposing the motion was Kumba Liliana Musa, a data scientist from Sierra Leone’s Directorate of Science, Technology and Innovation who argued that governments in Africa have failed their youth. “Curricula in schools were irrelevant and led students to pursue outdated courses that are no longer useful to employers,” said Musa.

Citing the International Finance Corporation’s report, Digital Skills in Sub-Saharan Africa: Spotlight on Ghana, Musa noted that Africa and, in particular, countries in Sub-Saharan Africa were experiencing employable skills gaps to a greater extent than anywhere else in the world. “What this means is that African governments have failed on their mandate to address the current global technological shifts,” said Musa.

Learning on the job

Musa said the situation is worse among engineers trained in African universities who are struggling to find jobs. “Even if they are lucky to find employment, most of them are learning on the job from expatriate technicians."

Musa said most teachers in middle-level colleges are not qualified to teach using education technology tools.

Countering Musa’s argument, Nnenna Nwakanma, interim policy director for the World Wide Web Foundation, said African governments were doing their best and had established a framework for innovations in higher education.

According to those opposing the motion, African youth should not expect governments to be social providers; rather, the role of governments is to set framework for development. “Expectations are high but African governments are overloaded,” said Nwakanma.

Calling on African youth to work hard instead of complaining, Nwakanma said government is not a fixed thing that should cater for all needs in society. “We should have a higher vision: government is us, and not something that is alien or above everyone else,” said Nwakanma.

She reminded delegates of the African Union’s master plan, Agenda 2063: The Africa We Want, aimed at transforming the continent and which has provided guidelines for innovation.

“In this regard, governments everywhere are regulators and policy engineers,” said Tim Unwin, UNESCO Chair in ICT4D and a former professor of geography at the Royal Holloway, University of London, another opposer of the motion.

‘Technology is not the answer’

According to Unwin, the Fourth Industrial Revolution has not arrived in Africa. “Besides, technology is not a solution to Africa’s problems,” said Unwin. He noted how, in the last two decades, African governments have worked hard fixing education systems and made progress in putting millions of students into schools, colleges and universities.

Swaying the delegates, Michael Onyango, a member of Distributed Ledgers and Artificial Intelligence Taskforce in Kenya, countered that African governments have so many excuses for their inability to provide a rich learning environment for the youth.

He said the failure of African governments to create jobs for the youth has triggered an unprecedented migration crisis as African youths try to reach Europe and other destinations for employment. “African governments cannot escape the blame that they have turned the Mediterranean Sea into a graveyard for African youth,” said Onyango.

He also cited recent ethnic clashes in South Africa, where African youth fought for diminishing employment opportunities. He warned of imminent future clashes – not only in South Africa but across the continent.

Connectivity is still ‘a dream’

According to Onyango, although African governments have produced numerous policy documents claiming commitment to education technology as a tool for empowering youth towards employability, connectivity in most countries is still a dream. “Access to affordable internet is rare while offline educational services and content are outdated,” said Onyango.

Muhammed Issah, a senior lecturer at Nigeria’s Waziri Umaru Federal Polytechnic, faulted African governments for creating parallel education systems: a public one for the general public and a private one for their children. “Rarely in Africa would one observe children of politicians, ministers and senior government officials attending public schools and universities; they are sent to high-cost private schools and foreign universities,” said Issah.

In a summary of the debate, Musa called on the delegates to censure African governments for not living up to their promises of promoting educational technology which could provide skills required in the job market. She rejected the notion that the Fourth Industrial Revolution was a myth intended to suppress African countries and effectively lead to further exploitation of the continent by former colonial masters.

While the debate was heated, when the motion was put to the vote through acclamation by moderator Dr Harold Elletson, the editor of the eLearning Africa Report, it was passed by an overwhelming majority.