This burning desire is manifesting as “THE AFRICA WE WANT”, which is explicitly communicated in Africa Agenda 2063, and specifically the Continental Education Strategy for Africa, 2016 – 2025.

This also anchors predictions by most observers and pundits that suggest that Africa is ushering into an era that will determine its destiny as the continent of the future.

To realise this destiny, Africa must pay deliberate attention to its dwindling education and training systems that rarely match up with emerging developmental needs.

It comes as no surprise that a recent survey by the African Development Bank (AfDB) revealed that less than 25 per cent of African students in secondary and tertiary institutions were pursuing STEM-related career fields — despite it being the driving force in this technological revolution.

A valid response from stakeholders to these global shifts should involve training creative minds to acquire industry-specific abilities in the rapidly emerging areas of science and technology.

In doing so, Africa must bridge structural inadequacy and capacity and resource gaps while creating an enabling environment for STEM education to drive. This will ensure no one is left behind.

Structural inadequacy

The structural adjustment might be farfetched in the short term but the internet is at African disposal.

This implies that the African Union must fast-track the implementation of the Pan-African E-university, which aims at accelerating the development of human capital, science and technology and innovation through increasing access to tertiary and continuing education in Africa.

Equally important is the Pan-African Virtual University, which aims at using technology to train Africans and provide mass post-secondary school education.

Capacity and resource

This can be achieved through incorporating cost-effective ways of teaching and learning STEM. A key strategy that could be employed in this regard is learning by doing pedagogy.

This approach has been tested and proven in Ghana, Liberia, and Rwanda by African Union’s Innovating Education in Africa (IEA) 2021 award-winning organisation, Practical Education Network (PEN).

Under PEN’s approach, teachers are trained both in-person and online in hands-on STEM pedagogies using low-cost locally available materials.

Enabling environment

Thankfully, the African Union is doing great in creating an enabling environment for innovative education through its IEA initiative.

Nonetheless, much attention should be channelled into influencing regional-level policies geared towards incorporating STEM education in African educational curricula from the basic level to the tertiary.

Note that a billion children and teenagers under the age of 18 will live in Africa by the middle of this century, accounting for about 40 per cent of all children and teenagers in the zero–18 age range worldwide (UNICEF and the African Union Commission, 2021).

If this young population receives hands-on STEM education to prosper and reach their full potential, they can be a significant source of growth and development in Africa and around the world. If not, we risk seeing them mature into weapons of mass destruction. It’s our choice!

The writer is a Pan-African Writer & Blogger. PR & Communications Consultant