JOHANNESBURG — South Africa’s Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation, Blade Nzimande on Wednesday called on the private sector to cooperate with the government in developing needed technology and technical skills.
“The focus on skills is wide-ranging and entails optimizing the regulatory environment, structural reforms to boost education and skills development,” Nzimande said at the launch of the “Public Service Sector Education and Training Authority (PSETA)-Microsoft-Afrika Tikkun Global Skills Initiative.”
“South Africa urgently needs to develop big data, analytics, Internet of Things, cloud computing and machine learning, among other areas,” he noted.
He invited the private sector to reskill workers to prevent job losses and help South Africa become a consumer and producer of knowledge and innovation.
“In response to the coronavirus socio-economic impact, we have developed and (are) consolidating our twin strategies on innovation and skills development … Provision of education to our youth and adults is an important dimension in any economic strategy,” Nzimande said.
Over 20,000 youths will be trained in critical skills under the PSETA-Microsoft-Afrika Tikkun Global Skills Initiative.
