18 Sep 2022

As a result of quantum leaps in technology, Botswana has to rethink the way to educate learners in disciplines of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) and also invest in the programme at grassroots level.

Speaking during the second Annual All Africa STEM two-day conference held in Gaborone recently, UNESCO Science programme specialist, Ms Gloria Baitshepi said robust STEM education therefore remained imperative in contributing to Botswana’s agenda of moving from mineral-based to knowledge-based economy.

Ms Baitshepi also said educating learners in STEM disciplines aimed to develop and provide innovative solutions to global issues, especially those directly related to the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

She said the four fields shared an emphasis on innovation, problem-solving and critical thinking, which she indicated that together created a popular, fast-growing and modernised industry.

“It is through these fields that students learn to programme, make codes and understand technological devices. Learners are also prepared to fit well in the modern digital world,” she said.

She further said STEM was important as it cultivated employment in STEM occupations which included healthcare, engineering, adding all careers required strong STEM background.

She added that STEM education created critical thinkers, growth in research for economy growth and diversity, increased science literacy and enabled the next generation of innovators.

“Innovation leads to new products and processes that sustain our economy. Innovation and science literacy are dependent on a solid knowledge base in the STEM areas. 

Learners will understand that the knowledge they have gained in the classroom through STEM education helps in solving daily life problems, and at the same time, they contribute to the solution of sustainable development goals by discovering new technology and career opportunities,” Ms Baitshepi said.

For his part, the Zambian National STEM Foundation founder and executive director, Mr Michelo Moonga said if most African countries were to attain the next level of development, it was imperative that they stopped discussing STEM as just skill sets that enabled individuals to be employed and have careers.

Mr Moonga said there was need to start discussing STEM as an important driver in the national developmental agendas, adding “seeing as all STEM oriented economies perform much better on a number of economic indicators.”

He said though Africa had been tipped to be the next significant emerging market, however, if Africa was ever going to attain global economic competitiveness, it needed a workforce skilled in STEM to support its development beyond reliance on natural resources, low-level processing and expatriates.

Meanwhile, New Era College representative, Mr Onkarabile Motlogelwa urged government to infuse STEM at basic level education in order for the country to produce its own STEM.

Mr Motlogelwa said STEM should be embedded at basic education level so that children could have a platform to discover and identify themselves at a younger age.

He said at New Era College, they were working on a programme, making tinkering labs and STEM clubs at both government and private primary schools around the country.

“The idea is to augment school syllabus and for that reason learners will be able to understand projects under STEM at a younger age,” he added.

New Era College showcased their engineering products in a bid to infuse STEM at primary level.

An engineer graduate, Mr Jeffrey Moseki said they taught children in primary school clubs about the principle basics of electronics, programming robotics, so that pupils appreciated the concepts and skills vital for the fourth industrial revolution (4IR) workforce.

“Practical experience is much better than theory therefore there is need to infuse STEM within the curriculum,” he said.

He further said they had developed systems that could be used by children from five years old to learn about the fundamentals and basic components about electricity.

“For the children to touch and actually have practical work on those boards would be adventurous and educative for young learners,” he added.

Meanwhile, the conference spearheaded by the Zambian National STEM Foundation, held under a theme: Building Knowledge Based Economies for Africa, STEM as an enabler, aimed at providing presentations and interactive panel discussions, ideas, knowledge and intelligence.

The conference also aimed to forge new partnerships in establishing and managing strategies for the upliftment and advancement of STEM in Africa.

Zambian deputy high commissioner, Mr Goodwell Lungu, ILO, UNSESCO, New Era College as well as Liquid Intelligent Kenya representatives attended the conference. Ends