MEC for Education, Mr Sipho Hlomuka;
Board Members;
District leadership of DBE;
The Principal;
Government officials;
Business leaders and Partners;
Representatives of Academic and Research institutions;
The Teachers and Learners;
Exhibitors;
Distinguished guests;
Ladies and gentlemen:
Thank you for the honour of inviting me to take part in this important occasion. I commend you for your decision to name this school after someone as great as Anton Lembede.
In 1947, Anton Lembede said the following: “Why can't we establish a society for the advancement of science amon[g]st Africans, to propagate simply scientific knowledge preferably in vernacular, amongst the African masses? Where are our B.Sc's? Where are our laymen interested in science and the problems of science?”
This is just visionary. There is therefore a sense in which the establishment of this school is a fulfillment of Lembede’s vision.
The milestones achieved by the Anton Lembede Mathematics, Sciences & Technology Academy
2025 is an important year for the Anton Lembede Mathematics, Sciences & Technology Academy as it marks the year in which the first cohort of your learners will be reaching matric.
I have also been most impressed by the many national and international honours that the school has secured in the Olympiads. For a school that only opened its doors in 2021, in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, your record is truly impressive.
I would also like to commend the Principal, Teachers, the leadership of the school and of course the parents, for their role in all that this school has achieved.
I wish to encourage you to sustain this culture of excellence and position yourself as a pioneering institution that plays a leading role in shaping the future of education and skills in our country.
Education as a critical enabler for national development
I have been asked to speak under the theme "Future Careers in Science, Technology and Innovation in South Africa.”. Inspired by this theme, I wish to reflect on a few key issues.
The first is the issue of education as a critical enabler for national development. The histories of many countries have shown that there is a direct relationship between the quality of education and the levels of development of a people.
Related to this, there is growing evidence that no country can hope to achieve its development goals if it fails to invest in the development of its scientific capabilities.
As Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, I am proud to state that South Africa has one of the most advanced and largest public science systems in Africa.
Over the past three decades, as government, we have made significant and deliberate investments which greatly enhanced our capabilities in science, technology and innovation and the standing of our scientists, globally.
These investments have specifically enhanced South Africa’s scientific capabilities in such key areas as space science, health innovation, energy, agriculture, mining, indigenous knowledge systems and emerging areas such as the digital and circular economies.
Our country’s public science system also boasts some of our continent’s premier public research institutions such as the CSIR, the NRF and the HSRC, all of which have a solid track record of producing transformative research and technologies that are making a significant contribution towards improving the quality of life of the citizens of our country.
We also expanded our public science system by creating new specialist entities such as the Technology Innovation Agency (TIA), the South African National Space Agency (SANSA) and the National Intellectual Property Office.
As a result of these investments and other events, our country was also able to secure the right to cohost big international science projects like the Square Kilometre Array (SKA).
You may also recall that, at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, it was African scientists, here in South Africa, who first identified and sequenced the genome of a new and virulent SARS-CoV-2 variant, later named 501Y.V2.
The relationship between education and future skills
The second issue I wish to reflect on is that of the relation between education and future skills. The world is a dynamic place, and we live in an era that is increasingly being defined by new and exciting technologies, which are transforming our very understanding of the world.
As you might be aware, some of these transformative technologies include Artificial Intelligence (AI), Quantum Computing, Internet of Things (IoT), Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR), Cloud and Edge Computing, Robotic Process Automation, biotechnology and nanotechnology, to mention but a few.
In order to prepare our young people for a future that will be defined by these technologies and other social trends, we must ensure that our education system is dynamic and responsive to our national needs.
This means, among others, we need to constantly enhance the capacity of our education system to respond innovatively to emerging social and economic trends.
Therefore, one of the things we need to give urgent attention to is the issue of relevant and critical skills in our country. Some of the skills that are in demand in our country include the following:
- Information Technology (IT): These are specific careers such as Software developers, cybersecurity experts, and data scientists. We are experiencing a shortage, which is reflective of the growing importance of technology in various sectors.
- Engineering: The specific skills in demand are civil, mechanical, and electrical engineers. This is mainly due to infrastructure development and technological advancements.
- Healthcare: This is mainly nurses, doctors, and other healthcare professionals who are highly sought after, especially given our country's healthcare challenges.
- Finance: This includes financial analysts, chartered accountants, and actuaries.
- Education: We need teachers, particularly in STEM fields.
- Energy: We need renewable energy experts, including solar technicians and wind energy specialists, are gaining importance as South Africa transitions to sustainable energy.
- Construction: We need electricians, plumbers, and other construction workers to support infrastructure projects.
- Logistics and supply chain: We need supply chain managers and logistics professionals who are crucial for efficient operations in various industries.
- Agriculture: We need agricultural engineers and scientists to support the agricultural sector.
DSTI’s interventions to develop future skills
The third and last point I wish to talk about is the role of our Department in developing future science skills. In partnership with the Department of Basic Education, our department is implementing a number of STEM education initiatives in our schools.
These initiatives form part of our Department’s Science Engagement Strategy; part of whose objectives include encouraging our learners to take up STEM subjects.
Our Department’s interventions are particularly aimed at learners in the township and rural areas. Some of our initiatives in this regard include the following-
- Science centre partnerships- As part of exposing learners to scientific methodologies, in Cofimvaba, in the Eastern Cape, we have a partnership science centre project involving Intsika Yethu Local Municipality, the DBE, and the Eastern Cape Department of Education.
- We selected learners from two local schools (St. James and Cofimvaba), and they are collaborating with scientists in a research project to assess the performance of innovative building and other technologies used at the science centre.
- You would be pleased to learn that the learners are responsible for data collection, and lately they volunteered to escalate their role in data analyses.
- Even more exciting, a conference paper has since been produced and presented to an international conference on acoustics with full acknowledgment of the role played by these learners.
- Our National Science Week, which attracts over 4000 learners each year and engages them in a weeklong programme of exciting activities which are meant to spark their curiosity and encourage them to take up careers in science.
- We are currently looking at extending our National Science Week to become National Science Month.
- Our Stem Olympiads- This creates a platform for learners to informally experiment with scientific theories and is important for the development of such skills as problem-solving, critical and computational thinking, communication, and creativity.
- Our SET Carees Material- We produce and distribute a well-researched STEM career publication that explains STEM careers and associated paths. It can be downloaded from our website for free and can also be delivered to schools, upon request; and
- As part of contributing to 4IR literacy in schools, our Centre for High Performance Computing in Cape Town trained close to 200 educators from all nine provinces as trainers in the basics of coding.
In conclusion, as stated, our expectation is for the Anton Lembede Mathematics Science and Technology Academy to sustain its culture of excellence.
Most importantly, my message to the learners here today is that never allow anybody to tell you that your dreams are unrealistic or impossible to achieve. Go out there and make your mark in the world.
