Investing in STEM skills alongside technical and vocational education and training (TVET) is key to ensuring that Africa leapfrogs inequality to equip the global workforce of the future, the inaugural Africa Skills Week (ASW) heard today.

At the conference’s official opening in Accra, Ghanaian Minister for Education the Hon. Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum underscored the importance of African countries responding to the rapid changes in the labour market that the Fourth Industrial Revolution is bringing. This is particularly important, he noted, since in decades to come the bulk of the world’s workers will come from Africa, the only continent whose youth population is growing.

ASW is taking place in Accra from 14 to 18 October 2024. Its theme is “Skills and jobs for the 21st century: quality skills development for sustainable employability in Africa”, coinciding with the African Union’s Year of Education in 2024.

The conference is being hosted by the Government of Ghana in partnership with the African Union (AU). It is supported by Germany through the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ); as well as by the International Labour Organization; UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO); World Bank; Ghana’s Commission for TVET (CTVET); and Ghana’s Ministry of Education, and Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration.

Referencing a World Economic Forum report predicting that 23% of global jobs will be disrupted by 2027, with 69-million new roles anticipated to be created and 83-million jobs displaced, Dr Adutwum said it’s imperative to ensure that this net loss of jobs does not come from Africa.

“It’s not too late – we need to do something about the situation … In Ghana we have begun the process of revamping [education and training], and the intersection between TVET and STEM [science, technology, engineering and mathematics] is what is driving the transformation of this sector in Ghana.”

He outlined how Ghana has achieved “gender parity and gender opportunity” in education after making secondary schooling free for all. The country has invested heavily in teacher training and infrastructure, including building STEM schools specifically for girls.

H.E. Prof. Mohammed Belhocine (the AU’s Commissioner for Education, Science, Technology and Innovation) echoed the need for African countries to invest in STEM teaching, digital and entrepreneurial skills, and modern infrastructure to realise the transformative potential of educational and vocational skills training. “We cannot make our generations fit for the 21st century with infrastructure from the 19th century,” he observed.

However, there is a critical funding gap that needs to be filled by the private sector and development partners. UNESCO estimates that African countries need an additional USD77-billion a year to reach their Sustainable Development Goal 4 (education) targets by 2030. “We need to join hands to advocate for additional financing to ensure our education system is uplifted to the level we want to reach in the next few years,’ said Prof. Belhocine.

“Of the 550-million children of school-going age in Africa, 100-million are not attending any educational facility. These youths with so much energy and potential are going to be the workforce for our continent and the world, so investing in the youth of Africa is investing in the workforce of tomorrow globally – not only for Africa,” he said.

Mr Symerre Grey-Johnson (Director: Human Capital and Institutional Development, AUDA-NEPAD) underscored the need for “a skills revolution in Africa”. Key to achieving this, he said, is for AUDA-NEPAD and other development agencies to invest in small, medium and micro-enterprises in the formal and informal economies, and equip them with digital and financial literacy skills to help their businesses thrive.

“We need to reskill and retool that sector of the economy,” he said. “We have to focus on the right occupations, to ensure that supply meets demand.”

Panellists from various AU Member States shared transformative skills development policies that their governments are spearheading. These best practices include creating TVET centres of excellence, offering free tuition at technical schools, converting polytechnics into technical universities, attracting skilled professionals (and not just academics) to teach technical subjects, and conducting labour market surveys to gauge private sector needs. Importantly, they agreed, the stigma attached to TVET education needs to be banished.

During a discussion about partnering to enhance skills development, employment and decent work, Mr Peter Thiele (Director: VET for Germany’s Federal Ministry of Education and Research) outlined the benefits of transnational cooperation on TVET in Europe – suggesting that a similar approach could work among African states.

He said despite European countries' economic differences, the region had devised common TVET standards and transnational centres of excellence that work together across borders. “One could also consider whether it’s possible to even have transcontinental cooperation in that regard, looking at key topics of interest in Africa as well as in other world regions, where we meet on an equal footing and define a common agenda [for TVET],” Mr Thiele noted.