The 2018 IMD World Digital Competitiveness Ranking positioned SA 49th out of 63 economies (a drop from 47th place in 2017). Breaking this down further, we dropped from 37th to 54th place for training and education. And we rank 60th for higher education achievements, which IMD highlights as an overall top weakness. With the New Year comes the opportunity to create an educational ‘wishlist’ of sorts. The transformations and trends we’d like to see in 2019. For me, a focus on digital literacy and improving values and connectedness to a challenging new world are imperative if we’re to improve our competitiveness ranking and ready all our children to globally compete in roles that currently don’t exist.
At the Maths Centre – supported by Sanlam Blue Ladder Schools – 4IR is woven into all our programmes and resources for teachers, learners and parents and it's a pivotal part of our approach to STREAM (Science, Technology, Reading, Engineering, Arts and Math) subjects.