Modernize Africa’s education and training system for digital jobs- Report

African governments have been called upon to make modernization of education and training systems priorities to better prepare its workforce for the influx of new digital jobs for the continent’s young job seekers.

According to the Foresight African report 2017 the Internet of Things (IoT) and Big Data analytics will bring new digital jobs to the continent’s young job seekers hence the need for the continent’s governments to prepare its workforce.

The report says that global dynamics indicate that China is losing its competitiveness in low-end manufacturing of ICT hardware. India is stepping into this one-trillion-dollar industry, but there is an opportunity for African countries to take advantage too, adding, that this will require massive, practical capacity building in Africa’s SMEs through maker spaces or incubation centers.

It also suggests that for SMEs to succeed and exploit emerging opportunities that create jobs for Africa’s youth, governments in 2017 and beyond must adopt supportive policies such as targeted tax incentives and updated laws that realize practical capacity building and flexible regulatory frameworks to enable innovations.

On mobile connectivity, the report noted that Africa is still the world’s most under-penetrated region in terms of mobile connectivity in spite of the fact that it recorded an annual subscriber growth over the same period of more than 13 per cent.

It further adds that improved universal infrastructure that is affordable, a flexible policy and regulatory environment would go a long way in realizing Africa’s digital potential.

With improved access to the internet and a more open policy environment, African enterprises could be better equipped to leapfrog and create innovative solutions, it said.

The report additionally said the adoption of 4G in sub-Saharan Africa is dismal owing to the fact that the relevant spectrum is still tied up in analog broadcast.

Implementation of digital migration in some countries is slow and as a result, many countries in the region have allocated far less spectrum to mobile services than their counterparts in other parts of the world, even though the region is heavily dependent on mobile networks for internet access, it said.

By Pamela Ofori-Boateng

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