By Dr Blade Nzimande
As the Department of Science, Technology and Innovation (DSTI), we strongly believe that no nation can hope to achieve its development goals if it fails to invest in the development of its scientific capabilities.
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, we have made significant investments which greatly enhanced our capabilities in science and the prestige of our scientists.
For instance, we have expanded our system by creating new specialist entities such as the Technology Innovation Agency, the South African National Space Agency and the National Intellectual Property Office.
More recently, we made strategic policy shifts with the aim of making our public system science more responsive to our national priorities. In this respect, we adopted our White Paper on Science, Technology and Innovation in 2019.
To drive targeted research and the development of technologies in key economic sectors such as energy, agriculture, mining, health and the circular and digital economies – with a strong focus on emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence – we adopted a Decadal Plan for Science, Technology and Innovation for the period of 2022-2032.
As an outcome of our investments, our share of global research output (0,98%) has increased and is making a difference in areas such as health innovation (HIV/Aids) and the development of rural livelihoods.
Our investments have made it possible for us to win the bid to cohost big international science projects such as the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), which once completed, will be the single biggest science infrastructure.
The DSTI has adopted a number of key priorities for the next five years that are in line with our new mantra of placing science, technology and innovation at the centre of government, education, industry and society.
They include increasing our focus on helping our country to develop credible pandemic preparedness capacity, more specifically local vaccine manufacturing capacity.
We will also continue to support the development of scarce and critical skills, through among others, the Presidential PhD Programme.
Education and science are both instruments for unlocking human potential and, therefore, education and science are both complementary and mutually reinforcing.
For instance, as part of our work to build a strong research workforce for our country, we are running a comprehensive postgraduate programme to equip students with the necessary research skills.
But this programme cannot succeed unless the basic education system provides a reliable supply of school leavers with quality passes to pursue STEM disciplines at universities.
Just as importantly, the basic education system must supply school leavers who qualify for engineering studies at TVET colleges. They are needed to build and maintain the equipment used to conduct research.
Furthermore, for the basic education system to operate optimally, policies and practices must be evidence-based.
Available data, which we constantly compile, analyse and interpret, and continuous new research inform the evidence used to inform policy decisions and practices.
The departments of Basic Education and Science, Technology and Innovation have a long-standing partnership that covers a variety of areas.
Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube and I agree that the work of our two departments is intricately linked, and our mandates are interdependent.
This is why we recently had a bilateral meeting where we agreed to strengthen and diversify the partnership between our two departments.
DSTI Programmes
The DSTI has implemented a number of programmes aimed at enabling the mandate of the Basic Education Department.
Some of these programmes include National Science Week, STEM Olympiads, STEM career material and a focus on 4IR literacy.
The National Science Week is an outreach programme that attracts over 4000 learners each year and engages them in a week-long programme of exciting activities which are meant to spark their curiosity and encourage them to take up careers in science. The DSTI is currently looking at extending National Science Week to become National Science Month.
STEM Olympiads provide a platform for learners to informally experiment with scientific theories. They are important for the development of skills such as problem solving, critical and computational thinking, communication and creativity.
The DSTI also produces and distributes a well-researched STEM career publication that explains STEM careers and associated paths, which is available on our website and can be delivered to schools upon request.
The DSTI Centre for High Performance Computing in Cape Town has trained close to 200 educators from all nine provinces as trainers on the basics of coding.
Science is an enabler for national development, and we will continue to help build and support an education system that is fit for the future.
Dr Blade Nzimande is the Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation.
INSIDE EDUCATION
