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The Western Cape Education Department has established coding and robotics clubs at almost a third of the Western Cape’s schools, thus fulfilling a pledge to do so by 2024. These clubs will form a vital part of the WCED’s plan to equip learners with the necessary skills to drive our provincial economy forward into the future.

According to the Department’s recently-tabled Annual Report, the Department has extended its coding and robotics pilot programmes from 2022 to 2023, and has embarked on a range of measures to better support our learners as they gain the skills of the digital economy. The Department’s STEAMAC (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics, Agriculture and Coding) classes have been specially formulated to get learners equipped with the most desirable skills for the provincial economy, and digital skills form a vital part of this.

The WCED is in the process of conducting teacher development training so that more educators are able to teach these subjects. Additionally, the Department has placed an emphasis on integrating coding and robotics into current teaching strategies for Mathematics, Life Sciences, and Languages. This forward-thinking approach is a reflection of the fact that digital technologies are becoming ever-more intertwined with our daily lives, and the necessity of digital skills for the economy in years to come.

Already, the 4th Industrial Revolution is playing a significant role in transforming the economy and society in general. The Western Cape Government’s Growth for Jobs strategy seeks to leverage this by transforming the Western Cape into a new hub of investment for Africa’s digital economy. For that vision to be realised, it is vital that the Western Cape moves to create tomorrow’s skilled workforce today.

DA Western Cape Spokesperson on Education Deidré Baartman says: “It is immensely gratifying to see our government departments not only working on day-to-day service delivery, but also planning for the future. We live in an era of rapid technological progress, and this makes it difficult to imagine the world in which our children will live and work. But by equipping them with the skills to master these new technologies that they will take for granted, the Western Cape Education Department is ensuring the prosperity of the next generation well into the future.”

Issued by Deidré Baartman, MPP - DA Western Cape Spokesperson on Education