Durban - KwaZulu-Natal Premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube unveiled an ambitious and bold plan for the province to emerge stronger and be recognised as an economic and technology powerhouse at the launch of the Mobile Digital Analytics Skills Laboratory at Orient Heights Primary School in Pietermaritzburg on Thursday.
Dube-Ncube said the province had massive potential to grow the digital economy.
“To take advantage of this digital economy, young people must start working on these gadgets you see in this lab today which are linked to robotics, drone technology, mechatronics and other technologies. As we unveil this project, we want to expose our learners from a young age to a world of new horizons of work and careers which include space technology, data analytics and multimedia production.”
Dube-Ncube added that this was one of the ways that KwaZulu-Natal planned to position itself as a technology hub with youth and women at the centre.
“This ambitious project starts in earnest today, with the launch of the first Mobile Digital Analytics Skills Laboratory here at Orient Heights Primary School. The mobile lab is completely off the grid as it is solar-powered and has back-up generators. This will ensure that learning and teaching is not affected when there is a power outage.”
Dube-Ncube said the main objective of the project was to expose school children from an early age as well as youth to the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) technologies so that they can have the skills set and entrepreneurial acumen to be part of the digital economy.
“In a world characterised by technological disruptions, which has resulted in the biggest companies globally coming from the ICT sector, we believe that we have to assist our children from primary school phase so that they are ready for careers of the future. And that future starts today, as we ready our youth and learners to enter what is conservatively estimated as being a multi-trillion rand digital economy globally. This will give us the edge and ensure that we remain globally competitive as KwaZulu-Natal.”
Dube-Ncube added that the digitalisation of education in the province had been at the forefront of their agenda and the use of technology had been further spurred by Covid-19 which forced them to learn and engage virtually through online platforms.
“This is the launch of the Connected Smart Province Project, which marks the beginning of a long-term programme that will be rolled out to the rest of the province as part of the move towards the digitisation of our economy. Over the coming months we will launch similar labs in the rest of the province, district by district.”