Changes are on the way for science, engineering, and technology subjects in South African schools

Blade Nzimande, Minister of Higher Education and Training, says South Africa’s universities and Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutes are prepared for the influx of new students in 2023.

Universities are constantly enrolling new students, with the total number of enrolments in the public university sector expected to exceed 1.1 million for the 2023 academic year.

Notably, Nzimande praised the amount of people who had enrolled in critical skill certifications this year.

Nationally, 208,299 first-time entering enrolments are expected in the 2023 academic year. 69,000 of these enrolments are expected to be in scarce skill areas, as follows:

• Engineering: 17,085
• Life and Physical Science: 17,584
• Animal Sciences: 985
• Veterinary Sciences: 209
• Human Health: 10,418
• Teacher Education: 22,788

Nzimande praised the class of 2022 for their success, noting that a significant number of the slots in scarce skill areas demand a National Senior Certificate (NSC) Mathematics result of at least 60%.

The national maths test has been a source of contention in the education sector. Nzimande stated that his department, together with the Department of Science and Innovation, has formed relationships with Provincial Departments of Education to assist topics in the mathematics, science, and technology education (MSTE) sector in order to increase enrolment.

This is consistent with goals given forth by the Government of Basic Education in 2022, when the department established efforts to boost MST participation and performance.

According to the 2021 matric results, just 13.3% of matriculants passed mathematics with the required 60% to enter several of these sectors. Similar trends were observed in scientific, engineering, and technology-related topics.

According to the report, the sectors are plagued by poor participation from both students and instructors, as well as low-quality passes and underperformance in math and scientific topics at all levels.

To fix the problem, the department plans to deploy “high impact interventions,” the least of which is to push and enhance 4IR-focused disciplines like robotics and coding into the curriculum.

This also contributes to new STEM-related areas being investigated and brought into the curriculum.

Ocean and Marine Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Coding and Robotics, Biomedical Engineering, Earth and Space Sciences, Earth and Human Sciences, and Entrepreneurship are just a few examples.

The agency stated that it would continue to assess the quality of MST topics in the country using the National Senior Certificate, Annual National Assessments (grades 3, 6, and 9 for MST Subjects), and International Assessments and Monitoring Tools such as TIMSS and SACMEQ.

New support programmes and training manuals are being produced for teachers in order to better prepare them to take responsibility and confidently teach MST subjects.

To boost MST training and education, coordination and collaboration programmes with China and Kenya are also on the schedule for early 2023.