Letsholathebe reveals needed skills
With the surge in unemployment rates of graduates year after year, the Minister of Education and Skills Development, Dr Douglas Letsholathebe has revealed the critical skills and industries that prospective students should tap into when pursuing their higher education qualifications in order to be job market relevant.
Letsholathebe told Parliament this week that Botswana is equally affected by the world labour market trends in modern times as technological evolution continues to change from time to time, hence the need for the necessary skills.
Giving the forecast skills critical to the growth of the economy across various sectors, the minister stated that the skills that they deem to be in need are in alignment with the Human Resource Development Council’s (HRDC) input.
“For the next five years therefore, 2024-2028 the following skills which are high in demand in different sectors forecast include; veterinarians, manufacturing, mining, and distribution managers, architects, planners, surveyors and designers, nursing and midwifery professionals, legal professionals, medical doctors, process control technicians, travel attendants, conductors, and guides, primary school and early childhood teachers, blacksmiths, tool makers and related trade workers, hotel and restaurant managers, textile, fur and leather products machine operators, physical and earth science professionals, aircraft controllers and technicians, retail and wholesale trade managers, database and network professionals, university lecturers and higher education teachers, telecommunications and broadcasting technicians, veterinary technicians and assistants and metal processing and finishing plant operators,” he revealed.
Additionally, the minister said in order to improve service delivery and productivity levels across different sectors, which is what people continue to complain about, the country needs to go the digital way. “The country needs the following future skills and future jobs more especially the digital skills in order to improve efficiency. These are skills in; robotics and automation, machine learning, artificial intelligence, fin-tech specialists, data engineering, mobile technologies, cloud computing, content creation, social media management and ethical hacking,” Letsholathebe added.
The minister further stated that apart from the digital skills that he stated above, there is also a need for skills that are vital for the development of key value chains like agro-processing and mineral beneficiation. The skills include; agro-processing specialists, food scientists, food technologists, specialists in veterinary medicine, diamond manufacturing value chain specialists, gemology and creative design specialists, diamond graders, and diamond sales and marketing specialists.
Meanwhile, the minister further revealed that the newly approved Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions (MICE) strategy is also in need of skills. “In order to fully implement the MICE strategy, the tourism and hospitality will need some critical skills which include; MICE specialists, digital sales and marketing experts, events manager, group reservations manager, brand specialists, digital tourism marketing as well as chefs and culinary expertise,” he said.
In addition, the minister identified the ‘Just Transition’ as one of the projects that are also short of people with skills in specialised areas. “As part of supporting the Just Transition, the country needs to fast track the development of green skills that will enable a smooth transition to low carbon and environmentally sustainable economy,” he expressed. Some of the skills he pointed out are; renewable energy specialists, PV solar installers, climate data analysts, environmental and sustainability managers and smart waste management solutions.
Advising the students, he implored them to further their studies following the completion of their bachelor’s degrees. “Given the challenges of jobs in the market, students would be best advised to pursue postgraduate training especially professional courses to strengthen their employability opportunities. With Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) skills, students would be encouraged to explore concurrent training in artisan and entrepreneurial skills to diversify their skill sets.” Letsholathebe said. The Minister was answering a question from the Specially Elected Member of Parliament, Dr Unity Dow who had asked among others what skills are projected to be critical and important to the economy for the next 10 years and further. She had also asked what advice the minister would give to students enrolling for tertiary education and which industries are projected to be top income.