Essential skills needed in education sector targeting youth

Last year I delivered a speech on the invitation of former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga and Dr. Tara De Mel at a Policy Dialogue organized by the Bandaranaike Academy of Leadership and Public Policy (BALPP) where I spoke on the Skills needed for the Future in Education. In the speech I pointed out the importance of skills for the future and where Sri Lanka’s education system is currently and what must be done in the education sector to ensure future generations have the skills needed for the future. I am sharing a few points from my speech here. 

Importance of Skills of the Future - In a paper I wrote for the International Monetary Fund in 2022, which was voted one of the most read IMF articles of the year, I argued how innovation and economic growth are directly related. Innovation is especially essential as Sri Lanka needs to grow its economy to come out of the crisis. Education should be the first and most important step. Not just education for the sake of education, but education that will give the younger generations the needed skills of the future. 

According to a study, in Sri Lanka, 74 percent of 15-19 year olds were engaged in education but when it comes to the age category of 20-24 year olds, only 42 percent are employed. A key reason cited is that the education system in Sri Lanka is not catering to the skills needed by the employers. According to Mckinsey, 800 million jobs are going to be lost by 2030 due to automation. So, people are not just competing with other people for jobs but also with AI. 
Also, the average corporate lifespan of S&P 500 companies have also come down drastically due to disruptive innovation so unlike a decade ago, many employees are not guaranteed a job at the same company for the rest of their lives. A focus to face the challenges of the future job market has to be on STEM education. 

Where is Sri Lanka now?

Sri Lanka is very weak when it comes to STEM education. As of 2021, only 34 percent of schools offering A-Levels in Sri Lanka have science and mathematics streams. A more worrying fact is that in 2020, out of the students who were eligible for university entrance based on their A-Level results, only 23 percent were able to find a place in a state university. Scarcity of available placements means 130,000-150,000 qualified students cannot pursue a higher education every year. 

Where is Sri Lanka compared to the rest of the world?

According to a study, Sri Lanka is second highest when it comes to students enrolled in Arts and Humanities compared to 97 other countries. But for STEM education, compared to the same 97 other countries, Sri Lanka is ranked 59th. This shows that even when only 1 in 10 school leavers have a spot in a state university, a much smaller portion of them are in the STEM field. Sri Lankan state universities produce around 5,000 STEM graduates a year while India produces 2.6 million STEM graduates a year. When seen per million people, India produces 8 times more STEM graduates than Sri Lanka. 

What should be done?

Move away from Rote Based Learning - Rote based learning is memorizing whatever is taught in school and repeating it. We are moving into a future where it is not needed to memorize and have a lot of data as knowledge as a Google search or ChatGPT can give facts and figures. What is needed is the ability to be creative and solve complex problems. This AI cannot and humans can. So humans need to improve these skills. 

University -corporate-government partnership - Switzerland is consistently ranked the most innovative country in the world according to WIPO. A reason is because in Switzerland, corporates and universities collaborate on research and development. This means universities are given the task of R&D by corporations. So as a university does R&D for more and more companies, its knowledge and expertise also increases. This also results in students knowing about the requirements in future jobs sooner and adapting to them.

Integrating 21st century skills - In a world of increasing automation, softs skills are also essential. 21st century skills such as communications, critical thinking, collaboration and creativity are essential. These skills need to be integrated into education systems.

(Talal Rafi is an Economist. He is a Consultant on Economic Policy at the Asian Development Bank. He is an Expert Member of the World Economic Forum and a Regular Columnist for the International Monetary Fund on public finance management. He serves on the Enterprise Operations Committee at Moratuwa University. He was a member of the Deloitte Global Economist Network.  Views expressed are strictly the author’s own personal opinions)