Experts, policy makers, educators and representatives of international organizations are meeting in Kigali for the 5th Partnership for skills in Applied Sciences, Engineering and Technology (PASET) Forum to discuss and contemplate how to skill up African youth for the coming digital age. 

Themed "Destination Digital Africa: Preparing our Youth for the Future,” the 5th PASET is co-hosted by the Government of Rwanda and the World Bank. It brings together PASET members from Sub-saharan Africa, together with  international partners, to discuss how to transform delivery of higher education and TVET with technologies and how to develop relevant digital skills.

In his opening address, Prime Minister Dr Edouard Ngirente reiterated that Africa will be able to benefit from the Fourth Industrial Revolution only through the digital literacy and advanced skills acquired in Higher Education and TVET; with the ultimate goal of building all required skills to produce relevant technologies for Africa’s innovators, entrepreneurs and future leaders.

“A highly educated labour force is the significant catalyst for transforming Africa’s economies and allowing them to benefit from a demographic dividend. Large and continuous investment in education and skills development is required for the labour force. This will move up the value chain into more job creating manufacturing and service sectors while increasing these sectors productivity levels. Today, many African countries including Rwanda have been fully committed to their membership to PASET. This is one of their key strategies to achieve the goal of quality relevant skills in higher education and research” PM Ngirente said.

Rwanda, as a country that seeks to establish itself as a globally competitive knowledge-based economy, as outlined in the National Strategy for Transformation, 2017-24, would like to use this opportunity to reiterate its commitment to support all initiatives of PASET, the Premier added. 

By 2050, more than half of the world’s young people under the age of 24 will be living and going to school in sub-Saharan Africa, according to the 2017 UN population report. It is also the only population where the number of people under the age of 24 is increasing, not decreasing. The two-day PASET Forum in Kigali, Rwanda, is a chance for leaders in sub-Saharan Africa to figure out how to make that moonshot a reality.

Since it was founded in 2013, PASET has brought together leaders from around the globe to tap into innovative ideas, build programs, and push for funding and collaboration to make educating the world’s largest youth population a global priority.  

One of the PASET initiatives is the Regional Scholarship and Innovation Fund (RSIF). Under the initiative, a critical mass of highly skilled scientists, professionals and innovators will receive training. This will be done through capacity building for research, innovation support and scholarships for at least 10,000 PhD training, doubling the number of PhDs in Sub-Saharan Africa in the next decade.

Source: gov.rw