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Article: Science, tech to expand job opportunities
- Thread starter rpm
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Science and technology is a key enabler in government's efforts in expanding employment opportunities in South Africa, says Minister Naledi Pandor.
"The need to expand decent employment opportunities in a growing economy is a core priority of the current government.
"The need to expand decent employment opportunities in a growing economy is a core priority of the current government.
Kosmik
Honorary Master
They're certainly correct but as of the last stats I heard, the sciences at a tertiary level have some of the lowest number of entrants, never mind passes. There needs to be a greater emphasis on Science/Technology at a school level.
McSack
Executive Member
That's all very well but you need an educated, skilled workforce before you can put people into those positions. Pointless promising to create all these jobs that can't be filled - has the minister not heard about the scarcity of real skills we have in SA?
As long as their message to the youth is: make a few phonecalls, drive an X5... we will never see the seat time required to produce average sci-tech skills, never mind world-class ones. And yes, it actually requires a little investment in our Universities so that people studying genomics for example dont have one PCR machine for every 50 students.
Thats like trying to teach C# socket programming with 50 people sharing one computer.
Thats like trying to teach C# socket programming with 50 people sharing one computer.
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TonyHawk
Expert Member
Talking about setting massive goals ... that the ANC government will have/need a century to deliver 
TonyHawk
Expert Member
Its difficult knocking something thats meant to be for the good... but com'on.. this is the ANC... it's all about stalling tactics
UnUnOctium
Expert Member
Clearly they're not trying hard enough. Lowering matric standards and pressuring universities to 'pass' people is lying to yourself. There's simply no incentives, only 'government' company I know that's trying really hard, believe it or not, is Telkom. The rest is international companies who, if you're specialized enough, send you to HQ in EU/USA. Corruption is the cause of most of the problems. So let him talk just because he had to make a speech and go tenderpreneur some more.
They’re only ‘trying really hard’ because the competition is getting really fierce. As soon as more broadband cables land, they will try even harder. They wouldn’t try at all if they still had total control. They’re dweebs who don’t deserve any pity.
UnUnOctium
Expert Member
Actually, I'm doing postgrad in one of the CoE's they sponsor (they put down a lot for those) and they need all sorts of engineering talent from networking to physical layer (think telkom mobile). They have a bursary scheme which I have found beats the rest I've seen hands down. Also, the government does directly pay for science and tech talent. The National Research Foundation (NRF) gives out scholarships to postgraduates in select fields (engineering being one of them) where they literally give you money every month as long as you continue studying. They don't require anything in return, only that you finish in the minimum amount of time for your degree. It's not anything lavish but it's literally, money for nothing.
A lot of the talent does get poached out of this country though. The real problem arises before this, primary and secondary education standards are weak. And with the (ongoing?) strikes, you can see for yourself. Primary and secondary pupils don't bring in money for BEEllionaires, grads do.
Nothing you’ve said contradicts my contention. So they’re running around offering bursaries and jobs to suitably qualified people. Slamming the stable door after the horse has bolted? They destroyed the tech. infrastructure in the 1st place, and we should sympathise with them now they regret it? Boo hoo!
It doesn’t get ‘poached’. It leaves of its own accord for crime free, non-discriminatory environments with jobs and a modicum of future vision.
UnUnOctium
Expert Member
Well, I know a few people who have worked for Telkom R&D (decades ago) and they say it's as active as ever. I sure as hell am not defending them but it's evident that one section of them at least works.
Think of poached meaning you work for Telkom, let's say the big green and blue gives you R45k a month, then comes along.. say... Alcatel-Lucent and says "come work in London and we'll give you 9k Euro a month", you decide "TWICE THE PAY, I'M GOING!". You get to London, find out what a dump it is and see that you actually throw most of your wage on the necessary things. But the reality is, you'll get the standard 'inflation combatting' raise every year and you'll stay in the same position for years since, believe it or not, you were 1 in 10 million in SA, now you're 1 in 10 000 in London (even worse in the USA, why labour is dirt-cheap there). What you can afford and the opportunities you have here are very difficult to beat. No doubt life's better there crime wise etc. but it's never as easy as that.
Being an immigrant myself, Europe is home for me, but that's exactly why we left for SA, lack of opportunities there (well, I was a small kid at the time). I may return back home, but it's going to be a difficult decision in that at least the place I'm at right now has a local government which knows how to get things done (I'm pretty sure you've guessed by now.). If you have what is deemed 'scarce skills' by many governments, life will be good no matter where you go, it's just that some places you can do way more with what you get than others.
The ones that aren't poached are the ones that say, "Right, I'm going" without even securing a job, and that's even worse.
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This is key. You regard Europe as your home and ‘If you have what is deemed scarce skills by many governments, life will be good no matter where you go...’. You do not have a stake in the country. Many do not have the “Bugger you Jack, I’m alright” stance and may see the single, unemployed, HIV+ mother of 5 as a problem. She knows she is going to die (no health service) and will leave a legacy of 5 feral, uneducated children to ‘enhance’ the NSA. There is more to a liveable country than European exploitation and the current crises can be laid directly at the door of selfish entities like the ANC and Telkom.
UnUnOctium
Expert Member
I don't know how you managed to twist it into that but well done. Went from job opportunities to poverty and social problems. Believe it or not, I do have a stake here since I happen to have a dual citizenship and actually find this to be a land of opportunity. As I said earlier, it all starts with corruption (greed). Once you have businesses up and thriving (thanks to educated people) you get a huge increase in income and in an ideal world, a large amount of that money would go into bettering the conditions of impoverished people. Hence perpetuation.
Pray tell what I have ‘twisted’?
I also had the option of non-SA citizenship. I was sucked into the ‘rainbow nation’ delusion and opted to remain South African (stupid, stupid, stupid). After being embarrassed and humiliated by the ‘rainbow’ crap I am trying to conduct myself as a SAn. I am reminded of the first couple of lines from a poem by Dylan Thomas (it’s about death and dying). It’s quite an accurate analogy for SA.
“Go not gently into that dark night,
Rage! Rage! Against the dying of the light…”
Dark night = savagery, “Heart of Darkness” (a Conrad novel), etc.
Light = standards, competence, etc.
My feeble glow will not stand against the engulfing darkness, but you gotta ‘go down fighting’ against the Sith Lord apprentices of Zuma and Malema (who command the forces of darkness).
Rumour has it that Zuma and Malema have become role models for the other Sith Lord apprentices in the malevolence component of the Sith Lord curriculum. It is just in the competence component that they suck so badly.
Report card:
Malevolence = 100%
Competence = 0%