Does Africa need PhDs
[Applause]
my life was derailed
when strikes caused teachers to abandon
their posts during my metric year
bear in mind that my mother sold
chickens
in order to provide for her only two
children
she never considered herself worth off
than others
but in all honesty my family was poor
i actually had to learn at a very young
age that education
was my only ticket to a better future
and i wasn’t going to give it up without
a fight
left without a choice my peers and i
taught ourselves the vital final year’s
work
in the bittersweet end to an unjustly
timeless year
a past mometrix but without the marks
necessary to begin a university degree
that was the most painful year of my
life
but i remained determined to find an
alternate
avenue to teacher education
i applied for science foundation program
at a south african university
passed their interest test
and secured sponsorship in the process
over a decade later i found myself
studying towards a phd in engineering
under space geodesy
i was actually part of the very first
african team
to develop a system that was set to
measure
the growing distance between earth and
moon
by using lasers
as a man was once confined to the
perimeter of a chicken coop
now handle tools that allow my eyes to
glide over the galaxies
today i can proudly say that
i am actually one of thousands
of phd graduates that south africa set
to produce
per year in
in 2009 our national government
has set to produce 12 000 phd graduates
per year south africa is currently
the only african country among
the world countries that produce the
most phds
per year
in 2014 a report was
was released by the oecd
and south africa was placed on the 15th
number 15 on the list of countries
that produced the most phds in the world
in 2017 the number grew to about three
thousand phds
and we can all say or proudly say that
there was a huge achievement
but in reality why do we set targets
that we cannot meet
and that leaves us to ask many questions
our young stars prepared from their
primary
secondary and tertiary schooling to
become phds
will those youngsters be towards that
it is not really their education your a4
certificates and posing with
in your graduation gown hashtag
graduation things
there is their key to education
or success but rather
it is their acquired knowledge through
education
and obtaining the right set of skills
that promises them
a better future
are we teaching or encouraging our
youngsters
to use education as a leader
that will make them become
successful business people successful
academics people who create jobs
do we even have money as the country to
support this initiative
should we reach the target
then what what’s next
will that really eliminate poverty
reduce inequality and provide the
foundations
of an equal society as illustrated by
our national development plan
it leaves all of us wondering
it leaves all of us with many questions
but with these few questions
that are just posed i believe that
working together we can be able
to come up with something that will help
south africa
to one expand the learning environments
so that more postgraduate students
are able to do up to a phd
two we need to produce
many postgraduate students or students
young students to become
phd and phd supervisors
we need to invest
on local leading research and
development
so that we can promote local production
of new knowledge
ideas information technology and invoice
and innovation
last but not least and this is the one
that i consider the most important one
to inspire our young people
so that they can fully fully understand
their full potential at a very young age
in that way they can be able to achieve
as many things as they want
with my selection to participate in a
meeting
in germany
that opened many doors for me and it was
actually through that meeting
that i was able to put together
a team of young vibrant and talented
african phd graduates
and were able to start a company
we’re actually able to convert an idea
and in less than 12 months we were a
running company
a company there is now created jobs a
company that is now
supporting students postgraduate
students
because we want to create an environment
where whoever is leading
is able to create an environment for
whoever is following
my success and that’s
of my company in dabuko
i take it as an indication of a need
for africa to invest more into
education
and create africa
that’s gonna become oh that’s gonna
create centers of knowledge
does africa really need phds
it definitely is
africa from my view
needs to have as many
postgraduate students as possible
reason being this is where we’re going
to be able to
generate new knowledge create jobs
and be able to support our families
loved ones
and children
and in the process we all become
better people and continue
to contribute to the current efforts
of making the world a better place
to live in i thank you
you