Both Greg Vercelotti, executive director of Dariel Solutions, and Hamilton Ratshefola, CEO of Cornastone, believe the falling numbers of maths and science students needs to be addressed if we are going to overcome the skills crisis.
"The government is not producing enough maths and science students," says Ratshefola, and Vercelotti believes we "lack a culture of learning and discipline. We are not pushing innovation enough," he says.
Ratshefola says the issue is being compounded by companies that expect highly skilled employees without trying to develop any skills. "A lot of South African companies do not do their part," he says. He also believes the issue can be overcome through "a partnership between the government and private sector".
Vercelotti believes the problem will get worse before it gets better. "The stakeholders [government, private sector] are not doing enough to alleviate the short-to-medium-term skills shortage, so we are fuelling a long-term skills shortage."
Both say we need to start from the bottom up and ensure children entering school now are equipped with the skills needed to succeed in the information age, but Vercelotti says he doesn't think there is enough emphasis on developing high-end specialist skills. "There is a lot of focus on basic training, but we've lost our way on high-end skills."
The skills shortage will be discussed in greater detail at the ITWeb/JCSE ICT Skills Survey 2008 Breakfast Seminar, to be held at the Southern Sun in Grayston on 16 September.
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