There are several things happening now in the world that can and will change the nature of education in the very near future. The digitisation of the world is one example. In nearly every country in the world computers and smart devices have long become the tools of today. According to a study done in 2017 in North America, persons aged 16 to 74 years old use one or more of these devices every day, contrary to previously held opinions that they were basically used by the young. In fact, more and more older people are learning, trying to learn or have conquered the use of these tools as they allow them the immediacy of contacting loved ones, getting around (in terms of transport services like Uber and Lyft as well as booking flights and cruises) or accessing help (using medical alert bracelets or pendants).
Globally, education has not yet fully conquered digitisation, it is still playing catch up. The coming into being of Apple, for example, currently the largest tech company in the world, is a prime example of this. The founders, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, were college dropouts, who built the first Apple computer in Mr Jobs’s garage. The rest, as they say, is history, in this case to the tune of some US$995 billion. Fast forward to today where many of the persons who unlawfully use computers to gain unauthorised access to data, which they then use for illegal purposes, are self taught and operating underground and the bigger picture is that much more visible.
Admirable moves are being made to change this as it has been recognised that education should not be responding to technology, it should be the other way around. However, the numbers of students opting to take STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) subjects is still beggarly in spite of initiatives designed to encourage especially girls to become involved. In many places, too, there is a deficit of teachers who are properly equipped to deliver these subjects to young minds.
Another issue of global significance is climate change. Over the past decade or more, climate change has brought more and more frequent extreme weather events: hurricanes, floods, tsunamis, tornados, droughts and wildfires that have taken hundreds of thousands of lives. These weather phenomena have also changed the landscape in many instances, as along with disrupting lives they have laid waste to previously very arable land. This coupled with population growth has made food insecurity a real threat, which calls for a balance in the way the world produces and consumes food.
While education on mitigating climate change and all it brings with it has seen great strides, much more remains to be done. Sustainable living can be taught but to really work it needs to be addressed holistically. In some instances, this means that the old ways, for example where people practised zero waste, must be the new modern.
Migration is another event that is having and will continue to have a major impact on education. Years ago, social scientists used the annual patterns of the movement of people to determine what the world would look like today. Much of that has gone askew as events such as wars, political turmoil and extreme weather have forced more human movement that would ever have been expected. The turmoil in neighbouring Venezuela is just one case in point, although there are many others. Many Venezuelans have fled to countries they share borders with, including Guyana, and those who have the opportunity are going even further. Entire families have picked up and left, in many cases leaving much of what they owned behind.
While much attention is being paid to the strain their arrival has placed/will place on the regions where they settle, there seems to be no thought given to the children involved. Apart from the displacement, their education would naturally suffer. If their families brought them to Guyana, for instance, where there are no Spanish schools, they first have to learn English, which would delay their progression. For instance, any 11 or 12 year olds who entered Guyana over the last six months from Venezuela will not be in a position to write the National Grade Six Assessment examination at the end of next month, along with local children their age. Though one hopes that they would have at least been admitted to schools and that provisions would have been made for those who do not know English.
Understandably, these issues will place some amount of strain on systems not built to cater for them. But if our systems cannot rise to and conquer these challenges, then we have to ask ourselves what then is the meaning of education and does it, in its current state, have a place in the future?
