Digitisation and technology are widely regarded as having the potential to spur economic growth, with opportunities for youth in digital jobs a key consideration. But South Africa is not producing the human capital needed to ride this wave. While there are a number of different private and public sector initiatives that have been undertaken to capitalise on this opportunity, there are a number of challenges that constrain the realisation of this digital dividend. Most notable is a Post-School Education and Training (PSET) system that is not producing digital skills in the numbers that are needed, and is characterised by a number of barriers that exclude many young South Africans. The experience of digitalisation and the ability to access its opportunities is thus uneven and runs the risk of creating a widening gap between a minority of ‘youth insiders’ who can seize these opportunities and a majority of ‘youth outsiders’ for whom the likelihood of being able to do so becomes increasingly smaller over time. To address this challenge, post-school skilling needs to change in five particular ways: skilling must be more demand-led, skilling outcomes must be achievable, accreditation must happen more quickly, access to the learning needs to be more open, and funding needs to be more agile.

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