‘Be proactive to benefit from fourth industrial revolution’

Speaker urges teaching STEM subjects in schools to equip children with the necessary knowledge, skills

ISLAMABAD: By 2022 robots could take over the jobs of some 75 million people across the world but the technological advancement means that some 130 million new jobs will be created. To benefit from these new jobs, Pakistan needs to be proactive in enhancing its education system to compete with other nations in the era of the fourth Industrial Revolution.

These views were shared on Friday by Shams Faiz, the chairman of Robotmea Pakistan, during a seminar on the “Fourth Industrial Revolution: Opportunities and Challenges for Pakistan”. The seminar had been organised by the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) in Islamabad.

The session was chaired by Asian Institute of Industrial Air (AIIA) CEO and the former dean of National University of Science & Technology (NUST) Dr Arshad Ali.

Faiz said that the key elements needed for benefitting from the upcoming technological advancements were being proactive, being quick, simple and self-confident.

Talking about improving the country’s education system, he said that there is a need to introduce STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) in schools along with hands-on learning to make children more innovative. To accustom them to robots and to instil a technology-oriented mindset in children, he suggested that robotic kits and labs should be built because they can prove to be effective tools to teach STEM from an early age and build children's capacity in critical thinking, collaboration, communication skills and creativity.

The Robotmea Pakistan chief said that once considered its forerunners, Americans have fallen behind other nations such as China and India, in the spheres of technology and innovation.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 21^st, 2019.