​The Covid-19 pandemic has had a devastating impact across the globe with an undesirable impact on the economy. Governments will need to review education and finance policies with emphasis on development strategies. This was the sentiment Professor Romain Murenzi on Thursday, 10 September 2020.

Prof Murenzi, the Executive Director of The World Academy of Sciences and former Rwandan Minister of Science, stressed that the world is entering a new era of knowledge which is ushered in by the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) when he delivered a lecture, titled “Science Policy, Science Literacy: post-COVID education for the developing world during the Fourth Industrial Revolution“. The Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf), together with the University of Johannesburg and the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI), hosted the lecture, virtually.

“COVID-19 has laid bare inequalities in access to education, scientific literacy, deficiencies in remote learning, and the cost of the digital divide,” said Prof Murenzi.

Watch Prof Romain Murenzi’s full address here

Prof Murenzi concluded that the 4IR’s automation would lead to an increasing number of jobs that require education in complex fields such as artificial intelligence. “In the developed world, most teaching and learning managed to continue online due to access to technology and infrastructure such as broadband connectivity at home and computer ownership. However, in some areas of the world, in particular in Africa, this has not been the case,” he added.

Prof Romain Murenzi