Top business association stresses need to revise curriculum with more focus on science, technology

ISTANBUL - Anadolu Agency

There is a need to restructure the education curriculum by focusing more on science, technology, engineering and math, the chair of the Turkish Industry and Business Association (TÜSİAD) urged on June 13.  

According to TÜSİAD, the revised curriculum should be based on the STEM approach, in which students are taught four basic principles: science, technology, engineering and math. 
 
In the launch event of the TÜSİAD STEM Project, TÜSİAD chair Erol Bilecik said the fourth industrial revolution was underway and its effects had changed how work is done in all sectors including finance, health and energy.       
 
The fourth industrial revolution, also known as Industry 4.0, is a theory which proposes that workplaces in the future will need less human input and that many jobs will be taken over by computers, which through a set of commands, will be able to control robots.       
 
Bilecik said this digitalization will affect the future workforce as some professions are at risk of disappearing. “It is an undeniable fact that new professions need brand-new skills,” he said.  
      
Quoting a study by World Economic Forum, Bilecik said some 41 percent of basic career skills in Turkey will change by 2020 when compared to 2015.       

“This is why there is a need to introduce the STEM approach to all levels of education, starting from pre-school,” he stressed.        

Turkey’s Zorlu Holding CEO Ömer Yüngül said in several universities in the U.S. law faculties were teaching students about the possible crimes robots may commit in the future.        

“Everyone is getting ready for the future. Those who stay indifferent to this change will be harmed,” he said.        

A report prepared by the U.K.-based auditor PricewaterhouseCoopers in collaboration with TÜSİAD stated that by 2023 Turkey will employ 34 million people, of whom 3.5 million will be STEM-based employees.