Millions of South African learners still lack school desks, prompting MiDesk Global to call them foundational skills infrastructure this World Youth Skills Day campaign for change.
As the world marks World Youth Skills Day under the theme “Skills for a Shared Future”, MiDesk Global is urging government, business and education stakeholders to recognise access to a school desk as one of the most fundamental investments in South Africa’s future workforce.
The social enterprise estimates that 2.4 million South African learners still do not have access to a school desk. Across Africa, more than 95 million children attend school without proper desks or chairs, limiting their ability to learn, concentrate and develop the skills needed for future employment.
Talita Boodhram, Co-founder and Chief Impact Officer at MiDesk Global, said a desk is far more than a piece of classroom furniture.
“A desk is a basic learning tool that not only underpins literacy, concentration, critical thinking and the skills needed for future employment but also provides an important sense of dignity to learners,” she said.
Boodhram believes discussions around digital skills, artificial intelligence and entrepreneurship must begin with ensuring every child has the basic resources needed to learn.
“Imagine having to sit on a cold, hard or muddy floor while balancing a book on your lap and trying to write on an uneven surface. No child should have to learn like that,” she said.
While developed economies are investing in advanced technologies to prepare young people for future jobs, Boodhram argues that many countries in the Global South still face the challenge of ensuring children master basic literacy and numeracy.
UNESCO has called for future skills to include technical, digital, AI, green, social-emotional and civic competencies. MiDesk Global supports that vision but says South Africa cannot build a future-ready workforce while millions of learners lack a proper place to read and write.
The organisation points to early learning outcomes as evidence of the challenge. Only around 30% of Grade 1 to Grade 3 learners are reading at the expected level in their home language, meaning most children fall behind during the years that shape their long-term educational success.
“This early learning gap is not only an education concern but an economic warning sign,” said Boodhram. “The foundations of employability are laid long before matric, a learnership or a first interview.”
MiDesk Global also highlights South Africa’s youth unemployment rate of 60.9% among those aged 15 to 24, arguing that the country faces not only a jobs crisis but also a skills pipeline challenge.
“A desk is one of the earliest investments we can make in a child’s future employability. You cannot build a digital economy if children have nowhere to learn to read and write,” said Boodhram.
She added that research consistently links education with stronger economic growth, with studies suggesting that each additional year of schooling is associated with significant increases in GDP per capita.
MiDesk Global is calling for greater investment in classroom infrastructure, saying every desk, chair and learning space contributes to developing the human capital South Africa needs.
“If South Africa is serious about building a future-ready workforce, improving productivity and driving inclusive growth, we must invest in the foundations that get our youth to the starting line. Otherwise, today’s empty desks will become tomorrow’s empty CVs,” concluded Boodhram.
