Michael Workman is a retired educator who was most recently principal of St John's Preparatory School and before that, principal of Carmel Primary. He has an M.Ed (Curriculum Theory, Planning, Development and Contemporary Issues in Curriculum Evaluation) from the former University of Natal.

Stem education has enormous benefits, but we must consider adding arts to create Steam - and research, to create Stream.

Most schools by now should be fully aware of the acronym Stem (science, technology, engineering and mathematics). However, researcher Georgette Yakman in 2006 realised the benefit of adding the arts to this, thus creating Steam.

This gives more balance to an otherwise one-sided, highly technical curriculum. The innovation also opened the door to more hermeneutic processes, which I believe are indispensable in a new digital world that gives the perception that values are not necessary.

When correctly applied, Steam works. Evidence of this can be found in countries such as India. Many graduates have benefitted from what it offers - including children from the poorest of poor communities.

Since the 2000s, India has made extraordinary progress in reducing absolute poverty. Between 2011 and 2015, more than 90 million people were lifted out of extreme poverty (in 2020,...