Rethinking Education in the Industry 4.0 in Africa: The Effective Management and Leadership of Education Post-COVID-19 Pandemic Towards Digital Transformation

Abstract

The study investigates management and leadership ideas and practices that can guide the education sector toward digital transformation propelled by the Fourth Industrial Revolution following the COVID-19 epidemic. The study’s fundamental claim is that due to the rapid changes in the political, cultural, social, economic, and technological environments, 21st-century society is demanding more on its members and the education sector to be better prepared for the global technological transformation right policies and principles in the management and leadership should be implemented. The systematic literature review analysis revealed that there should be less external management control and more decentralization in school administration and leadership. In this way, the education sector should advance the ideas of schoolbased administration, equifinality, and the idea that schools are self-managing systems. In other words, the industry should shift away from old notions that favour centralization, standard organization towards implementing school-based management of schools, a strategy for reducing COVID-19’;s unfavourable short- and long-term consequences, giving the industry a stronger advantage in the age of technological transition.