Can the Fourth Industrial Revolution Resolve Why the Teaching of Mathematics in the Current Paradigm Continues to Be Decontextualised and Ineffective

The conversation about the mathematics curriculum, its relevance to the current discourse, and its positive contribution to the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) appear to take momentum. However, the mathematics and the discourse surrounding its delivery are still not place-based but rather isolated from the people and the land. For the mathematics curriculum to be place-based and relevant to the African context and paradigm, there is a need for a shift in its content and dissemination. Place-based mathematics education is an approach to critical mathematics education that engages students, teachers, and communities around interests of importance to students and their communities. While the 4IR describes the exponential change in how the communities will live and communicate due to the internet of things and the cyber-physical systems, its direct impact on education and its influence on the mathematics curriculum is yet to be debated and realised. The mathematics curricula, while place base, must conform and adapt to the influence of 4IR. The challenges fronting the proponents of mathematics curriculum reform and effective mathematics instruction are that the subject continues to be underperformed and the instructions are flawed and ineffective. The effect is that the students produced in current mathematical curricula perpetuate the impact of ineffective mathematics instructions. The bearers of 4IR assert that it can support effective mathematical instruction in place-based orientations. This paper explores the current mathematics discourse in Sub Sahara Africa and its preparedness or lack of for the 4IR.