PHUTI MOSOMANE
More than 400 unemployed youth will be equipped with ICT skills to help improve teaching and learning in schools, the head of the Telkom Foundation Sarah Mthintso told delegates at the Gauteng City Region Academy (GCRA) Workforce Development Partners event on Thursday.
Mthintso said the foundation will focus its investments on young people by increasing its intake from 120 young people in 2022 to 200 this year and another 200 in 2024.
Speaking to Inside Education on the sidelines of the breakfast event, Mthintso said Telkom was partnering with the GCRA in an effort to continue investing in the development of young people with ICT skills.
“Telkom will train 400 young people to be deployed to various schools in the coming two years, an intake of 200 each year to support schools in the integration and adoption of ICTs.”
“In our research, we found that if you simply give schools any technology without providing technical support, in most cases teachers struggle on their own,” she said.
Having identified the ineffective use of technological tools by educators, Telkom together with the Gauteng Department of Education identifies unemployed youth in communities close to schools to help facilitate the effective use of these ICT tools in a school environment.
“Last year, we trained 120 young people, this year we have increased the number to 200 and next year another 200. So we train young people for four months on technical support. They then get deployed into schools to provide the much needed technical support to the teachers, principals, SGBs and learners,” Mthintso said.
The candidates will spend eight months providing technical support on ICT tools already deployed by the Gauteng Department of Education in partnership with Telkom.
The GCRA will pay candidates a monthly stipend for 12 months, thereafter the school can choose to extend the contract.
The Telkom Foundation will secure facilitators, moderators and assessors to enable candidates to get accredited certificates at the end of the 12 months.
Last year’s programme resulted in the placement of 120 candidates at 60 schools. For the training programme, Mthintso said the Telkom Foundation would spend R30 000 per candidate.
“We do not spend less than R3 million, this is excluding the stipend funded by GCRA. It is just one of the many programmes that we are doing as Telkom Foundation,” she said, also adding that the telecommunications giant trained over 210 learners in systems development, and business analysis who then get placed in companies with a budget of R15 million solely funded by Telkom.
Telkom approaches various entities in both private and public to identify ICT skills gaps, and then recruit young people to equip them with skills.
“For example, a company would approach Telkom with specific skills required. An entity would approach us and say ‘we are digitising our libraries – can Telkom assist?’ We have done this in Soweto and Tembisa,” Mthintso added.
MEC of Education Matome Chiloane applauded Telkom and other partners for assisting in helping unemployed youth with workplace skills.
“Youth unemployment is a ticking time-bomb, this challenge requires everyone. Give youth opportunities and keep them,” he said.
INSIDE EDUCATION
