The digital divide is growing rather than narrowing despite efforts to rectify the imbalance, said Minister of Labour Membathisi Mdladlana in Pretoria on Tuesday.
”The information, communication and technology [ICT] sector in our country reflects the skewed landscape of ownership, control and access to resources between those who were advantaged and disadvantaged by the previous regime,” he said.
Mdladlana explained that a huge digital divide still exists between the rich and poor, black and white, rural and urban populations in the country.
Mdladlana was talking at the launch of Telkom’s skills development programme, intended to boost South Africa’s maths and science capabilities and also bridge the gap between theoretical training, skills and competencies and recognised qualifications.
Telkom said learnerships are formal learning programmes that combine theoretical learning and workplace experience.
This approach provides trainees with the skills and knowledge needed to perform in a career that has a clear demand in the economy, it said.
Mdladlana said this is an example of a ”true people’s contract” between the government, business, the community and labour.
Telkom has offered learnerships for 360 students. It aims to equip young unemployed science and engineering graduates with ICT competencies.
They will be involved in call-centre courses, project management and graduate internship programmes.
Charlotte Mokoena, head of Telkom’s Centre for Learning, said the call-centre learners received theoretical training followed by work-experience placement in call centres in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Pretoria.
Mdladlana said Telkom’s efforts contributed to the Department of Labour’s drive to have 80 000 young unemployed people in learnership programmes next year.
He reminded the conference that the government is committed to ensuring that targets set for the Skills Strategy are met — ”namely that at least 85% of the beneficiaries of training should be black, 54% female and 4% people with disabilities”. — Sapa