The promotion of ICT as a profession must be accelerated, according to Hamilton Ratshefola, CEO of Cornastone Consulting, who spoke at the IT Personality of the Year Awards this morning.
”The reason I am saying this is when one looks at the data over the past 10 years, since the 'dot-bomb', there is a decreasing enrolment of students in the computer science field.” This is worrying, he noted.
The best way to solve this problem is for IT organisations to start promoting the industry right from primary school level through to tertiary level, so that when the students graduate they are ready to be deployed, Ratshefola added.
He advised organisations to support the Computer Society of SA to accelerate and produce programmes for both primary and high schools.
Ratshefola, who was the 2007 IT Personality winner, argued that, if SA can achieve this, then it can become competitive globally. “We do not always have to rely on government to leverage our industry; we can do this as an industry.”
He pointed out that the African continent needs technology, and SA is fortunate enough to have both the skills and the technology to be able to export its talent to the rest of Africa.
It is worrying to see African countries obtaining technology and skills to deploy projects in sectors like banking, construction and telecommunications, from countries overseas, he pointed out. “We should grow skills and build capacity so that we can look beyond the borders.”
The IT Personality of the Year Award, presented by the Computer Society of SA, in association with ITWeb, the Gordon Institute of Business Science and Gartner Africa, marked its 31st anniversary this year.
The IT Personality 2009 award was scooped by Ivan Epstein, CEO of Softline, and the Visionary CIO award went to Carl Louw, head of the Internet Channel at Absa Bank.
Ratshefola was named IT Personality in 2007.
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