Microsoft on Tuesday announced a software donation to the value of around R20 million to the Maharishi Institute (MI).
The software donation includes Windows 10 licences, Microsoft Office programmes, and associated training courses.
The Maharishi Institute, a local non-profit organisation, provides financial access to tertiary qualifications from its education partners, which students can access through distance learning while gaining work experience via MI's "learn and earn" model.
MI also acts as an education support structure, giving students access to its campus in Johannesburg which is furnished with computers and Internet access, a library, and a canteen. The Institute also offers bridging and self-development programmes.
Microsoft's donation "will be turned into billions of rands in lifetime incomes for the young people who will be educated using this software," said Dr Taddy Blecher, CEO of the Maharishi Institute.
To date, MI and its founding organisation have assisted over 15 000 unemployed South Africans to gain further education and employment, and these South Africans now have a combined lifetime earning in excess of R23 billion, MI reported upon announcing Microsoft's donation.
Blecher says MI will use the donated software to develop the computer literacy skills of its students, and offer non-students a way to gain computer literacy on Saturdays.
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