The Department of Communications is considering a scheme where government subsidises salaries in certain areas of the ICT sector, as a way of promoting such skills in the country.
This is according to Norman Munzhelele, chief director of policy at the department, who was speaking on Friday on the final afternoon of the Futurex 2006 conference in Sandton.
"We are looking at ways of increasing ICT skills development in the country, but it [the subsidisation proposal] is not the only solution we are currently debating," he said.
"We would only do it if we think it is feasible to do so."
Munzhelele declined to give details about which skills within the ICT sector would be targeted by the subsidy scheme.
He told delegates his department is also looking at the Indian model of skills development, which encompasses strengthening further education and training areas.
"But in SA we have our own unique challenges. Whereas in India the cost of labour is very cheap, that is not the case in SA."
He also reaffirmed that the department is fighting to ensure ICT becomes central to government`s social development plans.
"ICTs are critical to making sure SA`s 6% [national economic] growth is achieved," he explained.
Munzhelele declined to reveal anything further on the department`s skills development plans, as communications minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri will give her budget speech in Parliament on Thursday, where she is expected to explain how her allocation of public funds will be spent.
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