IBM commences Saturday School

By Leon Engelbrecht for IBM

Johannesburg, 30 May 2007

Computer maker IBM and its Johannesburg staff are investing in the next generation, with a Saturday School that supplements the maths, science, IT and life skills subjects for disadvantaged children.

The programme has been running for six weeks, but was formally launched only late last week.

About 30 Grade 10 maths and science students from Ivory Park Secondary School and Realogile High School in Alexandra are benefiting from the 'Ithuba Lethu' (Our Chance) programme, a name the children chose.

IBM made its facilities available at its Sandton office park, and staffers are volunteering their time. "Our country's economy is demanding critical skills in the areas of information technology, engineering and commerce, among others," said Mteto Nyati, IBM South Africa's director for global technology services, who was speaking at the official launch of the programme.

"At the same time, there is a cross-industry cry for tertiary institutions to produce job-ready graduates. With this initiative, we are going a layer down to help appropriately equip secondary learners with the right knowledge to steer them towards pursuing careers in the much-needed skills areas," Nyati added.

"In line with our company's key strategic community investment focus, which is largely technology-centred education, we believe Ithuba Lethu will distinguish itself by affording learners the opportunity to interact with the IBM volunteers who are professionals and specialists in various fields, and therefore able to impart knowledge in the context of real-life experiences."

IBM has partnered with the Gauteng Education Department (GED), and the Ithuba Lethu programme is structured to supplement the work taught at school. GED Johannesburg East director of education, Babsy Matabane, said the "initiative assists these students with improving not only their matric results, but also their understanding of the options that exist in the job market, particularly the critical and technical skills areas".

"I couldn't believe I was selected to take part in this learning programme," said Ivory Park student Xolani Dlamini, 15. "Coming from a disadvantaged learning environment, we are not fortunate enough to use a computer as part-and-parcel of our learning. But thanks to this programme, I can now operate a computer. IBM has given us a better start to the future, a chance to achieve our goals."

"This is an opportunity that we must use," said Katlego Letsoalo, 16, of Alexandra. "Opportunities like this do not come often," she added. "We may be poor or rich, it is all the same. We all have dreams and aims we would like to accomplish."

Ithuba Lethu is an addition to five other IBM social responsibility programmes, namely the R12 million "KidSmart" initiative that involves deploying PCs tailored for children at the pre-school and primary school levels. More than 650 units have been installed countrywide in the last six years. The second project involves contributing PCs with talk software to the University of the Witwatersrand's Disability Students Programme, which primarily benefits blind students.

IBM also runs a mentorship programme, aimed at undergraduate students and teens at high school, and the Reading Companion, a Web-based programme using voice recognition technology to help children and adults develop English literacy skills.

The company has also made a multimillion-rand investment in deploying computer laboratories and infrastructure in primary and high schools - the recent beneficiaries being Zamokuhle in Bekkersdal, Limpopo; and Inkamana in Vryheid, Northern KwaZulu-Natal - as well as tertiary institutions countrywide.