The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), together with the IT Sector Education and Training Authority (SETA) and private and public sector organisations, has launched a youth internship programme aimed at building skills capacity in the South African information and communication technology (ICT) sector.
At the programme`s launch in Midrand this morning, trade and industry minister Alec Erwin said the South African ICT sector already saw the need to "train above its needs" but that skills development had to be fast-tracked in order to keep the entire economy competitive.
The R12 million internship programme to train previously disadvantaged South Africans in the sector is already in its pilot phase, with 120 interns undergoing training at six organisations.
It is envisaged that the programme will grow to involve about 3 000 interns placed in 80 organisations by 2005.
The pilot project, involving the DTI, the IT SETA, the State IT Agency, IBM, Siemens, CS Holdings, Esselenpark and arivia.kom, will run for a year.
Students ranging from school-leavers to university graduates will receive both practical experience and theoretical skills training, and graduates will then be employed by the ICT sector and ICT-supported industries.
DTI spokesman Alan Hirsch said there are about 20 000 vacancies in the ICT and ICT-enabled sectors. Programmes such as the internship programme are expected to combat the skills shortage, empower previously disadvantaged individuals and help boost South African industry as a whole.
After the initial three-year phase of the programme, it is expected that it will be migrated to the IT SETA umbrella.
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