The Gauteng provincial government`s ambitious GautengOnline.com project may include training accredited by companies such as Microsoft and Novell.
[VIDEO]"We are looking at accreditation for learners from Grade Nine upwards. Web design, A+, even MCSE; these are the courses we are looking at," said Ignatius Jacobs, Gauteng MEC for education, at a press briefing yesterday.
Similar accreditation through a private institution could run into tens of thousands of rand.
The accredited training would become possible if the GautengOnline initiative succeeds in two of its primary goals: placing 25 PCs in every school in the province and training five teachers in every school in the use of these machines.
[VIDEO]Some R500 million is to be spent on the project over the next three years, which is also to provide Internet access and e-mail facilities to every scholar in the province by 2006. To this end, the government expects to establish an Internet service provider (ISP) under its control and a dedicated Web-based e-mail system.
"All school learners will be encouraged to acquire their own personal e-mail addresses," the MEC said in a statement on the project. "They will become citizens of the global village."
GautengOnline is expected to announce a strategic partner for the venture by April, and a business plan for roll-out soon after that.
X-head = Strategy
The initiative is part of the "smart province" plan for Gauteng, which aims to attract investment and improve human resources in the region. The Innovation Hub project, which is intended to create a Silicon Valley look-alike in Pretoria, forms part of the same strategy.
[VIDEO]Government projections show that as much as R100 billion in investments could be attracted to the province in the next 10 years if the strategy is successful.
"Multinationals go where the factors of production are most favourable to securing a competitive advantage in the global village," says finance MEC Jabu Moleketi. "For this reason, they require world-class infrastructure, advanced telecommunications systems, reasonably priced utilities, and diversified and skilled labour resources."
Jacobs believes GautengOnline will also go a long way in improving general education standards in the province.
[VIDEO]"GautengOnline.com will revolutionise education in the province by creating a networked public schooling system, which can harness the full power of ICT [information and communication technology] and thereby massively improve the flow of information and resources through the education system," Jacobs said in a statement.
He said GautengOnline is to be integrated with the Education Information System initiative, which involves developing a single, Web-based management system for schools and the education department.
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