The Department of Communications, through the e-Skills Institute has moved to establish the e-Skills Knowledge Production & Coordination Hub in the KwaZulu-Natal province.
The Deputy Minister of Communications Mr Obed Bapela will launch the e-Skills knowledge production and coordination hub. The launch follows the e-Skills Summit held in July. The summit resolved on five top proposed actions for e-skilling the nation, namely:
- Developing and shaping the draft National e-Skill Plan of Action (NESPA)
- Have a coordinated e-Skills Research (ResNes) Network
- To establish Regional e-Skills Knowledge Base Centre Network Hubs and
- Lastly to explore and develop ICT access using differential transfer pricing mechanisms and
- Supporting the development of sectoral e-skilling approaches.
“Our mandate is to coordinate eSkills training by involving all representatives in the ICT industry and groups from all participating universities. The department’s role is to ensure that it assists in amplifying the impact and sustainability of relevant private sector, donor country and civil society based activities as well as act as developing knowledge hubs that inform other government programmes and stakeholder groups and to provide considered input for more effective policy development in relation to e-Skills,” says Minister of Communications Mr. Radhakrishna (Roy) Padayachie.
The e-Skills Summit was a response by the department in providing e-skills for South Africans to address the country’s socio-economic challenges. If implemented correctly the country would be in a better position to be part of the emerging Information Society or Knowledge Economies globally.
A general lack of e-skills is a real impediment to South Africa meeting its commitments to the Medium Term Strategic Framework (MTSF), the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the World Summit on Information Society Plan of Action.
Broad-based ICT skills are also vital in dealing with poverty reduction, the creation of sustainable livelihoods, intensifying the fight against crime, building cohesive communities, international cooperation and in building a developmental state.
The initial e-Skills Knowledge Production and Coordination Hubs will be located at the five Universities that the e-Skills Institute has established Memoranda of Understanding with to assist it in addressing the massive e-Skills deficit.
Minister Padayachie says: “Through the establishment of these Hubs, we will collaborate with Business, Government, Education, Civil society (Including Labour), to develop and implement new innovative models and practices for more equitable prosperity and global competitiveness in the emerging world of information societies and knowledge based economies.”
The Department of Communications, through the e-Skills Institute has been working with the Durban University of Technology (DUT) for over a year and today we are proud to launch the e-Skills Knowledge Production and Coordination hub in the province of KwaZulu-Natal,” says Minister Padayachie.
The Department of Communications will be rolling out these hubs to other provinces in the year 2011. We have set ourselves a target to establish three of these hubs before the end of this current financial year.
The department is taking the opportunity to ensure that people have the necessary training to leverage technologies that enable communication, transactions and SMME development, particularly in poor, rural communities.
For media enquiries contact:
Busiswa Mlandu
Cell: 072 070 6896
E-mail: Busiswa@doc.gov.za
