Unemployed youth are now being offered free online courses and are being encouraged to register as South Africa faces a massive problem when it comes to youth unemployment numbers. This will definitely be a huge step towards enabling young people to fulfil their dreams and career aspirations.
The Ministry has partnered with online-based educational platform Coursera to start this initiative which will drive education for the youth at no cost to the youth while also catapulting them into the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
Through Coursera, unemployed youth of South Africa will be able to access over 4500 courses and certification from hundreds of universities and industru educators. The free courses cover many disciplines including data science, coin,g; app development, digital marketing and artificial intelligence.
The duration of the courses range between four and eight weeks. Grade 12 is desirable but not an essential requirement. Familiarity with the internet and digital literacy are essential criteria.
Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies, Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams, said of the initiative:
Our intention as government is to remove as many barriers as possible and enable young people to fulfil their dreams and career aspirations. We therefore encourage them to take up these opportunities.
The National Electronic Media Institute of SA (NEMISA), a digital skill training institute entity of the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies, will coordinate and facilitate the registration process for these courses.
“The collaboration is in line with the Minister’s commitment at her 2018 Budget Vote Speech, to train one million people in data science and related skills, to ensure that they take up opportunities presented by new digital technologies,” the Ministry said.
Ndabeni-Abrahams emphasised the importance of young people acquiring digital skills as they are imperative for achieving inclusion in the digital economy and that this partnership has the prospects of equipping young people with the required skills in this digital era.
All courses are offered in English and fully online.
If you're interested in these free online courses, CLICK HERE.
