News: 2010 ICT Career Expo kicks off

The Department of Communications (DoC) together with The Meraka e-Skills Institute and Telkom SA is currently hosting the 2010 ICT Career Expo. This expo is themed around The e-Generation, Building capacity for an e-Society and kicked off yesterday at the Telkom Centre for Learning in Olifantsfontein, Johannesburg.

The aim of the Expo is to provide young learners with info on career opportunities within the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) industry. Students will get the opportunity to interact with ICT professionals in order to get a sense of what it is like to work for different ICT companies.

Exhibitions from the DoC as well as various ICT companies including Torque IT, Telkom SA, Microsoft SA, Cisco SA, Neotel and Motorola will also form part of the expo.

“The country is facing high unemployment rate amongst the youth and to alleviate this youth unemployment, the department is encouraging the youth to think about careers in the ICT industry,” stated Ms Dina Pule, deputy minister of Communications, during the opening of the expo.

According to the National Master Scarce Skills List published by the Department of Labour (DoL) in 2008, South Africa has a critical shortage of nearly 37 565 ICT workers in such areas as diverse as sales, human resources and technical workers.

“There is a need to bridge the proverbial divide between the ICT industry and the ICT education sector. I hope the ICT Career Expo exposes and encourages the youth to be interested in the industry,” said the deputy minister.

The expo will run until 29 September 2010.

2010 ICT Career Expo kicks off

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