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16 June 2008

Minister of Communications, Dr Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri and the Department of Communications salute the Youth of June 16 and hope that on this day, they will also take responsibility for the future of our country in the age of knowledge economy.

She said: "today we celebrate the responsible youth of our country in memory of what the youth of 1976 did for our struggle. We want to alert the youth to what we are doing to empower them for the present and future information economy. We call on them to participate in information society which is their future."

The Department has embarked on various programmes that aim to ensure that they are prepared to participate; that young people have access to and use of information and communications technologies (ICTs) for socio-economic development.

So far 420 young people have been trained on free open source software skills. This culminated in the establishment of 46 youth owned e-cooperative enterprises that are currently playing a critical role in the development of municipalities' websites. A further 1 000 young people have been identified through municipality districts to undergo training on free open source software from the 22nd of June.

Through the National Youth Service Programme, the Department's e-Cadre Programme aims to train 5 000 young people and deploy them in post offices, clinics, police stations, schools and municipalities to act as facilitators of and conducts for their communities in accessing government services through the use of ICTs.

Through community radio support programme, the Department has invested in our youth, thereby enhancing their employability and entrepreneurship. We currently have 160 community radio stations in the nation.

Through Further Education and Training (FET) colleges, 200 students were trained in hardware and software, 36 educators on networking skills, 36 on electronics; the Department has assisted 21 colleges with Broadband Internet Connectivity. In January 2009, 2 000 unemployed grade 12 students will be recruited and trained in ICTs courses. All these will assist FET Colleges to become ICT Centres of Excellence.

Enquiries:
Joe Makhafola
Cell: 071 290 1735

Issued by: Department of Communications
16 June 2008
Source: Department of Communications (http://www.doc.gov.za)