Coding should be compulsory at school says deputy minister
South Africa needs to adopt deliberate and measurable targets to bridge the gender divide in the ICT sector says communications deputy minster.
COMMUNICATIONS Deputy Minister Pinky Kekana says coding should be introduced as a compulsory subject in schools in order to put the upcoming South African generation on par with international standards.
“Once we start teaching our children coding from an early age, it will give them the skills to participate in the Fourth Industrial Revolution,” Kekana said.
The Deputy Minister, together with the Minister of Small Business Development Lindiwe Zulu and the Deputy Minister of Telecommunications Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams, joined other women in a high-level panel discussion on promoting information and communication technology (ICT) opportunities for women empowerment.
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The panel discussion took place on Thursday at the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Telecom World Conference 2018 in Durban.
Kekana said South Africa needs to adopt deliberate and measurable targets to bridge the gender divide in the ICT sector.
“We need to [teach] young girls to code at a young age. Does gender parity always translate into women empowerment because we can put women [in top management positions] but not be able to put [them in] an enabling environment that will allow them to pull up other women as they rise. This is a challenge that we need to address,” she said.
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The Department of Telecommunications and Postal Services has committed to provide training to 100 women a year per province in digital literacy. It is also providing the Girls-who-Code programme, targeting 100 girls.
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