Cape Town – The National Electronic Media Institute of South Africa (Nemisa) has partnered with the Walter Sisulu University (WSU) to roll out specialised cellphone repair training to youth in the Eastern Cape.
Nemisa officially launched the training at the Walter Sisulu University campus in Potsdam in the Eastern Cape.
The training aims to increase the number of cellphone repairers in the Eastern Cape. Nemisa, in collaboration with the Vaal University of Technology, has trained young people in other provinces.
The purpose of the training is to prepare learners to operate as qualified cellphone repairers, with the ability to troubleshoot, repair, and maintain various types of cellphone models in rural and urban residential areas.
“Learners will understand broader competencies for work readiness and entrepreneurial abilities,” Nemisa collaboration director Rorisang Molukanele said.
Molukanele said the training programme also sought to further improve the country's ranking in the digital economy.
“It is crucial that its citizens acquire the digital skills they need to fully participate in the digital economy. South Africans live in an increasingly digital world while a significant part of the population remains digitally excluded.
“Cellphone repairs as a technical skill is linked to the broader National Digital and Future Skills strategy which aims to upskill South African citizens, including women and youth, rapidly … at foundational, intermediate, and advanced levels of digital and technical skills,” Molukanele said.
WSU spokesperson Yonela Tukwayo said that first-year students from three of the university’s academic programmes had equipped themselves with at least one tool designed to enhance their knowledge of the Fourth Industrial Revolution in a bid to enrich their academic experience and increase their chances of employment.
“Approximately 60 students from the Buffalo City Campus’s Management, Local Government Finance and Financial Information Systems (FIS) programmes enrolled in the internationally recognised IBM Data Science course conducted at Potsdam in May,” Tukwayo said.
IOL