Nedbank Group has partnered with the Youth Employment Service (YES) to provide ICT skills training and employment opportunities to over 3 000 South African youth.
The YES initiative was launched by president Cyril Ramaphosa in March 2018 as a joint initiative between government, business, labour and civil society, to collectively tackle a national plan to build economic pathways for the youth.
Through the partnership, Nedbank says it has heeded the call by government to address youth as a national imperative by providing job opportunities at the bank and at its sponsored placement partners Wild Trust, Tradeway, UnlockD and ORT SA.
The partnership agreement was signed at the Tembisa YES Green Engine hub on Friday, when the bank committed to train 3 315 unskilled youth aged 15 to 35, over the next 12 months, starting next month.
Speaking at the event, Nedbank Group CEO Mike Brown said: "In just a few days, 3 315 youth will take their first step towards securing for themselves a stable financial future when they join the Nedbank programme.
"Nedbank is committed to playing its part to address structural and socio-economic challenges in the country, such as poverty, inequality and unemployment, to improve the lives of all South Africans.
"As an organisation operating in the community, we understand the success of our business is intricately linked to the success of the communities we serve. We embrace our role in society as a change agent and contributors to nation building."
A large portion of the YES candidates will be placed at ORT SA IT Academy, where they will receive basic computer skills which they will apply as admin support at various schools in Gauteng.
ORT SA computer training modules are aligned to the end-user computing NQF2 unit standards by the Media, Information and Communication Technologies Sector Education and Training Authority, aimed at equipping students with work-ready skills. Some of the programmes include Microsoft Word, Excel and Power Point, Internet, e-mail and coding.
Other participants will receive on-the-job-training with Nedbank and its partners.
SA has an unemployment rate of 27%, with youth unemployment sitting at 52%, among the highest in the world. More than 3.3 million of those aged between 15 and 34 are neither studying nor working, notes YES. Half have completed Grade 12 and are largely unemployable in the formal sector, unless they receive relevant training and work experience.
According to the 2018 ICT Skills Survey conducted by the Johannesburg Centre for Software Engineering in partnership with the Institute of Information Technology Professionals (IITPSA), SA is not doing nearly enough to ready school-leavers to fill important vacant roles within the country's ICT sector.
The survey found the fundamental challenge is a lack of change in the school curriculum to prepare pupils with fourth industrial revolution skills, and the way in which subjects are taught at school.
"Although the government periodically makes statements about placing more emphasis on maths, science and technology subjects, we don't see that translated into action across the majority of schools. There are pockets of excellence, as there always are in SA, but that is not going to transform the ability of the country to use technology to enable economic and social growth," explains Adrian Schofield, programme consultant at the IITPSA.
Dr Tashmia Ismail-Saville, CEO of YES, explained at the pledge ceremony: "Nedbank has taken on the YES project in the true spirit of country-building. They have gone over and above their own recruitment needs to create thousands of jobs in the most vulnerable of communities, thereby bolstering community-based programmes with deep impacts. This will extend into the capillaries of our nation through YES partnerships at community level."
She called on companies across SA to join the YES pledge and be part of the nation-building and inclusive economic growth story.
Nedbank says it is actively playing its part by working with business, government, labour and civil society to address structural and socio-economic challenges in our country.
"We understand the importance of ongoing transformation, not only to remain relevant in the changing societies in which we operate, but also in supporting higher levels of inclusive economic growth. This initiative is just another step in Nedbank's transformation story and for the country," concluded Brown.
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