ICT centre offers free courses

Blessings Chidakwa Midlands Bureau
The Community Information Centre (CIC) in Gweru has started offering free short courses in Information Communication Technology (ICT) for youths. The CIC was commissioned by President Mugabe last month. Zimbabwe Post Office regional manager Mr Henry Tendenidzani yesterday said the short courses in ICT began on Monday. He said more than 200 youths, mostly from Gweru and Shurugwi, had been enrolled for the programme which is being spearheaded by the Ministry for Information, Communication and Technology and Courier Services.

Mr Tendenidzani said the number of youths who had registered was encouraging. “We have started offering free youth training for basic ICT literacy on Monday at Gweru Community Information Centre and the programme ends mid December,” he said. “The number of youths who are registered so far is awesome. We have more than 200 youths on our list.

“The short courses are being guided by the Ministry for Information, Communication and Technology and Courier Services.” Mr Tendenidzani said
“We will be offering certificates to the youths who are participating during the training,” he said. Commissioning the CIC, President Mugabe said it was in line with the global trends where every piece of information was now found on the Internet. “When we grew up, we would communicate using letters and we would wait for weeks to get that response,” he said.

“But we now have Internet technology, we are in a modern world and these information centres will help in as far as research is concerned.” Even though the CIC roll-out programme appears to be a recent initiative, President Mugabe has been involved in giving computers to many schools over the years through a Government driven computerisation programme, helping them bridge the gap of information technology.