The Seychelles government is considering plans of setting up a National Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) Training Centre to cater for demands on the local employment market.
The Seychelles President made the announcement at a recent public consultative meeting.
Mr James Alix Michel said the decision has been encouraged by the development he has witnessed first hand in this sector, during his recent state visit to India.
Mr Michel visited India in July this year.
India is one of the world’s leading ICT specialists training country. Some 12,000 Indian computer programmers, engineers, web designers and web administrators are absorbed into the US, Australian and European ICC industry every year.
The new Seychelles ICT training plan will also support the development of the offshore industry as the third pillar of the economy according to Mr. Michel.
Under a new secondary school curriculum which will be implemented from January next year ICT will be introduce as an academic subject with the possibility of IGSCE in computer studies being introduced in two years time. Currently some 15 students are undertaking A' Level in computer studies at the Seychelles Polytechnic per annum, with an average of three straight A's.
The country’s ICT training ambition got a boost in December 2004 through a Microsoft specialist IT course for educators to teach some 200 teachers in one year to incorporate ICT as a training tool in other school subjects.
The director for IT services in the Ministry of Education (MoE) Robin Zarine, says the programme will expose the children to ICT at a very early age and help bridge the digital divide in the long-term.
The ministry of education’s effort is being hailed as an ambitious plan but already there are calls not to leave behind those who are not at school or not following any courses at the various local IT training centers.
Seychelles Broadcasting Corporation (SBC) TV news anchor Kevin Malbrook says the media should fill the gap.
“In the meantime, our lives grow more and more digital, and we need journalists who can keep up with, and do justice to, this epochal story in all its facets -- scientific, economic, policy, legal, human interest, cultural and developmental, to list just some,” says Malbrook.
It is evident that Seychelles’ development in the ICT sector still requires a lot to be at par with its neighbor India.
Yet what’s needed is not so much out of sight.
“A pragmatic, practical, innovative programme is needed locally, which must be flexible and design to meet the different needs of the Seychellois community,” concluded President Michel.
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