SITA seeks to introduce engineering, software skills to Grade R pupils

The State IT Agency (SITA) says it is collaborating with government to speed up the introduction of engineering lessons and software skills to schools from as early as Grade R.

The agency held a media briefing in Durban ahead of the 13th GovTech conference set to start at the Durban International Conference Centre this Saturday.

The conference takes place amid an amplified focus on the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) across the globe.

As part of gearing up schools and communities for the 4IR, the conference will also hold a hackathon.

This will give different schools an opportunity to come up with innovative solutions to improve service delivery in the country.

“Actually, Grade R’s and primary schools can be able to do the things … as long as you introduce these things at an early stage. But you also don’t just want to introduce them to technologies as consumers of the technology. You want to make sure they become producers themselves,” says SITA’s acting CEO Ntutule Tshenye.