Computer classes equip Wentworth community with skills

EIGHTY Wentworth community members can hold their heads high as they were awarded certificates for computer and business skills.

Studying through the Engen Computer School in Wentworth the graduates were equipped with skills including; introductory-level computer skills training, which covers nine units of the National Certificate: Information Technology: End User Computing.

To attend the Engen Computer School, applicants must be unemployed school-leavers and reside in the South Durban area. While matric and age criteria are not prescribed, most students who attend the school are aged between 20 and 40.

While statistics are incomplete due to the difficulty of keeping track of everyone who graduates, over the past two years at least 77 students have secured jobs or have been accepted into learnership programmes after completing the course. Last year 12 students found jobs during their training.

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Sheryl Casalis, training director of Added Advantage Academy, which has provided the training since 2009, says two four-month courses are offered per annum each accommodating 80 people. Engen invests about R15,000 per student to attend the course. “The competency rate for students is between 94% and 96% by the time they complete the course,” says Casalis. “On graduation, they are computer literate individuals able to work independently using the most common computer programmes used in offices today,” she said.

The second course for 2018 began on 2 July, with 79 attendees.

“With poverty and unemployment rife in South Africa, Engen is cognisant of the fact that the government cannot be relied on to provide solutions alone. As such, we are committed to stepping up and doing the right thing, starting with paying special attention to the people in the communities in which we operate,” said Engen’s corporate social investment manager, Adhila Hamdulay.