ICT school to train 10,000

The Train the Trainers courses will also start very soon. The objective of the academy is to cater to the needs of the ICT and BPO sectors as regards availability and competency of human resources.

It goes in line with the government’s vision to transform Mauritius into a cyber island.

The minister of Information and Communication Technology, Tassarajen Pillay Chedumbrum said he was pleased with the development of the project, which will further boost the sector.“We have reached another step in the ICT academy project and a chairperson has already been appointed. We hope that the first courses will be provided by the end of December,” he said.

The newly appointed chairperson of the academy, Vedna Essoo, pointed out that the project aims to meet the demands of the operators in the sector.

“A lack of professionals has been noted in the sector, which will require a labour force of about 29,000 to position Mauritius as an IT hub. However, there are currently only about 15,000 professionals in the sector. Our aim is to train some 10,000 people by 2014,” Essoo pointed out.

The ministry has still not finalised where the ICT Academy will be set up but is contemplating the Cybercity at Ebène as a possible location.

“Training will be offered to degree holders and those who are already in the field but who want to upgrade their skills,” said Essoo.The chairperson also underlined that there is a misconception in Mauritius that jobs in the ICT sector are mostly in call centres. “It is not solely in call centres but many other high profile positions. People can even have a career at the international level,” she added.