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Google, Others Partner to Expand Digital Skills Program to Children across Africa

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Google has announced that it is expanding its Digital Skills for Africa program to reach children in Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa.

 

Google in a statement released on Tuesday said they will engage local organisations via its partnership with the Cape Town Science Centre to train 200,000 students in Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa within 1 year.

 

According to the statement, “CS First is a Google program aimed at children aged 9 to 16.

 

“Created by educators and computer scientists, CS First introduces coding and computer science to students in a collaborative and creative club environment.

 

“CS First club members build projects in Scratch (scratch.mit.edu), a blocks-based programming language”.

 

The statement added that the training will be delivered through 26 collaborating organisations across Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa.

 

“For areas with limited access to the internet and limited devices, CS First may be delivered through CS Unplugged. 

 

“In addition, Google also aims to reach students through an Online Safety Roadshow project building on itś work with the  Web Rangers program.

 

“This project will reach parents, teachers and students in all three countries.

 

“Google is once again joining forces with SAP and UNESCO as part of Africa Code Week 2019 to engage community-focused organisations across Africa to enable them to host coding workshops for children (aged 11-18) in their local communities during Africa Code Week this month. Some 55 organisations have been identified across the continent.

 

These activities form part of Google’s commitment to train 10 million Africans in digital skills by 2022.

 

Mojolaoluwa Aderemi-Makinde, head, Brand and Reputation, SSA said “The training programmes promise to improve the children’s confidence in interacting with computers and their overall confidence and willingness to try new things,”

 

“With growing internet penetration across Africa, and the increasing trend of kids interacting online, Google believes it is important to provide helpful information to children and parents to enable children to take appropriate measures to stay safe online while exploring the internet with confidence.

 

“The training takes learnings from Google ́s Be Internet Awesome campaign and the content is carefully drafted to provide helpful tips to kids and parents, and information on useful tools like Google’s Family Link.

 

 

 


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Ugo Onwuaso is an ICT enthusiast. He believes technology should be used for general good. He holds a Master of Public Administration (MPA) degree from the Lagos state University. Dear Reader, Your support matters. But we believe that technology makes life more exciting and helps improve the lives of people around Nigeria and indeed the world. That is why, we have devoted our energy to independent reportage of technology and finance and how they affect lives. Our incisive and analytical view of how technology news affects the daily life help individuals and organizations make up their minds. Quality journalism costs money. Today, we're asking that you support us to do more. Kindly support our effort to deliver technology and finance journalism to everyone in the world. Donate as little as N1,000. Bank transfers can be made to: UBA Plc 1017156876 Communication Week Media Ltd

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NRC, Ponzi Scheme Collapses Resulting Loss of Billions of Naira

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National Reading Culture (NRC), an online investment platform targeting Nigerians has collapsed, resulting in the loss of billions of Naira for investors.

NRC, Ponzi Scheme Collapses Resulting Loss of Billions of Naira

The website unexpectedly shut down, blocking users from withdrawing their funds and locking in their investments.

Just like all other investment scams, victims were lured with promises of doubling their money in few weeks.

When National Reading Culture eventually crashed, the operators vanished with users’ funds, leaving investors devastated.

How the Platform WorkedTask-Based Earning:

According findings, National Reading Culture lured users with promises of making money by completing simple daily tasks like reading articles, clicking links, or inviting friends.

They also offered investment tiers to  earn higher daily profits, where users had to deposit their own money into the platform.

Evidence showed the website previously operated as a Chinese job search platform before rebranding into an “earning” scheme.


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NSITF Partners South African Insurer on Digital Transformation

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The Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Rand Mutual Assurance (RMA) to collaborate on digital transformation aimed at strengthening worker protection systems and support economic growth.

According to RMA, the agreement was concluded during a visit by its delegation to Abuja.

The partnership will focus on institutional capability development, modernising operating models, improving service delivery and sharing knowledge between the two organisations.

Through the partnership, RMA and NSITF will collaborate to strengthen institutional capability, modernise operating models, accelerate digital transformation and improve services for workers and employers.

The organisations will also explore opportunities for knowledge exchange and the adoption of best practices in social security administration.

RMA said the agreement forms part of its broader engagement with governments, regulators and social security institutions across Africa to support improvements in governance, operational resilience and service delivery.

“Our partnership with NSITF reflects much more than the signing of an agreement,” said Mandla Shezi, group chief executive officer of RMA. “This partnership is not simply about sharing knowledge. It is about co-creating the next generation of African social security systems.”

He added: “By combining our respective strengths, we can help build institutions that are more resilient, more responsive and better equipped to protect workers while supporting national development.”

Shezi said the future of social security depends on integrated systems where prevention, insurance, healthcare, rehabilitation, technology, investment management and institutional capability work together.

 


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Microsoft to Lay Off 4,800 Workers

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Microsoft has announced plans to cut about 4,800 jobs, representing roughly 2.1 percent of its global workforce, with  Xbox, its gaming division, expected to bear the largest share of the layoffs.

Microsoft to Lay Off 4,800 Workers

The company said more than 1,600 positions at Xbox would be eliminated immediately, while another 1,600 jobs would be phased out over the next year as part of a major restructuring of the gaming business.

In a memo to employees, Amy Coleman, executive vice president, Microsoft, said the company was streamlining its operations to focus on areas that deliver greater value to customers in a rapidly changing technology industry.

Asha Sharma, chief executive officer, Xbox, described the move as “the most significant restructure in Xbox history,” saying the changes are intended to position the gaming business for long-term growth rather than downsizing.


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