7 mAJOR REASONS YOU NEED TO LEARN ICT DURING YOUR IT pERIOD

T (Industrial Training) which is also known as Student Industrial Work Experience Scheme (SIWES) is a practical skill program designed for students of high institutions to expose them to the practical aspect of their course. Industrial Training program was introduced in Nigeria in 1974 by Industrial Training Fund (ITF) when employers discovered that university graduates who took courses in the field of science and technology could virtually do nothing when employed. Therefore, the program was established to provide students the opportunity to acquire practical work experience they are likely to meet after graduation from the high institution.

The essence of IT is to provide you skills that will help you build future career. IT helps you to learn organizational work ethics and management to be able to adapt easily when employed after graduation or even manage your own firm. Through IT you acquire the necessary disciplines that will help you to be a staff in any organization or be a successful entrepreneur. It is a period you learn how to apply head knowledge to real life situation and also learn to take responsibility. IT gives you opportunity to interact with the work space, handle industrial working tools and machines in order to be prepared for work after graduation. During IT, you are accepted by an organization related to your field of study where you will be allowed to work and gather job experience and skill for a period of one year, six months, four or three months as the case may be. In essence, you are expected by their institutions to get fixed in a firm where you can acquire practical skills.

From the foregoing it is obvious that the SIWES program i.e. your IT is meant to achieve the following objectives:

ü Provide you professional platforms to learn industrial skills and gather

job experience

ü Prepare you for industrial work situation.

ü Give you the opportunity to work with equipment and machineries that may not be available in the university.

ü Give you the opportunities to apply your educational knowledge in real work situations which bridges the gap between theory and practice.

ü Make the process of moving from the world of schooling to the world of professional work after graduation easier.

How are people using their IT period now?

Students have different reasons and goal when they are planning to go for IT. Few students actually understand the essence of IT .For those that understand, they use that period to get practical skills for the future while those that don't understand prefer to use their IT period for some other things they consider more important than getting a skill.

In Nigeria, IT period is mostly seen as holiday and free period to invest in anything. It is seen as break time; break from anything work, break from reading, break from school stress, break from writing exam and so on. Therefore, you see students going to uncle or aunty's place in big cities to chill out and ease school stress and at the end of the day collect Holiday package that will only last for few days. You see some do their IT in their parentâ?`s business establishment that does not impact any skill; all because they want to save some cash in process. Some students whose parents own shops in different locations, use their IT period to help their parents out in managing the business. Even some whose parents are petty traders

spend their IT period in their parentâ?`s kiosk than going to learn a skill in any organization.

Some spend their IT period trying to build connection of friends. During IT period they apply for industrial Training in multinational companies that may not have any skill to offer them because they believe they will meet big people who will be able to connect them to their future jobs. Such students quickly forgets that when they unfortunately get hooked up with jobs that require practical skills, they will lose it because they don't have the required skill to do the job.

What is the best way to spend your IT?

They best way to actually spend your IT is to use it to acquire skills and one of the most important skills to acquire in this digital age is ICT skill. The reason is because ICT has permeated all the nook and crannies of our society.

ICT stands for Information and Communication Technology. ICT is all the technologies used in gathering and disseminating technology like television, radio, whatsapp, Gmail, internet, Facebook, twitter, instagram etc. Through these technologies information is gathered, generated and disseminated. ICT provides potent and wonderful marketing tool and opportunities for business and non-business organization.

Why should you learn ICT during your IT period?

1        ICT is the future!

The need for you to learn ICT now is in the fact that ICT is the future. ICT is currently the number one most required skills employers look out for in a prospective employee. There is virtually no sector of society that does not need ICT skill. Take for instance, Agriculture which in your wildest imagination would need ICT to grow is also going digital. Currently, the need of ICT in agricultural

sector is so obvious that farmers are now building websites and creating apps to advertise and sale their farm produce. They also employ the skills of digital marketing to market their product to the public. If ICT is making waves in agricultural firms, think of other sectors.

2          Future jobs are ICT driven!

You will soon graduate and you will start looking for job placement in different institution or organization.

90% of these jobs that will be coming your way will require ICT skill to carry out. Currently, several job opportunities advertised on job sites   have ICT as required qualification.

The reason is because, every business needs to reach a wider audience to patronize it which can only be possible through digital marketing.Besides marketing, business firm and non-business institutions need ICT technology to run their day to day activities.

It is obvious that technology has taken over in the current society and everybody needs to get equipped to fit into the society. There is no form of business venture that does not need ICT skills to thrive. That is why digital literacy is becoming the major criteria in accepting job application offer.

3        You are not yet under much financial pressure: you need to use your IT period to learn ICT because you are not yet under financial pressure and obligation from family friends and relative. As a student, no reasonable parent expects you to bring money home. They expect you to study, acquire all the knowledge and skills you need to make it in life and give them a better future. Being a student takes off all eyes from you in terms of financial contribution; nobody tasks you to

take up a project at home. Things will change once you are out of school and everyone knows you are a confirm graduate. By then, your parents, siblings, cousins, niece, nephew, uncles and aunties will begin to place financial demand on you.

4        You can easily get financial support now

As a student, you can easily get money from parents, friends and relatives to enrol in some studies than when you have graduated. Even if you graduate and don't have anything doing, nobody sees it as his/her responsibility to keep catering for you when you have graduated. Therefore, by the time you graduate and discover that all the job offers require ICT skills and you don't have money to enrol in the training because you just left school

5        Everybody believes this period is your learning time

  It is important you learn ICT during your IT period because you are not yet under pressure to take up a paid job. Everybody still sees you as a student who needs financial and moral support. But once you graduate, the tune of the music will change; all eyes are on you to get a paid job. Even when you want to spend extra one or two years to acquire skills after your graduation, responsibilities will mount pressure on you to take up job. It is easier to get parents eyes off from you as a student than when you have graduated and everybody is looking up to you to start taking some financial responsibility.

By the time these responsibilities start mounting pressure on you, you will start to look for any job that can fend you money. The unfortunate thing is that if you did not use your

IT period to be grounded in ICT, you will end up not been able to get IT driven  jobs even if you have a first class computer science certificate. But if you learn the practical ICT skills during your IT,  your chance of getting a good job in digital age will be very high.

OUR OFFER TO YOU

We offer you 50% discount on any course of your choice!

Now is the best time to grab this whopping offer of 50% discount on any course of your interest. By this, your training becomes very much affordable to you. This whooping discount rate applies to you because you are an IT student and we want to make sure that money does not stand on your road to greatness.

Take advantage of this opportunity to become an ICT expert and build a formidable FUTURE CAREER!