SA going digital the Google way
GOOGLE South Africa believes in using technology as an enabler to change people’s lives.
Since 2017 the multinational technology company has been upskilling Africans through various platforms.
Yesterday, Google invited media and Googlers to see how it has been helping to digitally upskill South Africans.
“Our continent has one of the youngest populations in the world and we need to prepare the youth for the world of tomorrow. With this in mind, we embarked on free digital skills for 10 million Africans over five years. To date, we have trained 4 million people across the 29 countries in Africa,” said Asha Patel, head of marketing at Google South Africa.
Google Go has been updated for the country, working in slow-connected cities and is low on data.
One of the more interesting platforms is how they are using Voice to connect with the internet.
“Last year we announced a special feature that allows you to listen to any website. This makes written information on the web accessible to South Africans who have low literacy, poor eyesight and other visual obstacles, said Fortune Mgwili-Sibanda, the public policy and government relations manager.
He added that 617 million youth worldwide still lack basic maths and literacy skills.
“More than half the children that are not enrolled in school live in sub-Saharan Africa. This severely limits potential as an individual. Solving this could have a transformative impact for children and for everyone.”
Bolo allows people to learn to read with the magic of voice.
“Bolo has a helpful AI empowered reading assistant called Diya. Diya encourages children to read out loud, provides customised feedback to encourage children to read well and helps them when they get stuck.”
It works off-line and does not need data.