Last night, South Africans were once again warned of a second wave of the coronavirus pandemic in the country by President Cyril Ramaphosa. This as most schools are finishing exams and students are looking forward to a much deserved break given the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic disruptions and related learning losses experienced globally.
Many education institutes were forced to cancel classes and close doors of schools and universities across the world in response to the coronavirus outbreak. In addition, many institutions opted to online learning where possible. Added to this there have been scores of protests outside the Brackenfell High School against alleged racism while students wrote their matric examinations.
Government has instructed South African schools to give learners in grades four to nine up to 5% extra marks if this will help them pass the 2020 academic year. Universities in SA have been given until February 2021 to complete the 2020 academic year resulting in the 2021 calendar set to start only between March and April 2021.
This leaves matriculants of 2020 with some difficult choices. Firstly, faculties at universities have limited spots. Students may not have fair well given not all students have access to the tools necessary to successfully study online. Students who have failed their grade 10 and 11 may opt not to finish their schooling due reasons like affordability etc. But it’s not all doom and gloom.
In a digital age, educational institutions are better placed today to provide students with easy access to continue their studies online. ICB has likewise will be following through with online exams in April 2021. The good news is you do not need a matric exemption to study for an accredited programme, given that the minimum requirement to start the ICB National Certificate in Bookkeeping is a Grade 10, be minimum of 16 years in age and need not have previous accounting experience is necessary.
The ICB’s qualifications are registered on the South African National Qualifications Framework (NQF) – a set of guidelines used to register and measure educational achievements in all sectors, including finance. Also once you have completed your studies, you can apply for membership to one of many professional bodies i.e. ICBA, SAIT, SAIBA, IAB, IAAP. (more details www.icb.org.za/professional-membership).
At Saber Business School we have complimented the ICB offering with additional technical skills that could be an ideal springboard to pivot your career to other related fields such as business intelligence or data science. Companies are looking for qualified data analysts to fill the data-driven gap that accountants cannot. According to a 2016 report by Deloitte, despite accounting being a quantitative function, the accounting world has been slow in requiring analytics skills from its professionals.
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