The Usakos Youth Centre, through their Environmental Education Officer, Gebhard Eshumba, launched a 'mushroom course' through the e-learning system.

According to Eshumba, the 'mushroom course' has been developed for skills development purposes and is going to be conducted as a pilot project for the next four weeks by a group of youth in Erongo.

"A virtual learning environment is already up and running where courses comprising of text, podcasts, videos and other e-learning objects have already been uploaded for youth to access. The e-learning system has been developed following contemporary methodology in teaching and learning, and adequate assessment methods applied in e-learning environments," Eshumba told The Namibian.

During 2008, a group of young people of Usakos started a mushroom farming project below the theatre-stage of the Usakos youth centre. The produce is sold to local people and restaurants.

The biggest challenge at the moment is 'growth' - to enjoy bigger produce and a more lucrative income that will benefit the local youth and the rest of the community, according to Eshumba.

He said that, while capital support is being waited for, the project will continue in developing knowledge and skills in the type of 'agriculture', amongst others.

The main aim of this learning system is to create innovative action to provide young people with knowledge and skills that will enable them to participate in economic development and sustain decent life for themselves through E-courses.

He explained that Namibia is experiencing "an alarming rate" of drop-out of young learners from the formal education system.

"The majority of those young people end up on the street without any hope to return one day at school due to a variety of reasons, such as not sufficient background to further their studies, no financial support to register for Namcol or institutions of higher learning, no sufficient vocational schools to enroll them, etc. This project will look at possibilities to use mobile technology to help out-of-school youth to get access to quality educational materials online without leaving their respective homes. As we know, mobile technology is evolving so rapidly that one can want to explore the potentials for learning and teaching," Eshumba said.

After the pilot project, the system will be extended to other youth in the rest of Namibia.

"I suggest that the government and private organizations should look at this potential of using technology to address some of the challenges faced by the youth. They should come out and support the youth initiatives as this is the only way vision 2030 can become a reality," he encouraged.