The reason for providing these materials is twofold.
Firstly, spreading knowledge and information about mainframes to the younger generation is greatly needed. The older generations are retiring, and their knowledge is invaluable. Passing this knowledge on to the next generation will aid in the transition.
Secondly, reading this material will not give you the required badges and certificates. If you are interested in getting a badge/cert, please refer to the following:
Interskill’s IBM mainframe courses
Sign up for free to IBM ZXplore academic courses
More at IBM academic initiative