Coverage
Global Literacy: Iraq
August 25, 2008
HotChalk
Iraqi academic and businessman Wail Omer wants to be a part of the effort to rebuild his devastated country—and he sees digital literacy as a critical component of the process.
There needs to be more for people in the violence-torn country than just survival, said Omer at an international conference on digital literacy in Kona, Hawaii in August.
"Iraq has to follow the world in digital literacy," Omer told HotChalk. "From 2003 to 2006, it was really miserable in Iraq, and it is difficult for people only to think of being alive, of surviving." Omer was one of six individuals worldwide honored for their contributions to extend digital literacy at the conference, sponsored by Certiport. The Utah-based company does computer skills training and certification, and develops internationally recognized standards for digital literacy.
Omer runs BNR Education, which does Certiport training and certification in Iraq. The 34-year old Baghdad native, who holds a Ph.D. in computing and software engineering, also is Dean of Computing and IT at Sohar University in Oman. Life in Iraq has improved, and it's time for the Middle Eastern nation to make up for what it has lost—in information technology as well as other areas. "The situation now is much better. Iraq now has to cover the gulf in different fields that was formed between 1990 and 2006," he said. Globally accepted computer skills certification will provide tools for all professional fields, contributing to the overall development of Iraq, Omer said.
And it will do something more: It will bring the nation of 27 million, which once had a reputation for success in higher education and technological achievement, back into the international mainstream. Digital literacy will help to connect the Iraqi people with the rest of the world, Omer said. The time is right. "The Iraqi people are eager to learn technology, and will use the technology to improve the working environment, and to contact and exchange information with the rest of the world," he said. Many Iraqi high school youth have a degree of computer proficiency gained from trial-and-error experience, according to Omer. But he firmly believes that they need more than that. Offering them digital literacy courses and certification will help them take their skills to a higher level, he said. Omer would like to see Iraqis, from students to seniors, achieve digital literacy so they can access e-government services, take online courses, apply for jobs, and generally use the Web to improve their lives.
"What we are trying to do is give them the knowledge of concepts they need to develop themselves in the digital environment," he said. For Omer, it is not just business but part of a larger picture of feeling for his native country. "I would like to help in rebuilding our Iraq. I am really a small piece in this, and I would like to do something meaningful. In the end, it is my country," he said.
And, he has another, deeply personal motivation. His friend and business partner of over three years, Anwar Salh Kudar, responsible for developing their company's presence in Iraq, died at age 39 in a suicide bombing in Baghdad's Green Zone. With Kudar's on-the-ground work, the company flourished. BNR does Certiport training and testing in Baghdad, Basrah, and Kurdistan. And it has programs at two major Baghdad institutions of higher education—Al Mustansriya and Al Rafdeen universities. It's Kudar who gets the credit for their accomplishments thus far in Iraq, Omer said. "Our target is to achieve the vision of Anwar," Omer said.