ITA signs pact with Certiport to train Civil Service staff in digital literacy
October 26, 2008
Times of Oman

MUSCAT — Information Technology Authority (ITA) yesterday signed an agreement worth RO8 million with US-based Certiport by which the latter will provide learning and certification for more than 93,000 Civil Service employees on the global digital literacy standards of Certiport Internet and Computing Core Certification (IC3) curriculum for three years.

The agreement was signed by Mohammed bin Nasser Al Khusaibi, secretary-general of the Ministry of National Economy and chairman of ITA, and David Saedi, president and CEO of Certiport.

The Government IT Training and Certification (GITTC) project aims at building IT capacities and provide locals with the required IT skills that enable them to face the modern challenges and achieve more progress by utilising knowledge and modern technology in the different fields of national work, Khusaibi said.

"The project is one of the main pillars for building a knowledge-based Omani society and is aimed at achieving the strategic national aims of e-Oman and e-government initiatives," he added.

Along side with the training centres dedicated to the implementation of the required training courses, the Ministry of Education has allowed the use of its computer labs for the same purpose, he added.

The project will create more than 200 jobs; those trained will work as trainers after having received advanced training to master global digital literacy standards and professional instruction methodologies.

The Sultanate of Oman will be the first country in the world to use this system which is now being looked at for other large scale deployments of IC3 in countries such as China. "The intent of this agreement with Certiport is at the very heart of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said’s directive to empower Omani people with technology skills that provide a firm economic footing in the face of globalisation and reach out to serve the public through modern means. We are very glad to associate in this ambitious project and they have proved their competency in such large scale operations in the pilot programme run earlier," said Dr Salim Al Ruzaiqi, CEO of ITA.

"ITA undertakes the implementation of a number of infrastructure projects for Digital Oman, such as the e-payment portal, e-government services portal and the National Data Centre, as well as the Information Security Centre. These initiatives will contribute to improving the e-services and transactions in the Sultanate and help us create a knowledge-based society that will benefit both locals, residents and visitors to the Sultanate," he added.

"ITA undertakes the implementation of a number of infrastructure projects for Digital Oman, such as the e-payment portal, e-government services portal and the National Data Centre, as well as the Information Security Centre. These initiatives will contribute to improving the e-services and transactions in the Sultanate and help us create a knowledge-based society that will benefit both locals, residents and visitors to the Sultanate," he added.

"This training initiative will truly be borne by the people of Oman," said David Saedi. "Once we train the instructors and transfer the knowledge to implement and conduct this training programme, the Omani citizens will completely lead the rest of the GITTC programme to success," he added.

The selection of ITA to this programme is based upon a comprehensive study, during which a pilot programme has been implemented for 378 employees who have received the training programme and IT certifications, he added.

The GITTC is a project under the ‘National IT Training & Awareness (NITTA) framework which is a government, nationwide e-Oman initiative aimed at developing ICT skills and increasing ICT awareness within the government and the community. The GITTC initiative aims to provide ICT training opportunities to the civil service employees in order to enable them to offer electronic services to the public and the businesses.

ITA has taken a special approach towards this initiative by running a pilot programme to set the necessary milestone to successfully execute a country level IT skills training and certification programme for all employees under the Ministry of Civil Services.

The Ministry of Education (MoE) is a key partner in the GITTC and their cooperation ensured a successful GITTC pilot project. The MoE provided the general education school computer labs as locations for training purposes and school teachers were trained to be IC3 certified trainers. Their cooperation is also assured for the formal GITTC training programme where the school labs will continue to be one of the implementation channels apart from institutionalised training centres.

In the first phase of the programme, ITA intends to train new job-seekers as trainers, creating job opportunities for approximately 200 Omani nationals over the course of the project. These trainers will then be placed at different schools across the Sultanate to roll out the training programme for Civil Service employees in those regions. A screening process will occur prior to the training where students will be divided into groups of ‘beginners’, ‘intermediate’ and ‘advanced level’.