Initiative to boost advanced digital skills of Omani youth
Ministry of Transport, Communications and Information Technology (MTCIT) has launched an Initiative called Digital Makeen as part of the National Programme for the Digital Economy in efforts to train Omani youth to lead the digital transformation.
An official at MTCIT said, “The initiative aims to qualify Omani youth with modern digital skills that are in high demand in the labour market. Additionally, it seeks to provide income-generating opportunities for Omani youth in the digital sector by 2025, aligning with the ministry's objectives in the 10th Five-year Plan.” The initiative involves a multi-pronged approach - technical camps; certification for advanced skills and professional specialised qualification; and technical camps.
Technical camps will offer intensive practical training programmes of six-month duration, focusing on developing skills and competencies in digital Oman for the labour market. The camps will include programmes for advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence, data science, software engineering, mobile app development, and integrated web development.
The ‘Najeh’ programme, a training camp in collaboration OXY Company focused on cybersecurity and database, and has 23 trainees in the first round.
The Makeen Camp programme, in collaboration with Coding Academy, targets computer engineering and information technology, with 100 trainees in 2023. Additionally, 15 jobseekers participated in ‘Omani-saudi Camps’ for data analysis, web development (Java) and cybersecurity.
The MTCIT official added, “The Mini Certificates for Advanced Skills offer electronic training programmes via local or international platforms, preparing beneficiaries for specific technical skills. The goal is to equip independent workers in the Omani market, enabling them to benefit from global and local self-employment platforms. This aspect of the initiative includes the Makeen Advanced Digital Certification Programme in collaboration with the Ministry of Labour through the Udacity platform, training 4,200 jobseekers of which 600 have already undergone training.”
The specialised professional qualification programmes target prominent technology partners such as Huawei, Cisco and Microsoft. The aim is to qualify beneficiaries and supply the market with specialists holding accredited professional certificates.
A module focused on technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution is in partnership with Tech Mahindra, training 23 participants in the first batch.
Other modules include earth observation and cloud computing on Amazon technologies with 27 and 116 trainees, respectively.