Muscat: 15,000 male and female students from all the governorates and schools of Oman will receive training under the National Youth Programme for Skills Development. The initiative is sponsored by the Diwan of Royal Court of the Sultanate of Oman, and comes within its framework of the national initiatives launched by the body.
In a statement to the Oman News Agency, Khalid bin Hilal Al Busaidi, the Minister of the Diwan of Royal Court, said, “The Sultanate has never held back on its citizens, and there is a firm belief that development is a continuous process. Once we reach a particular stage, it becomes a starting point for the next stage.”
Al Busaidi also praised the fruitful cooperation between the Diwan of Royal Court and the Ministry of Education, which played a major role in designing and implementing the programme.
Adding to this, Dr Ali bin Qassim bin Jawad, an Advisor for Studies and Research at the Diwan of Royal Court, said to the ONA, “The second edition of the National Youth Programme for Skills Development has capitalised on its accumulated knowledge and expertise to design a high-level programme, building on available modern technologies.
“The programme seeks to prepare young adults with the attitudes, skills and knowledge needed to deal with different life situations, based on merging modern concepts with the digital educational content in an entertaining and inspiring manner,” he went on to say.
He thanked the German University of Technology (GUTech) in Oman, as well as the other international partner institutions who had contributed all their expertise in designing and delivering the programme.
Kawthar Abdullah Al Mahrouqi, Al Nashia Scheme Lead, explained, as reported by the ONA, “In collaboration with the Ministry of Education, and following a predefined set of criteria, 15,000 students were nominated to participate in the programme.
These students are currently in grades 10 and 11 and come from every secondary school in the Sultanate.”
According to Al Mahrouqi, the programme consists of an online learning journey that introduces students to both online learning and to computational thinking by teaching them programming using Python coding language. Python language is considered to be one of the most important languages currently used in the development of technologies from the fourth industrial revolution.
“Students will access a digital platform developed for the programme in both Arabic and English,” added the Oman News Agency. “During the online journey, participants will be completing independent open-ended creative projects. These projects will be evaluated by a team of international experts, and the 200 students with the best work will be invited to participate in the final state of the National Youth Programme for Skills Development.
According to Al-Mahroqui, the final stage, the residential programme, consists of a two-week intensive program to take place at the German University of Technology in Oman (GUtech). The two weeks will include an up to date range of topics to reflect the current technological trends, including virtual reality, machine learning, financial literacy, and cyber security. Equally importantly, students will take part in sessions to help them coalesce as a leadership team as they develop important life skills.
The phase will conclude with a two-day hackathon to ensure students’ exposure to the themes of the fourth industrial revolution, and associated skills. The National Youth Programme for Skills Development is one of a series of interlinked national human capital investment initiatives by the Diwan of Royal Court.
It is an innovative and challenging programme, designed to equip young Omanis aged between 15 and 29 years, with the attitudes, skills and knowledge to be successful in the future world of work and the fourth industrial revolution.
(With inputs from the Oman News Agency)
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