ITEP students on an exploratory tour of the GITEX

ITEP is engaged in providing IT education courses to high school student in public schools.

Amal Bel Hasa, Executive Director of ITEP said, "These annual visits present a great opportunity to the students to be introduced to the latest technologies in an environment that combines fun and learning. It encourages students to adopt IT as their preferred profession as IT plays an important role that it plays in our daily lives and our journey in building a knowledge economy. This student visit is different in that it is part of their projects that they have to submit by the end of the term and the year. It a part of our process of matching our education system with the job market needs."

The students for the trip were selected from all the secondary public schools, based on previous performances, talents and interest, hence automatically rewarding the brilliant students for their efforts.

Saif Al Shamsi, the DU presenter at GITEX said, "Gitex is a good chance for the students to see how telecommunication technology would be like in the near future. For example the mobile TV which needs no network signal to operate. It is good to see local students interested in IT, they are rising to the occasion and taking IT seriously and becoming part of it."

Sara Al Nasiri, a grade 11 student from Zabeel School said, "In grade 9, we had to complete a project about HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid. To complete it, I had to design a calendar and edit a short movie about his life. This was the beginning of my attachment to IT. I am planning to become a Web Developer/Designer. I loved the visit to GITEX because I learned so much and was introduced to the market needs in terms of specialization. IT is the way to go."

Sima Ibrahim, IT trainer at Amna Bint Wahab School felt, "Thanks to GITEX the girls now know that an organization called Dubai Silicon Oasis is waiting for them. Each student has her own interests, such as mobiles, online security and other IT related fields. Students these days are more IT oriented than science or business. Bringing them to GITEX has brought them up to date with the new technologies."

To make the tour really effective ITEP had pre-planned the tour with select companies and arranged seminars and demos for the students. At the end of the trip, students had a good understanding about the different specialties in the IT field thus enabling them to choose their career path with ease.