Oman's Information Technology Authority to set up Community Knowledge Centre at Salalah

This agreement was signed by Dr. Hassan Kashoob, Dean of Salalah College of Technology and Dr.Salim Al-Ruzaqi, CEO of ITA at the ITA exhibition stand at the Salalah Tourism Festival grounds.

Establishment of the CKCs is part of the Community IT Training Project which falls under the umbrella of the 'National IT Training & Awareness Framework Initiative (NITTA). The NITTA is a government, nation-wide eOman initiative aimed at developing ICT skills capability and increasing ICT awareness within the government and the community.

The main objective of the Community IT Training Project undertaken by ITA is to train citizens of the community on IT basic skills in order to reduce IT illiteracy and to bridge the digital divide.

In order to realize these objectives, ITA aims to establish several Community Knowledge Centers in different parts of the Sultanate. Each CKC will be equipped with the required computing and communication equipments and furnishings. Further, Train The Trainer (TTT) program will be provided to trainers, who are selected from a pool of unemployed IT graduates. These trainers will then offer IT training at the CKC using the Microsoft Digital literacy curriculum, to the rest of the community.

Signing this MoU with SCT demonstrates ITA's commitment to empower individuals with IT skills and knowledge and to direct Oman towards a Knowledge-based economy. The centres will provide job opportunities for unemployed by employing trained trainers to offer the IT trainings.

Public can utilize the CKC centres at the college for accessing the Internet for availing e-services and participating in Information Technology training. This eOman initiative will further support members of the community to prepare for higher Digital Literacy Certifications.