Community Knowledge Centre in Sur set up by ITA in cooperation with the Ministry of Sports Affairs

This agreement is signed by H.E Rashed Bin Ahmed Al-Hinai, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Sports Affairs and Dr.Salim Al-Ruzaiqi, CEO of ITA. The signing ceremony will take place on the 2nd May 2009, at the Ministry of Sports Affairs premises.

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 Information Technology Authority (ITA) of Oman has signed two MoUs earlier with the Ministry of Sports Affairs (MoSA) to undertake cooperative efforts to set up the Community Knowledge Centers (CKC) at the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex, Muscat and the Sohar Sports Complex.

"MoSA is happy to set up the Community Knowledge Centre at Sur Sports Complex and this is in line with our plan to establish these centres for building knowledge and capacity in modern technologies. It is a fine initiative by the ITA and well conceived to utilise such centres as focus points for the delivery of training program and also as access points for e-services from the public sector. We strongly believe that through these centres we will be able to reach a potential community and spread the digital culture wider within the community," told H.E Rashed Bin Ahmed Al-Hinai.

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, the '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 the MoU, Dr. Salim Al Ruzaiqi, CEO of ITA said, "Educating and training the community to access electronic information and enabling them to fully utilise the e-services provided by the public sector is the primary aim behind the C community IT tTraining project under which the establishment of CKCs as focus centres is being implemented with the cooperation of the MoSA and other organisations. The locations of the CKCs have been carefully selected to be acceptable, accessible, and appropriate to conduct the training. This project is innovative in motivating and supporting different sections of the community to adopt a digital life style."

"Through this initiative individuals will get a stepping stone to technology and Internet access to fully participate in e-Oman initiatives while the citizens are provided with digital literacy training and opportunities for IT certifications. The CKCs will also provide more apportunities job for employment for unemployed Omani youth opportunities for unemployed IT graduates to work as trainers," he added.

Ms. Seema Nasser Al Kaabi, heading this Project at ITA said, "This training program is part of different initiatives undertaken by ITA to develop IT skills and knowledge of the different sectors of society as well as their awareness ofabout the digital services and the benefits they may get by using digital technologies."

"The CITT project is one of the basic pillars to eliminate digital illiteracy in our society. ITA strives to provide a number of free of charge training courses and programs on ICT that aim to eliminate digital illiteracy in our society," she added.