Dubai Aluminium Company Limited takes landmark initiative in community service

The aluminium giant will donate 150 personal computers to schools in Dubai. Fifty PCs are ready to be donated immediately and the rest will be sent during the course of the next six months.

This major enterprise is in line with the directive of His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai, UAE Minister for Finance and Industry and Chairman of DUBAL, on extending the scope of the company's community service.

'This is the first such initiative of its kind in the UAE targeted at the educational sector. The Dubai Education Zone has been informed about this offer and the department has appreciated DUBAL's initiative. Our objective is to supply PCs to those Dubai schools which require them for their students,'

said Mr. Ahmed Al Mulla, Chief Information Officer, DUBAL.

'We have ventured into various initiatives directed towards protecting the environment, servicing the community, training the workforce, and being receptive to employee suggestions etc. we have often being awarded for such attempts and take a great pride in being the leader in this region to explore such avenues.

In similar lines, this too was intended to endorse our theme 'providing, advancing, and protecting'. We hope by donating some of our assets to the institutions that share similar values as we do, we can make a further contribution to the development of the society, particularly to the future generation 'Mr. Al Mulla added'.

'We are privileged to be part of the DUBAL initiative. The Dubai Education Zone will be happy to facilitate in the supply of these computers to any school that comes forward to accept DUBAL's offer,' said Mr. Khalifa Bin Fares, Director, Dubai Education Zone.

On its part, Microsoft offers partners in learning program which helps primary and secondary schools to ensure donated computers are properly licensed - so students and teachers can gain additional access to technology.

All the 150 PCs have been upgraded with leaned software supplied by Microsoft including Windows 2000 and Office Works. Besides, DUBAL has also offered to make arrangements to support installation of these computers.

Some schools have already made enquiries with DUBAL on this offer.

'Currently, we have made this possible within the emirate of Dubai. However we will be extending the scope of this initiative to cover the entire country soon,' said Mr. Al Mulla.