Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid IT Education Project trains 70,000 high school students

ITEP's student trainees achieved an impressive 97 per cent success rate in courses in the 2005-2006 academic year. Average marks in the courses were as high as 86 per cent.

Guided by the objective of fostering IT literacy at a formative age, ITEP provides IT training to secondary school students of 40 public schools in Dubai and Abu Dhabi through a specialised eLearning solution developed in-house and an innovative learner-centred curriculum. In each school where it provides training, ITEP creates a purpose-built IT lab that provides an ideal atmosphere for IT learning.

Dr. Abdullah Al Karam, Director, ITEP, attributed the project's achievement to the vision and personal guidance of H.H. Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President and Prime Minister, and Ruler of Dubai.
"ITEP has been established with a mission to spread IT education and awareness across the UAE. Since its inception, the project has been consistently evaluating, testing and updating its programmes and training courses with the aim of offering top-of-the-line IT education services," said Dr. Al Karam.

He added: "We are very keen on developing close ties with all our trainees to obtain feedback. Ideas and suggestions from students, instructors and administrators are extremely important for upgrading the ITEP programmes, in order to meet with overall expectations and requirements".

"ITEP is committed to pursuing best practices in IT training, and introducing new technologies that bolster efforts to refine the quality of education across the UAE."

The annual ITEP opinion survey conducted at the end of the academic year recorded a student satisfaction level of 84 %. According to the students, the ITEP courses helped them overcome mental blocks about IT. They also vouched for the team spirit that the programmes inculcated through group oriented lessons.

Heads of high schools hailed ITEP's role, acknowledging the effectiveness of the training programmes in enabling students to gain proficiency in IT related skills.

Amal Bel Hassa, Deputy Director of ITEP, said: "ITEP's achievements of the past six years are only the beginning. There are several initiatives that are still being developed. We are coordinating with leading educational organisations to introduce new mechanisms to further our efforts towards creating an IT-literate society."

ITEP has also developed customised training programs for teachers and administrators of the Dubai Education Zone, including the ICDL certification training as well as the I-Teach programme, which was launched in cooperation with Cambridge University for International Examinations.