Muscat – The Ministry of Transport, Communications and Information Technology (MTCIT) has made substantial progress in enhancing digital skills among Omani youth through its national initiative ‘Makeen’. It implemented 85 training programmes under this initiative last year, significantly impacting the digital competency of national cadres.

During an annual forum of Makeen held at Al Bustan Palace, a Ritz-Carlton Hotel, on Wednesday, it was revealed that around 5,000 participants benefited from these programmes. They collectively implemented 1,636 practical projects and earned over 480 technical certificates.

Explaining the initiative’s structure, Jalila al Araimi, Director of Department of Artificial Intelligence Programmes and Advanced Technologies Development, said Makeen consists of five tracks, including technical camps focused on developing Omani digital skills for the labour market in areas such as programming, AI, data science, software engineering, and web development. This track alone saw 274 trainees complete 498 practical projects, with 58% securing employment.

Makeen includes a micro-certificates track for advanced skills, which delivered 24 programmes to 1,564 trainees. This track resulted in 1,132 practical projects and issuing 480 mini-technical certificates. It created 18 direct employment opportunities and over 52 income-generating opportunities in mentoring and training roles within the programme.

The professional specialised qualification track offers specialised programmes in collaboration with major tech companies like Huawei, Cisco and Microsoft. This track has benefited 2,807 trainees through 47 programmes, equipping the market with professionally certified specialists.

Additionally, the technical competitions track has organised 11 local and regional contests, with 3,155 participants from 48 local and Arab universities and colleges.

According to Jalila, a track will be launched in the first quarter of 2024 to support technical certificates, aimed at motivating IT professionals to gain certificates to enhance their marketability.

The forum also featured a presentation on Makeen, speeches including one by the CEO of Saudi Digital Academy, and several success stories.