Minister
of ICT Congratulates 450 Government Employees on Completing Key
e-Government Training
Posted: 3 February 2003
Amman — The Ministry of Information and
Communications Technology (MoICT) today announced the completion
of the first phase of ICT Literacy Training Programme, with graduation
of 450 government employees. The ceremony, held under the patronage
of H.E Dr. Fawaz H. Zu’bi Minister of ICT, is the culmination
of the three months of IT skills training, building a significant
foundation for the Jordan e-Government programme that will touch
up to 20,000 staff in public sector over the next three years.
“Our main goal is to empower government employees and enhance
their skills in IT, in order to prepare them for implementing the
e-Government programme,” said HE Dr. Zu’bi Minister
of ICT. “This will play a key role in increasing their productivity
and at the same time enable them to provide faster and more professional
services to citizens and various business sectors. This will make
the government a model user of technology, as we are aiming to increase
the IT expertise of up to 20,000 government employees by the year
2005. I call on governmental institutions to contribute heavily
in this national vision in order to achieve the different goals
set for each and every sector”
In June 2002 the Ministry of ICT signed a partnership agreement
with UNESCO Cairo office (UCO) to provide IT training to Jordanian
government employees. From August to October around 1000 employees
attended the training and received exams on the four modules of
ICT literacy. The Ministry contracted nine IT training centers to
implement the first phase of the programme and has increased the
number to become 14 centers for the second phase.
“The participation of 19 governmental institutions in this
project indicates how far reaching Jordan’s e-Government programme
is and how serious the commitment is to equip employees with the
right skills for the new governmental practices,” said Dr.
Amr S. Azzouz, ICDL Project Director, UNESCO Cairo Office. “Jordanians
are more aware today of the developed services which are provided
throughout the world by depending on enhanced IT skills and how
this will contribute towards making Jordan a regional ICT hub.”
Last month saw the start of the second phase where up to 1500 employees
are taking the training, and up to 300 have opted to test their
basic IT skills without instruction. In addition, the syllabus has
been expanded to include a pilot phase of the Abu Ghazaleh Cambridge
programme which up to 200 employees will be receiving. There are
also future plans to include a self-learning programme, where candidates
can learn and be tested on their skills and capabilities without
leaving their own PCs , making the scheme more accessible and convenient
to those involved.
“The success of the first phase of the project has demonstrated
to other employees the value of participation. To increase the ease
of receiving the training the Ministry will be launching Computer
Based Training (CBT) in the future where the ICT literacy training
curriculum will be available on a CD,” said Dr. Nabeel Al-Fayoumi,
e-Gov. ICT Literacy Program Coordinator, MoICT. “Through distributing
CD’s to different governmental institutions, employees will
be able to receive individual training whenever and wherever they
are. Once the CBT initiative achieves a positive outcome the project
will be expanded to enable more employees to benefit from this initiative
and at the same time reduce cost of training.”
The USAID-funded AMIR Program, through its Information and Communications
Technology Initiative, has provided management support, which included;
technical assistance by developing a web-enabled management tool
that will enable e-Government ICDL training to be managed and monitored
effectively, devising and implementing plans, monitoring the roll-out
of the first phase and reviewing the business plan. AMIR program’s
training department also contributed in building the capacity of
MoICT ICDL management personnel.
About The Ministry
The Ministry of Information and Communications Technology is responsible
for articulating policy in the areas of information technology,
telecommunications, and post in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.
With the objective of providing Jordanians access to benefits of
information and communications technologies (ICT), the Ministry’s
mandate includes creating an enabling environment for ICT investment,
overseeing promotion of ICT opportunities in Jordan, and creating
national awareness about the importance of the sector to economic
development. Dubbed as Jordan’s e-Ministry, it has also been
assigned the responsibility of overseeing the Jordan e-Government
Initiative.
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