Children 12 and under to benefit from ICDL's free digital literacy certification initiative
ICDL GCC Foundation, the governing body and certification authority of the International Computer Driving License (ICDL) program in the Gulf, will once again extend its goodwill throughout the region by granting free ICDL certification to thousands of children aged 12 and under across the Gulf. The initiative aims to develop computer literacy at an early age in order to prepare Arab youth to use information technology as a tool for sustainable education.
The Foundation will intensively promote its latest children-oriented campaign through the region's education ministries, educational zones, schools and other academic organizations. Teachers will be briefed on the campaign details and objectives beforehand so that they can properly prepare their students. Several public and private sponsors have already committed to participate in this initiative with prizes and rewards to outstanding participants as well as funding as an expression of full support and appreciation. Gulf education ministries and other authorities have likewise lauded the ICDL GCC's latest initiative and its positive effect on regional social development.
"As part of its campaign toward a digital society for all, ICDL GCC Foundation is committed to supporting the governments of the region by funding programs that benefit their community with computer skills. The inclusion of children in our digital literacy movement has become instrumental to reforming educational systems around the world and we are proud to contribute with such initiatives that reach out to the youngest children. We encourage organizations from the public and private sectors to also participate in similar programs through their own Social Corporate Responsibility (CSR) budgets to further digital literacy not only among children but also among women, retirees, people with special needs, job seekers and other social groups," said Jamil Ezzo, Director General, ICDL GCC Foundation.
This new ICDL initiative, which will run until the end of the 2008-2009 academic year, complements region-wide efforts to establish a digital society and reflects the importance placed by the organization on the role of youth in the Arab World's sustained development. The Foundation had in fact recently honed the IT skills of more than 10,000 students throughout the Gulf during special training camps held during the summer of 2008. Aside from proficiency, these and other ICDL GCC youth programs also emphasize on the ethical and safe use of computers.
ICDL GCC Foundation is the regional operator of the International Computer Driving Licence (ICDL), a vendor-neutral global computer literacy initiative owned and coordinated by the European Computer Driving Licence Foundation, a not-for-profit organization with the aim to promulgate digital literacy around the world. ICDL GCC Foundation, which reported last October more than 600,000 registrations in its program in the Gulf region, presently administers and oversees the ICDL program through 1,800 approved centers in Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE.
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About ICDL
International Computer Driving License (ICDL), is an internationally recognised computer proficiency standard that is owned by the European Computer Driving License Foundation (ECDL) and introduced by the UNESCO's Cairo Office (UCO) for Arab states in 2001, is gaining increasing acceptance in the Middle East, with several governments adopting and prescribing it to their employees. The ICDL program exists in over 140 countries, and is offered in 36 languages, including Arabic. The programs offered are all based on one standard syllabus and question set. There are more than 26,000 centres worldwide, above 5 million candidates, more than 1 million issued certificates and over 20 million exams have been taken globally since the launch of the program year 1997.
About ICDL GCC Foundation
ICDL GCC Foundation was created by the ECDL Foundation, the not-for-profit global governing body of the ECDL and ICDL member countries dedicated to helping raise the general level of computer skills in societies and providing access for all to the information society, to serve the to the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) States with their implementation of ICDL and for providing them with localised support to ensure quality of ICDL programs. The ICDL GCC Foundation is the sole accreditation body that is responsible to support ICDL accredited training and testing centres in the GCC. It also acts as the reviewing and approving body for the local adaptation of ICDL programs.
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© Press Release 2008
