The Nasser Vocational Training Centre (NVTC) and ThinkSmart Foundation for Development and Training held the first meeting of the advisory board of the "Smart Coders" initiative, which aims to train 10,000 Bahrainis on programming over five years.
The meeting which was held at the NVTC headquarters in Jaw was attended by a group of technical policy makers and technology pioneers in government departments and private sector institutions in education, communications, industry, banking services, and others.
The advisory board stressed the importance of keeping pace with the global trend in teaching programming by including it in the educational curricula in Bahrain.
The committee also discussed the initiatives and plans of the Smart Coders project to reach its goals and increase public awareness of programming and its importance in Bahrain and the world.
NVTC Chief Executive Officer Dr. Abdulla Nasser Alnoaimi noted that the initiative seeks to align the increasing demand for skilled IT professionals with the level of expertise and skills available to students in Bahrain.
He indicated that the courses will cover the basics of web development, mobile application development, software engineering, digital marketing, data analytics and other areas of digital knowledge.
"The scheme will also include a counseling and guidance career programme, in cooperation with ThinkSmart Group for Training and Development, to help participants apply the skills they have acquired, provide internships and contribute to enhancing employment opportunities by gaining real practical experiences", said Dr. Alnoaimi.
ThinkSmart CEO Ahmed Attiya Al Hujairi stressed keenness onm implementing the SmartCoders project which aims to arm students with coding skills.
The program will be available to all Bahrainis with the aim of providing a platform to showcase their creativity and develop their knowledge of programming.
The scheme will include a variety of courses ranging from basic to advanced programming, in addition to be workshops and mentorship from experienced professionals in the IT industry and networking with industry partners.
Source: Bahrain News Agency