THE One Million Arab Coders initiative recently welcomed its first cohort of 100,000 students who began their online coding courses under four educational tracks.
On a country breakdown, more than 10 percent of the students were from Saudi Arabia, a figure that clearly shows the ambition of the Saudi youth to secure future careers by adopting top ICT skills.
The initiative has attracted 466,122 registrations so far, with 217,515 completing their applications to begin their course, in addition to 10,000 applications by tutors looking to provide guidance and tuition to the students.
"One Million Arab Coders Initiative has witnessed overwhelming response by enthusiastic students and tutors from across 12 Arab countries, with so many registering in the first few months since the initiative was announced," said Hussain Sajwani, founder of Hussain Sajwani-DAMAC Foundation, the strategic partner of this initiative.
"The 450,000 registered students are testament to the region's appetite for advanced skills that serve as the building blocks for jobs of the future.”
One Million Arab Coders Initiative was developed by Dubai Future Foundation, under the leadership of UAE Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, and aims to provide free software development courses to one million Arabs. Applications have been received from countries including Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Morocco, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, United Arab Emirates and Yemen.
While the initiative has attracted applicants aged 13 to 55 years, with the majority aged between 18 and 24 years, over 194,000 have opted to receive their course instruction in Arabic language versus just over 32,000 opting for English language. Courses are being offered across four tracks and include Front End Web Developer, Data Analyst, Android Developer and Full Stack Web Developer.
Of the four courses offered, Android Developer received the most registrations (34.62 percent), and followed by Full Stack Web Developer (31.75 percent). The duration of each course is 8-10 weeks, including quizzes, projects and exams, to complete the program and receive the certification. Applications for cohort 2 are currently being accepted. — SG
