Interview with Dr. Salim Sultan Al Ruzaiqi CEO of the ITA about His Majesty’s Royal Grant in support of e.oman

• This Royal Grant is a continuation of the generosity that His Majesty continues to bestow on his people.
• This Royal Grant interprets His Majesty’s visionary thinking as to the new horizons added to human knowledge in the third millennium.
• Laptops will be distributed mid to late December through various outlets across the regions and governorates of the Sultanate. 
• In addition to the laptops, software and training will also be supplied, which vary from one category to another.
• The Royal Grant compliments Oman’s Digital Society and eGovernment initiatives.    

His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said has issued a Royal Grant bestowing one free laptop to each beneficiary family of the social insurance that has at least one child or more registered in the K-12 school system and one free laptop per student in these families who are presently enrolled in higher education studies. The grant also includes a subsidy on the cost of a computer for students enrolled in the first year for higher education in the Sultanate, in addition to school teachers who are graduates of the Government IT Training & Certification (GITTC) Project. These grants were established in an effort to support citizens’ ability to acquire personal computers and to promote their participation in the building of Oman’s digital society.

A Generous Initiative

At the beginning of the interview, Dr. Salim Sultan Al Ruzaiqi said this grant comes as another sign of the generosity that His Majesty Sultan Qaboos – May God protect him – continues to bestow on his people by providing them with every means to help them lead a decent life, overcome every difficulty they are faced with and be acquainted with all forms of modern education and knowledge. His Majesty has always stressed the importance of education and knowledge and his continuous approach is to be open to every relevant update and development in order to usher the Sultanate into the constantly evolving spheres of applying knowledge.

Third Millennium Vision

“This Royal Grant interprets the visionary thinking of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said – May God protect him – as to the new horizons added to human knowledge in the third millennium. Information communication technologies (ICT) constitute the driving force of development and the cornerstone of the twenty first century’s economies. Therefore, His Majesty has devoted his ultimate attention to finding a national strategy for developing citizens’ IT capabilities and skills. This Royal Grant is timely and helps to promote the efforts exerted to build a knowledge-based national economy. It also enables various categories of Omani society to progress towards the concept of a digital Oman,” Al Ruzaiqi added.

Spreading Computer Literacy

“This Royal Grant supports and consolidates the National Personal Computer (NPC) Initiative being implemented by the Information Technology Authority (ITA), which aims to promote computer literacy among members of society and enable the various categories to be digitally literate, be able to obtain eServices and utilize IT in developing the patterns and styles of modern life. In fact, this grant particularly contributes to increasing the number of PC users across the sultanate and by consequence, to also increase the number of internet users. It encourages them to be in contact with the outside world and become acquainted with the latest scientific developments. Undoubtedly, the cognitive activity carried out through electronic interaction is one of the vital areas, which reflect the extent of scientific advancement in modern societies,” explained Al Ruzaiqi.

Beneficiary Categories

“Recipients of this Royal Grant include specific segments of society represented in the category of beneficiary families of the social insurance who have at least one child or more registered in the K-12 school system. It also includes granting one free PC per student in these social insurance beneficiary families who are presently enrolled in higher education studies. The grant also provides a subsidy of OMR 150 towards the cost of a computer for students enrolled in the first year of the Academic Year 2010/2011 for higher education in the Sultanate, in addition to teachers who are graduates of the Government IT Training & Certification (GITTC) Project,” Al Ruzaiqi continued.

IT Package

“The Royal Grant is not limited to simply the provision of a laptop to the specific categories only but also includes the distribution of a software component, as per the targeted category. For the beneficiary families of the social insurance who have one or more students enrolled in the K-12 school system, they will receive a MS Office Suite CD/license and a Computer Basics Training Tutorial. Students from the social insurance beneficiary families who study in higher education institutions within the Sultanate will be granted one laptop plus the MS Office Suite CD/license. As for the school teachers who are graduates of the GITTC program and the students enrolled in the first year of the Academic Year 2010/2011 for higher education in the Sultanate in higher education institutions within the Sultanate, they will obtain a subsidy to own a laptop/PC,” he said.

Distribution of PCs

With regard to distribution of the PCs to the beneficiary categories, Dr. Salim Al Ruzaiqi indicated that the ITA has invited a group of local dealers of internationally recognized computer brands to participate in the National PC Initiative. These dealers have been approved according to specific criteria determined by the ITA and are suitable with the uses of the beneficiary categories. The PCs will be available in the local market through dealer outlets, which are located across the different regions and governorates of the Sultanate so as to represent the national criteria of this Initiative. They will be available in accordance with specific rules and at assigned times that will be announced in the local media upon the commencement of distribution in December. “We hope everybody will co-operate with us to achieve the goals envisioned by this Royal Grant,” he concluded.

Integration of Initiatives and Projects

Dr. Salim Al Ruzaiqi noted: "This Royal Grant aiming at eradicating digital illiteracy complements many of the objectives of the national strategy of Oman’s Digital Society and eGovernment, as well as the projects of the e.oman Initiative. At the same time, this Royal Grant seeks to encourage Oman’s citizens to contend with eGovernment services. Among these projects, we make mention of the Community Knowledge Centres (CKCs) that aim to activate continuous learning and contribute to raising digital awareness amongst all citizens, through a series of events and programs in the field of Information Technology offered free of charge to all segments of society. This project will also contribute to training the beneficiaries of the Royal Grant through providing free-of-charge training to all beneficiaries of the Royal Grant in an effort to enable them to deal with digital technology and benefit from eServices offered by Government entities."

Dr. Salim Al Ruzaiqi added: "This Royal Grant also supports the GITTC Project in the field of information technology through strengthening the ability of school teachers who are graduates of this project to acquire a PC. The Royal Grant subsidizes the acquisition by this group of teachers of a PC that they can use in the educational field, in addition to upgrading their teaching skills by using modern technology efficiently as to contribute to promoting the use of digital knowledge of students in particular, and society in general."      

Table 1: Beneficiary Categories  

 Table 2: IT Package Components