Muscat: Everything at the click of a mouse and you have all you want at your fingertips. This is the culture being developed in Oman as government pushes hard for an IT (Information Technology)-savvy e-Oman society.
The government is aiming for a complete digital society through their ambitious 3.5 million Omani-riyals (Dh33.41 million) portal 'Ubar', which has been named after the ancient Omani city of Ubar, the 'Atlantis of the desert' and a main trading gateway into Arabian Peninsula.
"The work on Ubar Portal is in full swing and we hope to go online with this portal by the end of first quarter of 2008," Talal Al Rahbi, Marketing Manager at the IT Authority of Oman, told Gulf News. Ubar is being developed to make it the citizens' main entry point for accessing e-government services online, he added.
Education authorities are making every effort to prepare the next generation for the challenges ahead by taking IT to classrooms much before Ubar becomes the way of life in Oman.
The Ministry of Higher Education has literally forced pupils to use computers, internet, SMS and other net facilities by making its use mandatory for seeking admissions from this year. "It is the biggest step forward taken by us," Khalid Al Zedjali, Deputy Director General for Higher Education Admissions Centre (HEAC) at the Higher Education Ministry told Gulf News.
"By forcing students to use e-admission, we are inculcating the IT culture in them," he claimed, adding that this would help in preparing this generation for the way of life ahead when everything will be done through digital network. The e-process of enrolling for higher education was started last year but this year it was made mandatory and "the response has been tremendous," enthused Al Zedjali. He pointed out that 46,000 students use the service to register for admission.
"The process was fast and we have already placed 14,151 students in government institutions or in government-funded programmes," he revealed.
Faisal Al Balushi, a parent, used the e-admission facility again this year for his younger son. "I first used it for my older son but they have now made it mandatory to register through net or SMS and I must say that the whole process has improved much more than last time," said Al Balushi, adding that there was no room for chaos in the admission process since everything was streamlined and computerised.
His younger son Abdullah was placed for IT studies at the Sultan Qaboos University (SQU). "I am really happy that I didn't have to drive all the way to SQU or different colleges and stand in long queues for admission," said Abdullah Bin Faisal Al Balushi, who is keen to serve Oman in the IT field in future. "That's going to be the way of life globally so how can we be behind," he exclaimed.
Net lag
e-awareness, Abdullah reckons, is the right step in the right direction at the right time. "Government efforts in this direction are praiseworthy and now the onus is on us [youngsters] to take up the challenge and live up to their expectations," believes the teenager.
Another student Basil Nasser, however, has a complaint. "It may be good way to force us to use the net to register but the net is so slow that it takes eons to complete the formalities of registering - at best a frustrating experience," he said, hoping that efforts would be made to speed up internet connections in the country.
Al Rahbi of ITA, Oman believes that internet connectivity has improved a lot in the recent past but there was scope to improve it further.
"The demand for connections is very high," he conceded. The most basic foundation for eOman, however, is provided by the Education Ministry. "We are taking computers to classrooms in 1,200 schools across the country in three phases," said Salim Bin Sultan Al Abri, Educational Initiatives Manager at the ministry.
He said the first phase of the five-million-riyal project is already being implemented in Muscat and Buraimi region.
Creating e-Oman
- Oman's e-governance initiative is committed to creating a Knowledge Society in Oman.
- e-Oman is a wide variety of citizen-centric initiatives connecting the society with the Government.
- Ubar Portal is designated to be the main gateway to electronic services offered by the government.
- MoHE has built the Higher Education Admission Centre (HEAC) System to unify the admission process in all higher education institutions.
- The One-Stop Shop (OSS) is a highly useful service offered by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MoCI), which will enable investors to set up companies in Oman while minimising paperwork, saving costs and time.
