Muscat: Sultan Qaboos Bin Saeed has ordered a royal grant, worth 20 million Omani riyals (Dh191million) that will give 113,000 Omani citizens access to computers.
The announcement, on Saturday, by Ahmad Bin Abdulnabi Macki, the National Economy Minister and Deputy Chairman of the Financial Affairs and Energy Resources Council, stated that each Omani family, which is eligible for social insurance and has one or more children in the K-12 school system, will be given a free laptop.
One personal computer is also to be given to first year students in higher education, as well as teachers who are graduates of the Government IT Training and Certification (GITTC) project.
The aim is to encourage the citizens of Oman to become computer literate and to promote the use of computers.
"This Royal Grant coincides with the celebration of the Sultanate's 40th Glorious National Day and comes as reaffirmation of His Majesty's interest in developing the digital capacities of citizens and enhancing their skills when dealing with information technology,” Abdulnabi Macki told Oman News Agency (ONA). “To be able to readily access government e-services and take advantage of information and communication technology has become the key to transforming Oman into a sustainable knowledge-based society.”
He added that the grant is a great source of motivation for the people of Oman and will help to make the entire country computer literate.
"This grant will now allow different groups and segments of society to acquire a personal computer and communicate with the digital world, access e-Government services and thereby strengthen the efforts to build a robust digital society in Oman," the Omani minister added.
Mohammad Bin Nasser Al Khusaibi, the Secretary General of the Ministry of National Economy and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Information Technology Authority (ITA), said the grant would be distributed from now until 2012. “The Information Technology Authority (ITA) will coordinate with the concerned authorities to implement this Royal Grant,” he said.
