- ‘Hour of Code’- an ambition to promote coding culture reaches over 6 Million male and female students via 27,850 events across the Kingdom.
- Initiative in line with Saudi Vision 2030 to encourage computer science learning, problem-solving development and further enhance critical and employability skills training.
28 January 2019; Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia – Microsoft today unveiled engagement insights from ‘Hour of Code’ an initiative held in partnership with Ministry of Education, that aims to promote coding culture in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and help students develop future-ready skills.
Scoring first place worldwide based on number of events per capita, ‘Hour of Code’ has enabled over 1.643 million students in Saudi Arabia to engage in Computer Science learning experiences during the global campaign, and coached more than 50,608 trainers via 27,850 online and offline events.
The coding initiative was spread across 30,000 schools covering 40,000 school leaders in 147 cities and towns in Saudi Arabia namely – Riyadh, Jeddah, Khobar, Dammam, Abha and Madinah. The immense campaign enabled nearly 81 percent of students to engage in coding and Computer Science and garnered 74 percent participation from female students. The events were also actively supported by organizations such as Badir Program for Technology Incubators, Namaa AlMunawara Foundation, Dar AlHekma University and Al Obeikan Education.
Today, more than 50% of jobs require some degree of technology skills, and that number will go up to 77% in the next decade,” said Rayan Zahid, Chief Operating Officer & Chief Marketing Officer, Microsoft Saudi Arabia. “To meet this demand, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is thriving to accelerate Computer Science education and empower budding minds contribute to the economy, and embrace the opportunities of tomorrow. With initiatives like ‘Hour of Code’, the country has taken transformative leaps towards this effort by investing in human capital – and empowering the students, in line with the Saudi Vision 2030.”
The initiative further promotes Microsoft’s vision to drive excitement amongst students to learn Computer Science. We believe the real value in learning computer science is not in the act of coding itself but in building students’ ability to be creative, resilient and collaborative – skills they will need to succeed in the modern workplace,” added Zahid.
