Children would be prepared if tech courses were taught from primary school

Classes in the latest technologies and programming would help students take on key IT jobs to help the UAE climb in the global market.

DUBAI // Classes in the latest technologies and programming should be taught from primary school to university to help prepare students to take on key IT jobs that will help the Emirates climb even higher in the global competitiveness charts.

Dr Yasar Jarrar, partner in Bain & Company’s Middle East office, predicts that more global information technology companies will put down roots in the UAE and tech jobs will be among the top growth areas in the Emirates.

“The UAE is a market that has a big interest in wearable technology, so we’re going to see a move from computers to phones to watches as wearable technology will become more abundant.

“We will see applications in health care and education so the UAE will be at the forefront of technological applications of digital government services. This is a very exciting time; this will attract a lot of the IT companies around the world because this will be a place they can implement and deliver a lot of the latest thinking.”

Financial services, logistics, tourism and IT are among the growth areas outlined by Dr Jarrar.

“IT will also be central to the growth of other sectors so we should watch this space,” he said.

“We have to be ready to train the next generation for these future-technology jobs. Every other job in this country and in the world will be affected by technology. So technology education and being tech savvy should be a part of everybody’s education.

“Just as in the past everybody had to speak a language and learn basic maths, now basic IT is not a luxury any more, it should be part of everyone’s basic education.”

In the US, president Barack Obama launched an Hour of Code campaign last year asking that every student be taught computer programming techniques for at least an hour. The task before the UAE is similar.

“Technology is the next skill we have to work on to reform all our educational institutions ... to accept and embrace, and this is on top of preparing specialised people for that growth sector,” Dr Jarrar said. Other experts agreed with this assessment.

“The UAE should develop that culture and also relate it to implementation and practical uses of technology,” said Dr Krishnadas Nanath, assistant professor of IT at Middlesex University and a visiting professor at the Indian Institute of Management, Indore.

“Students usually relate coding to computer science, but they can be shown how coding can be used in the pharmaceutical industry. That should be the focus so they come up with new ideas. We must explain that technology can be aligned with other sectors.”

The UAE leapt seven places to rank 12th among 144 countries in the World Economic Forum’s annual global competitiveness index announced last week.

“It is a big achievement for the UAE. Globally, at the macro level, over the next three years the UAE is going to advance to the top 10 of the most competitive global economies in the world,” said Dr Jarrar, who has worked with authorities in the UAE and other GCC countries to apply successful technologies.