IN-FOCUS: GIS Education and Training in QatarThere is no end to the learning process, it just goes on, month after month, year after year. And along comes a technology that is rapidly changing our way of viewing things and changing our lives. Qatar has taken the initiative of creating GIS awareness among its people, the next few articles focus on that subject. CGIS Participates in Government's On-the-Job Training Scheme |
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As part of the government's retraining initiative, 10 ladies, currently employed by various agencies, recently participated in a comprehensive GIS training program at the Centre for GIS. There, they developed skills, which will allow them to join the GIS units in their respective home agencies.
The comprehensive 4-week course provided an introduction to GIS concepts, while focusing on practical issues such as data automation, software functionality, relational database structure, and GISnet protocol.
While the backgrounds of the students vary, each comes with interest and enthusiasm for learning new skills.
Moza Nassir has worked for 3 years as an Educational Researcher in the geography section of the Ministry of Education's Curriculum Department. She had taught geography at the secondary school level in Doha for the 7 previous years. Ms. Nassir is currently working on her PhD in Applied Climatic Geography from the University of Alexandria in Alexandria, Egypt. In addition, she is a team member of the Geographic Names Project, a comprehensive research program to determine the origin of place names throughout Qatar.
While Ms. Nassir is very familiar with GIS, in fact she plans to use it in her PhD dissertation, this is her first opportunity for practical hands-on experience.
"The power of the technology is impressive," indicates Ms. Nassir. "The opportunity to access live data across the network from a wide variety of sources provides the user with incredible tools for research."
She hopes to expedite the inclusion of GIS courses into the geography curriculum at the secondary school level. "Ours is an integrated approach to the teaching of geography here in Qatar," states Ms. Nassir. "It often includes geographic and historic references. GIS can allow the presentation of this material in a unique manner, stimulating the students to further explore the links between these subjects."
Three other students, Mona Yackoup Nasser, Fathiya Abdalla Abdul Rahman and Khawla Khalid Alobaidly, are working in the Ministry of Justice's Real Estate Registration Department (RERD), which is currently automating its land registration process using GIS technology.
Though employed by the Ministry of Agriculture, Ms.
Nasser has been with RERD since it began the automation
process in early 1995. She will return to her own ministry
upon completion of the land registration project. She began
her work at RERD as a data entry clerk and currently works
as a GIS Technician in the mapping section. While she uses
GIS on a daily basis, this formal training session has
allowed her to enhance her knowledge of the technology and
explore some of the capabilities of ARC/INFO GIS without the
pressure of a demanding production schedule.
"It's a good program," comments Ms. Nasser. "It gives you the chance to learn new methods of using GIS and the seminar series with different GIS professionals helps with understanding the size and complexity of the GIS implementation here in Qatar."
Ms. Alobaidly joined RERD 2 weeks before beginning the training session. She is a former elementary school math teacher and has good PC computer skills. The many capabilities of GIS fascinate her and she is eager to get back to the office to apply her new found abilities.
"I enjoyed the program very much," indicates Ms. Alobaidly. "GIS is a powerful technology and I think that introducing its basic concepts to secondary school students would be very beneficial."
Fathiya is a computer technician at the RERD and is confident after learning the course in Arabic. "It will be very helpful in my line of work and I look forward to taking up more courses."
Four of the other students, university graduates in chemistry, biology, geology, and physics, are currently working at the Agriculture Information Centre (AIC). They thought that the training was very beneficial and would help them in their work at AIC.
Observes Huda Al-Jaffar, Training Centre Administrator and lead trainer, "Class members were quick to grasp the concepts of GIS and enthusiastic about their newly developed skills. All in all, it was a very positive experience for both myself and my students."
Concludes Abdulla Saleh Al-Kuwari, Assistant Head of CGIS, "Our training centre has earned an international reputation for its high standards in GIS education. I believe that CGIS has entered a new phase in its development by proactively soliciting trainees from a variety of agencies currently using the technology. We are coming to those agencies saying, 'let's expedite the expansion of GIS in your department by training some of your employees that may not necessarily have a traditional technical background, but have demonstrated interest and ability.' This will benefit both the employee, who will develop expertise in a technology that will play a large role in the information management of our country, and the agency who will have a skilled GIS technician without having to organize its own training program."