YESTERDAY, INTEL CHAIRMAN, Craig Barrett, launched new teaching and learning programmes whilst on a trip to the United Arab Emirates. Intel’s initiatives are geared at improving Middle Eastern education through technology, the company says.

Whilst in the UAE, Barrett teamed up with Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid’s Al Maktoum Foundation, which promotes the development of future leaders, encourages innovation and entrepreneurship, invests in scientific research and creates employment opportunities for Arab youth. It also aims to create a knowledge-based society in a region where the Internet is still finding its feet.

Intel will work together with the foundation to spread its ‘Teach’ program throughout the Arab world, including training over 2 million teachers in Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, UAE and Yemen by 2011. According to Intel, over 400,000 teachers in the region have already graduated from the program.

Barrett also said that Intel would consolidate its relationship with INJAZ al-Arab, another private sector organisation that works within the country’s education system to help youth become more business-oriented and help encourage them to become future entrepreneurs. The company has pledged to donate a thousand hours of training time to the inititive. µ