A joint
project with JGC Corporation aims to contribute to the fostering of IT
human resources in Iraq by proding education to a total of 20,000
students at approximately 200 public elementary schools in Basra
Province
Castalia and JGC Corporation (Representative Director and President: Farhan Mujib) (JGC), a company that offers EPC business for various plants and facilities overseas, joined forces to launch "JGC Code Education", a code education program targeting public elementary school students in Basra Province, Iraq. The project launched on March 6, 2022 and will offer classes to approximately 20,000 students in the course of the next two years.
[Project overview]
- Targeting 4th and 5th graders over approximately 200 public elementary schools in Basra Province
- Teachers are locally hired and trained Iraqi staff, all of whom are graduates of renowned national universities majoring in computer science and engineering
- Implements over 100 units of Ozobot, a micro-robot for code education
- Educational materials in Arabic to learn the basics of coding
- Learning logical and sequential thinking through the folding of a sheet of paper into a plane and the steps of brushing teeth, as well as the use of Ozobot and color codes
- Parnership with the local education board; workshops will be offered to teachers too
All classes are conducted by locally hired staff.
The curriculum is structured to encourage students to use their hands as much as possible.
Learning material in Arabic, prepared exclusively for this project
and supervised by Professor Oomori at Joetsu University of Education.
Students will learn sequential thinking by learning how to fold a paper plane.
■ Background story of the introduction of IT education
The fall of academic standards in post-war Iraq has been noticeable. Along with the increase of the youth population, investments in education have been deficient, especially in Basra Province. Most noticeably, cutting-edge education such as STEM and 21st-century education is barely available. In addition, the youth's unemployment rate is high, which makes it difficult for them to find jobs even with a college degree. Thus learning coding as an IT skill will lead directly to future employment.
We also hire staff locally for this project and train them to act as teachers.
Students use Ozobot and color codes to learn the basics of the sequential process.
Schools are often located in the middle of the desert. Many students walk miles to school.
■Basra Refinery Upgrading Project in Basra Province, Iraq
Although Iraq is one of the world's leading oil producing countries, the two refineries currently in operation have lost their production capacity due to war damage and aging, and therefore not able to meet the domestic demands of petroleum products, relying on the imports of gasoline and other petroleum products. JGC Corporation will newly construct a new unit in the vicinity of the existing Basra Refinary, in order to increase the production of light oil. Upon the implementation of this project, JGC plans to conduct skill training for the total of more than 1,000 Iraqis and to hire approximately 7,000 skilled Iraqi workers. The completion of the project expects to create more than 2,000 jobs as operational personnel, which will contribute to the solution of the unemployment problem in Iraq.
Ref: JGC Holdings' press release, August 12, 2020
■JGC Corporation's CSR projects
With "Working with local communities around the world" as their agenda for material issues in social initiatives, JGC group is actively involved in projects that make contributions to the local communities, especially in emerging countries and especially in countries where they build plants. In the aforementioned Basra Refinery Upgrading project, cooperation with the local community is imperative in order to smoothly implement the construction. JGC Corporation believes that providing children and students with learning opportunities is an effective, long-term contribution to the needs of the local community, and selected Castalia as their partner that has a wealth of experiences in overseas projects and has established the know-how of advanced educational business.