ICDL wins ‘Best Practice Award’ at an international ICT skills event held in Warsaw

Crucial findings on UAE’s Cyber Safety shared by ICDL with policymakers from across the world

ICDL Arabia, the governing body and certification authority of the ICDL program in Egypt, GCC States and Iraq, has received a ‘Best Practice Award’ during ECDL Foundation’s Forum 2015, held recently in Warsaw, Poland. Jamil Ezzo, Director General of ICDL Arabia, received the award at the Forum which was attended by ICT professionals from over 100 countries. ICDL Arabia was recognized for effectively integrating key tools and information to better serve the ICDL community within its designated territory.

During the Forum, Ezzo expressed his gratitude to receiving such an award and delivered a speech to a large audience which included ICDL operators, computer societies, and policymakers in ICT education and training from all over the world. During the speech entitled “Digital Native or Digitally Naïve”, he also addressed the enormous risks the Internet poses on adolescents today. He also shared with the audience key findings of a research conducted by ICDL Arabia which is downloadable from www.icdlarabia.org, the first research report that culminates both social media and how it relates to cyber safety in the Arab region". The research which was carried out during ICDL Summer Camp 2014, held across the GCC region and included 1,000 youngsters aged between 14 to 18 years, revealed a startling fact that 7 out of 10 kids have already fallen victim to cyber crime. Further alarming statistics were shared to entice decision makers as well as ICDL operators around the world to engage and commit to the subject Cyber Safety. Ezzo said: “We are committed to spreading digital skills among all citizens of our region, taking into account that public awareness on Cyber Safety is a fundamental issue in protecting our society and our children.”

In line with its efforts to contribute towards Cyber Safety, ICDL Arabia has collaborated with Child Protection Centers and local police authorities across the region to raise awareness about the safe usage of internet among the youth. It has provided informative and interactive sessions to parents and teachers in schools so that they can guide children on the pros and cons of the Internet as well as distributed handbooks on Cyber Safety to students.

During the ECDL Foundation’s Forum 2015 it was announced that in 2014 Egypt has ranked 1st in the Arab region and 4th globally in terms of the number of candidates enrolled in the program.