- The startup says that 75% of future jobs need STEM skills.
- They are trying to give hands-on learning experience to students to develop skills and teach others.
Dubai: Computer jobs are the top source of new wages globally but more than half of all the schools do not offer computer science and coding courses.
So, how can your child be prepared for the rapidly changing job market of the future?
Coding is becoming an ever-important element as computers and smartphones are available everywhere and learning to code is a must these days to give your child a future-proof tool to use at work.
Ehteshamuddin P. A, Co-Founder and CEO of Dubai-based Junkbot, told TechChannel News that they are trying to solve the skills mismatch.
He said that 80 per cent of the students don’t have the right skills to do a job despite spending about 18 years in school and college. At the same time, he said that 75 per cent of the future jobs need STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) skills.
“We are trying to fill this gap with Skillplay, online learning courses,” he said.
Ehteshamuddin started Junkbot, a do-it-yourself robotic kit, five years ago to help children to make their own robots and gadgets by recycling things around them such as cardboards, old CDs, plastic water bottles, tea or coffee cups, etc.
After winning several awards, Junkbot is been used by 500 schools across the region.
Providing hands-on experience
With Skillplay, Ehteshamuddin said that they are trying to give hands-on learning experience to students to develop skills.
“The courses we offer are based on future skills path and prepare the student for future-ready,” he said.
Ehteshamuddin is a mechanical engineer but after completing the degree, he learnt that he doesn’t have the real skills to get a job despite learning a lot of things.
“After joining Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, I started developing the skills. That time, I thought to myself that if I were able to develop skills during the last 18 years, I would have reached greater heights but our education system does not have the learning structure where I can build skills,” he said.
Learning from his experience, he said that the only solution is “hands-on learning skills”.
By the time a student comes out of the school, he said that the student should be able to work as an intern in MNCs.
“Our online learning methodology is to learn, do, test and teach. Certified teachers from top universities will interact with the students live to do coding in English and Arabic languages,” he said.
Skillplay provides courses on basic coding, game development, 3D designing, robotics, mobile application development, Web application development, Python, data science and AI.
With an eye on the future
Depending on the age and strength of the applicant, he said a course will be recommended and once the student passes the first stage, a second course will be recommended.
The courses are targeted at students aged between eight and 18 years old.
At the same time, Ehteshamuddin said that they are also providing jobs to many qualified engineers and teachers who are sitting idle.
“We have 20 tutors currently and aims to build 200 tutors in another six months. Our vision is to have 5,000 tutors in another two to three years and 100,000 students in the next five years,” he said.
Currently, about 90 students, from the UAE, have enrolled for the courses.
The fees start from AED249 to AED1,000 and they are also planning to start a subscription-based plan with AED500 monthly.
“We will be adding more courses in the future, depending on the future skillset required,” he said.