A programme to deliver computer science education to 1,400 students with little access to technology facilities has been completed by the Oracle Academy.

The country-wide training programme was completed in partnership with the the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology of Egypt (MCIT) as part of its ‘Tech Home’ community initiative.

Students, between the ages of 12 and 18, who have no computers or computer labs in schools were targeted by the programme.

The programme also offered two computer science training programmes, dubbed Alice and Greenfoot.

Alice is designed to teach students object-oriented programming via making animated movies and games, and by dragging and dropping graphic tiles that contain standard Java programming statements.

Greenfoot, meanwhile, is an integrated development environment (IDE) suitable for students aged 14-25 that teaches standard Java in a visual manner.

"The Oracle Academy is delighted to see this continued investment in computer science skills by the MICT and to actively encourage students to participate in the Alice training," said Jane Richardson, EMEA director, Oracle Academy.

"For students this is the start of their ascent up the Java skills ladder and potentially an interest in pursuing computer science further in school and in higher education.

“The global IT skill gap is well documented and the commitment shown by the MCIT to empower youth to gain early access to Java programming skills is visionary," added Richardson.

Wafaa Hassan, business development consultant at the MCIT, said, "The MCIT has supported and encouraged this progress through various programs and initiatives."

"Our goal is to train 1,500 students every month, and hold one class in each governorate. Further training of MCIT and community teachers will start in October 2013.

By continuing to work with Oracle, the Ministry can ensure that future generations receive the vital computer science training they need."