Injaz Saudi Arabia, along with Raytheon Company, has launched The Little Engineer Program’s debut in Saudi Arabian classrooms this month.

The programme has been designed to inspire student interest in science and math education, and to consider studying engineering, which will lead to their active role in supporting the kingdom’s innovation economy development plans, said a statement.

It is an Arabic adaptation of the popular ‘Engineering is Elementary’ curriculum for teachers originated by The Museum of Science, Boston.

The programme’s debut in Saudi classrooms is a culmination of Raytheon’s sponsorship and partnership with Injaz Saudi Arabia, working with the Museum of Science, to culturally adapt and translate curriculum and materials.

This initial phase of the programme will reach more than 2,700 students in a dozen Jeddah schools, as well as in the Eastern region of the country through sessions at the Scitech Center in Al Khobar.

Nael Samir Fayez, member of the board and chief executive officer of Injaz Saudi Arabia, said: “The Little Engineer Program opens up new horizons for the students to choose engineering as a path of education and professional work in the areas of industrial and optical engineering, package and mechanical engineering, and other engineering applications.

“In coordination with the Museum of Science, Boston and Raytheon, the program offers several engineering activities that will be experienced by nearly three thousand students in the first phase with the help of volunteers and more than 740 hours of work on the total programme.”

The latest statistics compiled by Injaz Saudi Arabia bring to light the Saudi market’s need for engineers. The kingdom graduates 1,400 engineers a year while the local labour market requires 3,600 engineers annually and studies confirm that Saudi Arabia would need 70 years to cover this growing demand if engineering graduate rates remain the same.

Louis Laroche, president, Raytheon, said: “Listening to leaders throughout Saudi Arabia, we recognize the shared priority, and its extreme importance, to inspire young students to pursue math and science education so that they will become innovators of tomorrow.

“Together with Injaz Saudi Arabia, our hope is that today’s ‘Little Engineers’ will be the bright engineering talent of our future to cultivate new innovation and technology development in the kingdom.”

Plans are in development to expand the Little Engineer Program’s initial reach to five thousand students later this year with additional deployments in Saudi schools including Riyadh. - TradeArabia News Service