Batelco, the leading telecom service provider in Bahrain, recently held an event to mark the completion of its fifth year of e-learning programme.

During 2010, 165 Batelco employees completed at least one e-learning programme with the top achievers completing between 15 and 20 e-courses.

E-learning was launched by Batelco Training Centre in 2006 to offer all staff the opportunity to develop both personal and professional skills in a wide range of subject areas.

The centre provides the tools and information necessary for the interactive learning experience and a small team led by management training specialists Catriona Shaw and Masalek Al-Haddad monitors the progress of each student offering support and encouragement to ensure the timely and successful completion of each course.

“Human capital is the most competitive advantage a company has and by supporting the development of staff the company will reap the benefits long term,” said Suhaila Alnowakhda, Batelco Bahrain HR general manager.

“At Batelco, we are promoting a culture of knowledge among our employees, and we are delighted to see that increasing numbers of them are taking advantage of the wide range of e-courses.”

Batelco’s training & development programmes manager Shaikh Bader Al-Khalifa said: “During 2010, as part of the e-Learning programme 165 people have completed 476 courses. Whilst the average cost for a local training course is around BD500 ($1326), the cost of an e-Learning course is less than BD100 making this method both efficient and cost effective.”

“This year we started to create our own customised content and the whole team is looking forward to 2011 when we plan to expand our products and further develop our technology-based learning,” he added.

Batelco currently offers 276 e-courses covering a wide variety of subject areas supplied by Kuwait-based Track Learning Solutions, a leading regional e-learning solution provider in the Middle East.

Track Learning Solutions general manager Fady Abdul Khalek, who attended the award ceremony, explained that Batelco was the first company in the region to offer e-learning for its staff. – TradeArabia News Service