Thursday 18 / April / 2024
Muscat: The American International School of Muscat (TAISM) is hosting its 14th annual Model United Nations (MUN) conference this weekend, on February 3-4. Over 180 students from 11 schools in Oman will gather at TAISM for the largest event of its kind in the Sultanate since the pandemic.
This year's participating schools include ABQ Seeb International School, Alruwad International School (AIS), Al Batinah International School (ABIS), Al Injaz Private School (AIPS), A'Soud Global School (AGS), Downe House Muscat (DHM), Indian School Al Ghubra (ISG), Lycée Français de Mascate (LFM), Muscat International School (MIS), The Sultan's School (TSS), and the host school TAISM.
All student delegates are assigned countries for which they serve as UN “model ambassadors” at the TAISM conference. After studying the contemporary history and political structure of their respective countries, the students will focus on two main issues selected for the conference.
Theme this year
The theme of the conference is “United We Stand, Divided We Fall”. Student delegates will be discussing important topics such as protecting freedom of the press, combating climate change, and the ongoing crisis between Russia and Ukraine. "MUN is a great opportunity for the leaders of tomorrow to wrestle both with the pressing issues of today and with the challenges our world may face in the future," says Kevin Schuttinger, High School Principal at TAISM.
“I enjoy doing MUN because I get to debate world topics,” says Gavin Meyers, in Grade 11 at TAISM. “There are so many important problems that my generation can fix and in order for that to happen we must understand what the problems are and what other nations are doing to either help or hurt the problems.”
Student-led Effort
Jan Saxhaug, is the MUN Club's Advisor at TAISM. He says, “This is really a student-led effort. TAISM students started by asking the big questions - what issues matter in the world today? They developed the topics, created the materials, and planned the whole two-day conference from the ground up. This is student agency at its finest.”
Model United Nations (also Model UN or MUN) is an academic simulation of the United Nations that aims to educate participants about civics, effective communication, globalization and multilateral diplomacy. In Model UN, students take on roles as diplomats and participate in a simulated session of an Intergovernmental Organization (IGO). Participants research a country, investigate international issues, debate, deliberate, consult, and then develop solutions to world problems.
