Details of 76 new schools revealed by Ministry

Muscat: The Ministry of Education has revealed the details of 76 new school buildings, 42 of which will be established in partnership with the private sector and these schools will accommodate about 80,000 students.

His Excellency Majid bin Saeed Al Bahri, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Education for Administrative and Financial Affairs, said, “19 schools in the Governorate of Muscat, 17   schools in the Governorate of North Al Batinah, 11 of them in the Governorate of South Al Batinah,  5 in the Governorate of Al Dakhiliyah,  9 of them in the Governorate of South Al Sharqiyah,  1 school in the North Sharqiyah Governorate,  2 schools in the Buraimi Governorate,  1 school in the Dhahirah Governorate,  9 schools in the Dhofar Governorate, and  2 schools in the Musandam Governorate.”

Suleiman bin Zaher Al-Ruwaishdi, Director General of the General Directorate of Strategic Planning and Development, indicated: “It is planned that these schools will accommodate approximately 80,000 students, and these buildings have been identified as a priority in implementation in light of the indicators of the current reality of the number of students in each governorate and the number of evening schools in it, as well as  The expected increase in the number of students until the end of the tenth five-year plan in each governorate.”

In addition to the existing school buildings that were decided to be removed due to lack of validity, the aforementioned buildings will contribute to reducing the number of evening schools in the Sultanate, which is expected to reach  106   in the next academic year 2022/2023.

Regarding the details of the partnership projects with the private sector, represented in  42   school buildings, Khalid bin Hilal Al-Rajhi, Assistant Director of the Budget Department, spoke about the idea of ​​the project, said: These projects were proposed for partnership with the private sector.  The idea of ​​the project is that the developers build school buildings according to a system  design, financing, construction, maintenance   so that the contract period extends to more than 20 years.

He added: “The importance of implementing these buildings in partnership with the private sector is due to several reasons, including: the quality of implementation, speed of completion and timely delivery, transferring implementation risks to the private sector, designing school buildings in an innovative and modern way that keeps pace with education developments, improving the learning environment inside the school building, and raising the efficiency of the school building.  The use of electrical energy in these buildings, and the obligation of developers to maintain buildings and maintain the state of assets in its modern form for more than  25   years, and to use the available spaces to establish investment projects.”