Saturday 23 / November / 2024
Muscat: With the start of the new academic year 2023/2024, 782,818 students will be attending schools from today in the various educational directorates across the Sultanate of Oman.
The total number of students in grades (1-4) reached 304,913, while the total number of students in grades (5-8) was 261,804, and the number of students in grades (9-12) reached 120,101.
While the number of new students in the first grade was 76,724, the number of special education students reached 1,769. These students will be attending 1,270 schools, including: 356 schools for the first cycle, 68 schools for the second cycle, 121 schools in grades (9-12), and 25 schools in grades 11-12, and 700 schools operating in the morning and evening shifts. The total number of schools operating in the evening shifts reached 133 while the total number of new schools reached 29.
The total number of teachers in government schools for this academic year 2023/2024 reached 60,840, while the numbers of administrators and technicians are 11,509. The number of teachers in special education schools reached 284 teachers, and the total number of administrators in special education schools reached 65.
Dr. Madiha Ahmed Al Shaibani, Minister of Education, delivered a speech on this occasion, in which she said: “I am honoured to raise to His Majesty Sultan Haitham bin Tarik, on behalf of the children, students, their parents, members of the educational staff and employees of the Ministry, the highest of gratitude and the greatest expressions of praise for the special care and attention given to the school education sector. I am also pleased to extend my warmest congratulations to our students, and members of the educational staff, wishing them success this academic year. We also welcome the teachers who have joined the education system to contribute to building Oman and society, and we welcome teachers from sister countries who share this educational message with the Sultanate of Oman, wishing everyone success.”
Dr. Madiha stated: “In the pursuit of the Ministry to improve education to meet the requirements of the next stage, the Ministry was able to appoint more than 5,700 teachers, with an increase rate up to 41 percent compared to previous years, bringing the number of Omani teachers to approximately 14,000 during the first three years of the tenth five-year plan.”>A4
“Believing in the importance of professional development of teachers, and its connection to the professional path plans for members of the teaching staff, the Ministry continues to prepare a qualitative training programme for teachers to enhance their professional competencies, and to enable them to perform their duties efficiently and competently,” said Dr. Madiha Ahmed Al Shaibani, Minister of Education.
She also referred to the issuance of the Royal Decree on the School Education Law, saying: “In continuation of the support enjoyed by the education sector in the Sultanate of Oman in all its aspects, and to strengthen the governance of the educational system and develop the legislative and organisational structure that guarantees a stimulating and supportive educational environment at the technical and administrative levels, Royal Decree No. 31/2023 came through with issuing the School Education Law to serve as a legislative framework, and an educational and legal document that organises rights, duties and responsibilities related to the educational process.”
On developing the education system and starting to implement technical and vocational education, she said: “In implementation of the royal directives of His Majesty to develop the school education system, the Ministry will start during this academic year, applying vocational and technical education in accordance with the best international standards and educational practices in business administration and information technology in the eleventh grade in four schools, two schools for boys and two schools for girls in the governorates of Muscat and North Al Batinah.
“The Ministry also intends to offer a number of engineering and industrial specialisations in specific schools in the governorates of Muscat and North Al Batinah at the beginning of the next academic year 2024/2025, in partnership with the energy sector.
“In continuation of this approach, the Ministry will gradually expand the application of vocational and technical education by establishing similar partnerships with the rest of the economic sectors, and increase the number of students, majors, and governorates during the coming academic years.”
She emphasised the Ministry’s interest in developing all academic curricula, saying: “The Ministry has given great attention to the development of all academic curricula, especially Science, Mathematics, English and Information Technology subjects, due to its direct connection with the fields of scientific and technical development and innovation that the world is witnessing; Therefore, this academic year, the Ministry will complete the implementation of the final phase of the science and mathematics series project for grade 12, and it will continue to apply the English language and information technology series for grades 3 and 4. This year will also witness the opening of more than 20 school buildings distributed across Oman with the aim of replacing the old school buildings to accommodate the rising number of students. The Ministry also continues to construct more school buildings according to the approved plans, in addition to intensifying its efforts to improve the educational environment.”
She also talked about the Ministry’s performance system in providing educational services, saying: “The Ministry has completed the implementation of the re-engineering procedures stage for all administrative and educational processes in accordance with the best international standards, and will continue during the current academic year the digitisation of its comprehensive services, with the aim of introducing a new electronic system during the next stage. The Ministry is also closely following the global transformation in the use of artificial intelligence applications in its various fields and in line with these developments, the Ministry began to lay the foundations to take advantage of the optimal use of artificial intelligence, and to prepare an executive programme that includes many procedures and initiatives in line with the privacy of the Omani society.”
he minister appreciated the efforts made in caring for cultural, scientific and sports activities in the last academic year, saying: “We affirm the continued efforts in caring for cultural, scientific, and sports activities inside and outside the school environment due to its importance in building the integrated personality of students, highlighting their talents and developing their abilities, and investing their time in a way that benefits them, and protect them from harmful influences. We also praise the role of the educational directorates in supporting the efforts of their schools and students, hoping to benefit from what is provided by innovation centres and scientific clubs, and incubators of cultural and artistic activities in terms of educational capabilities and facilities, and employing what was included in the strategy of the Omani School Sports Association of contents and foundations in refining students’ skills, empowering, and preparing them to compete at the local and international levels in various fields.”
She also appreciated the sincere efforts made by school administrations in cooperation with the teachers and students’ parents to participate in the international study to measure reading skills and the success of the electronic application of the international study in mathematics and science for the fourth and eighth grades, and the international study to measure computer and informatics skills for the eighth grade, which the Ministry implemented last academic year.
She also referred to the tangible role played by the parents of students, saying: “We appreciate the pivotal role that you play in sharing your opinions and suggestions in improving educational work, following up on the levels of achievement of your children, giving them more care and attention, directing them to preserve their identity and heritage, instilling a love of loyalty and belonging to their homeland. In consolidating the existing partnership between the home and the school, the ministry will carry out meetings and panel discussions that bring you together with the educational body as essential partners in the educational system.”
Prof. Dr. Abdullah bin Khamis Ambosaidi, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Education for Education, said in his speech on this occasion: “The Ministry seeks to implement a number of educational goals, the most important of which are: continuing to update and develop school curricula in line with the requirements of sustainable development and global trends, the achieving of Oman Vision 2040, and empowering new teachers in the teaching and learning processes through the implementation of the strategic training programme for them, establishment of the third forum for school administrations, and the second supervisory forum. The Ministry will launch this year, in cooperation with the Omani Indian Fertilizer Company (OMIFCO), the “OMIFCO Award for School Creativity,” and the launch of the “Excellence Award for the Omani Teacher” in its second edition to motivate teachers to launch their educational initiatives and projects.”
The Undersecretary referred to the Ministry’s development of the executive regulations for the school education law, and its issuance on the specified date, and the advancement to adopt and develop the parents’ councils’ regulation, and the updates in the student affairs regulation, in line with the school education law. Strategies have also been prepared in the education sector, including: the strategy for discovering gifted students in school education and taking care of them, which will be launched during this year, and the adult education strategy, in addition to the issuance of a guide for requirements for school buildings for private schools, a guide for security and safety in them, and an investment exhibition in this type of education (EDVvest 2023) will be implemented.
At the end of his speech, the Undersecretary confirmed that “the Ministry will implement many activities, programmes, and competitions for students, including holding a school theatre festival, a public speaking competition in classical Arabic, implementing the health-promoting schools initiative, and preparing a guide for vocational guidance services for beneficiaries. Innovation and Science Olympiad will implement various programmes and events with the aim of building students’ creative and innovative skills that qualify them to compete in national, regional and international scientific events and refine them, in addition to implementing decentralised forums for scouts in the educational directorates within one day to develop future skills, enhance their Omani national identity, and establish scout and guide camps, in cooperation with the Oman Challenge Foundation.”
Majid bin Said Al-Bahri, Undersecretary of the Ministry for Administrative and Financial Affairs, stated, in his speech on this occasion: “The total external transfer requests from the faculty and related positions submitted for the academic year 2023/2024 amounted to 5,229, and the total number of transfers reached 2,416 of the total applications, and the Ministry completed the procedures for appointing 5,693 teachers, with a rate of (88%) of the total appointment. 39 integrated school buildings have been implemented, and 9 school buildings have been put into operation at the beginning of the first semester, 23 school buildings at the beginning of the second semester, and the rest will be operated as soon as they are ready. A total of OMR2,300,000 have been allocated to education directorates in order to renovate their schools, the volume of financial liquidity for spending on development projects has been increased by an additional OMR11 million and an allocation of OMR23 million to replace 92,000 air-conditioners during the the tenth five-year plan. The Ministry increased spending on school advances by an additional amount of OMR2 million and allocated an additional OMR5 million to provide 800 new buses.”
HE indicated that the Ministry continues to digitise the curricula, start the trial operation of the electronic preparation platform for teachers, equip education directorates with integrated educational studios, re-engineer procedures for the Ministry’s services, develop the educational indicators system, operate the electronic platform of the Specialised Institute for Vocational Training for Teachers, the supervisory job system, and the alternative guard system.
The Ministry has begun to replace more than 40,000 computers for computer laboratories, learning resource centers and school management devices, and it will start in the second phase of the process of replacing devices in science laboratories and vocational guidance centers.
Khamis bin Mubarak Al-Hadidi, Director-General of the Directorate-General of Projects and Services at the Ministry said: “The Ministry formed committees from the various educational directorates in order to examine the current school transportation means, the contracts of 18,989 school transportation vehicles were renewed, and the Ministry pumped in the item of school transportation means for the year 2023/2024 approximately OMR88 million provided 800 additional school transportation means of an amount of OMR4,800,000. The Ministry stipulates in the technical specifications that the means of transport be equipped with an (automated system) related to road safety, which is characterised by its tracking of the transportation means, the presence of internal and external surveillance cameras, and motion sensors. The Ministry also coordinated with a number of private sector institutions to implement awareness programmes and fund a preventive driving course for school transport drivers in cooperation with the Royal Oman Police, the latest of which is the coordination of training 500 school transport drivers funded by the Petroleum Development Oman.”
Dr. Sana bint Salem Al-Sanani, Assistant Director-General for Curriculum Affairs at the Directorate-General of Curriculum Development in the Ministry, referred to the most important developments in the school curricula, saying: “17 new curricula have been authored, developed, and harmonised, such as completing the harmonisation of global series in science and mathematics subjects for grade 12, and completing the application of international chains in the subjects of English language and information technology for grades 3 and 4, writing and developing 15 new books in Islamic education, school sports and musical skills for grade 7, Arabic language subjects, social studies and life skills for grade 5, and plastic arts for the first and second grades. The Ministry was also keen to print and supply all the textbooks for this year, so that the textbooks would be in the hands of the students at the beginning of this academic year, as 260 textbooks were printed, 15 new textbooks, and 62 books for international chains for science, mathematics, English language, and information technology subjects, and 183 reprinted books. The Directorate-General of Curriculum Development in the Ministry has also taken upon itself the responsibility of printing 290 enlarged books for the two semesters, 220 books printed in Braille for the two semesters as well, for the visually impaired and blind students.”
Regarding the digital educational contents that support the curricula, Al-Sanani said: “The “Omani Curriculum Library” is one of the digital tools that help students and their teachers in the educational process. It will be available for viewing and downloading via the link: https://ict.moe.gov.om/book. On the “Educational Mawred” channel on (YouTube) a number of 7,221 educational clips have been uploaded for grades (1-4), as well as all educational pictured lessons have been made available for grades (5-12), and placed within the general classification instead of the special one. As for the school laboratories, they have been developed and provided with the latest modern technologies, such as the use of sensors in scientific experiments, the mobile laboratory, and providing them with interactive whiteboards.”
On the readiness of the Ministry to apply vocational and technical education for business administration and information technology majors, Dr. Atom bint Muhammad Al-Khatri, Assistant Director of the Office of the Project for the Development and Structuring of the Educational Ladder at the Ministry, said: “Construction work and school maintenance have been completed, and classrooms have been prepared with the necessary materials and requirements to implement vocational and technical education in the business administration and information technology programs, as suitable furniture, laptop computers, and smart screens were provided for students, in accordance with the required international standards. A contract was also signed with the Modern College of Commerce and Science to provide specialized and internationally licensed lecturers to teach specialised subjects for business administration and information technology majors, who were chosen according to approved international principles and standards, while the basic subjects are taught by the ministry’s teachers. The study and time plan for teaching business administration and information technology majors has also been developed, in line with the study and time plan in public schools.”
Dr. Waleed bin Talib Al Hashemi, Director-General of the Directorate-General of Education in North Al Batinah Governorate, said: “The Directorate is preparing to welcome this new academic year, the (BTEC) programme in the vocational and technical tracks, in two schools: Halima Al-Saadiya School in the Wilayat of Suwaiq, and Kaab Bin Barsha School in the Wilayat of Saham, as the information management and information technology majors were added to the students’ options in grade XI, and they will be taught in the English language in cooperation with the Modern College of Business and Science. This programme allows students to study a variety of specialized subjects, including specialised English language subjects, introduction to business, commercial marketing, business decision-making, training for the business world, and other subjects that contribute to building strong base of knowledge and skills.”
He added: “The BTEC programme is a distinguished option for students who seek to enter directly into the labour market after completing their studies and provides them with the opportunity to compete in standard admission to complete higher education. The certificate awarded by the programme is internationally recognised, which provides wider opportunities for students, and the Directorate always strives to achieve the goals of the Ministry of Education in order to provide quality education, by contributing to the development of an integrated educational system with resources that serve the future of students and contribute to achieving the Ministry’s vision and its national and educational mission alike.”
