Saturday 04 / May / 2024
Muscat: The Ministry of Education launched on Monday the training workshop on “Humanising Green Schools and Zero Neutrality”, which is being implemented in cooperation with the Environment Agency, and with the support of Shell Oman, as part of the work of the Oman Sustainability Conference 2024.
The two-day training workshop is taking place at the Oman Convention and Exhibition Centre. The training workshop targets more than 80 participants of teachers supervising the green schools project and members of the project’s national team in the governorates. The training workshop was opened with the Ministry’s speech delivered by Prof. Dr. Abdullah bin Khamis Ambosaidi, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Education for Education, in which he explained that this training workshop comes with the aim of reconsidering the functions of the school so that it is an influential force in creating sustainable behaviours that contribute to preserving the environment, which contributes to reducing the carbon footprint and helps to reach the zero level.
The training workshop is also in line with the directions of the Sultanate of Oman aimed at achieving the level of carbon neutrality by the year 2050.
At the same time, it constitutes one of the strategic directions on which the goals of Oman Vision 2040 focus; that is to create a conscious, educated society that is aware of its environment and preserve it by adopting green and circular economy projects.
He added that the training workshop includes presenting eight papers within two sessions over two days, and discusses several important topics, including: greening the curricula and its hospitality, the concept of humanisation, and how green schools make the student a human first and a learner second. The timing of the workshop coincides with the book fair in order to benefit from its activities and books that enrich those interested in the field of sustainable development.
Ismail Al-Abri, Director of Occupational and Environmental Safety at Shell Oman, delivered the company’s speech in which he said: ‘We are honoured to be a strategic partner in this pioneering project (the Green Schools Project), which aims to spread awareness among students, teachers, and society, of environmental and circular economic issues, sustainability, empowering them with the necessary knowledge, and providing them with the skills required to be effective elements in finding sustainable solutions to the environmental challenges facing our societies today.”
Ismail Al-Abri added: “Our support for the Green Schools Project comes as confirmation of our vision of the importance of preparing a conscious, educated generation, enabling it to actively participate in solving the challenges facing our environment, and arriving at sustainable and innovative solutions through qualitative projects applicable on the ground, by providing the necessary training for teachers participating on the project and preparing them optimally in environmental topics. This is to enable them to guide and support students in their environmental projects, spread awareness of the importance of employing the resources of the school environment to create sustainable projects that benefit the student and society, and transform the school environment into a stimulating and inspiring environment to embrace creative ideas and transform them into purposeful and sustainable projects.”
Dr. Sulaiman Al-Jamoudi, Director-General of the Directorate-General of Educational Supervision, chaired the first session under the title “Climate Affairs and Zero Neutrality in National Plans and Policies,” which included the presentation of four papers. Ibrahim Al-Ajmi from the Environment Agency presented the first paper on “The Efforts of the Environment Agency in climate affairs,” and Nasser Al-Ruzaiqi from the Ministry of Energy and Minerals presented the second paper entitled “The Path Towards a Sustainable Energy Future in the Sultanate of Oman.” The third paper was titled “Indicators of the Seventh Goal of the Fourth Goal of Sustainable Development” and was presented by Khalid Al-Ma’awali from the Omani National Commission for Education, Culture and Science, while Dr. Huda Al-Dayri from the Omani National Commission for Education, Culture and Science presented the fourth paper, which was entitled “Greening the Curricula Towards a Sustainable Green Generation.”
The second day of the training workshops included the discussion of four papers. The first paper was titled “Humanizing green schools and their implications for improving the educational system” presented by HH Prof. Dr. Abdullah bin Khamis Ambosaidi, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Education for Education. The second paper was titled “The National Program for Zero Neutrality in the Sultanate of Oman: Reality and Ambition” presented by Maha Al-Balushi from the Environment Agency. The third paper was titled “Green School Architecture towards Achieving Zero Neutrality” presented by Dr. Rania Abdul Rahman Othman Bashir from the Oman College of Management and Technology. The fourth and final paper was titled “Hoteling Schools towards Luxury and Decent Life” presented by Najla Al-Shaidi and Fawzia Al-Habsi from Oman College for Tourism.
