News & Event

The Ministry of Education concludes this evening (Wednesday) its participation in the First Forum for People with Disabilities “Inclusion and Empowerment”, which was organized by the Ministry of Social Development. The three days forum witnessed the participation of a number of governmental and private agencies and civil associations concerned with people with disabilities, at the Oman Convention and Exhibition Center.

The Ministry's participation in the third and closing day of this forum comes in the dialogue session "Educational Integration - Visions and Experiences" alongside with the Ministry of Higher Education, Scientific Research and Innovation and Sultan Qaboos University, emphasizing the need to provide educational services for students with disabilities of all categories who are able to learn by integrating them into governmental and private educational institutions at all levels. In this session, Dr. Khalid al-Maqrashi, Education Supervisor at the Department of Special Education at the Ministry of Education, is presenting a paper titled “Educational Integration in Schools”, Hajar Al-Omari, Specialist for Students with Disabilities at Sultan Qaboos University, is presenting a paper titled “Sultan Qaboos University’s Experience in University Educational Integration and Employee Empowerment” Musa Al-Hadi, Assistant Director of the Department of Education and Training Affairs at the Ministry of Higher Education, Scientific Research and Innovation, is presenting a paper titled "Professional Integration in Vocational Colleges", and Dr. Khalid Al-Mashikhi, Dean of the College of Arts and Applied Sciences at Dhofar University, is presenting a paper titled "Integration of Students with Disabilities in Higher Education Institutions, Challenges and Proposed Solutions".

The Ministry's participation in its corner in the accompanying exhibition with many various interactive stations, including: “Scientific Village” station presented by Al-Amal School for the Deaf to spread the culture of people with hearing disabilities with an interactive episode in sign language, its alphabet, and some terms in sign language through Interactive competitions in which visitors to the station can participate. The “Scientific Initiatives” station is presented by subject supervisors in the Division of Supervision at the Department of Special Education to review a number of scientific initiatives in the field of learning sign language, such as the

“Specialized Sign Language Dictionary” initiative in Arabic and the “Specialized Sign Dictionary for Mathematics”. The “Student Companies and Productive Projects” station is dedicated for students of Al-Amal School for the Deaf, such as the company (My Accessories) and (Al Amal Kitchen), and (Amal Studio) and (Candles of Hope). The “Village of Colors” station is an artistic workshop in the field of wood carving presented by Walid Salam, teacher of plastic arts at Al-Amal School for the Deaf, while the “Talents” station showcases talents of students in the same school such as drawing.

The Ministry's participation on the second day of the forum came in the second session of the preparatory workshops for the laboratory of developing programs and services for people with disabilities in the focus of (rehabilitation, educational and operational life), and in the theme of (rehabilitation services for people with disabilities). Ruqaiyah Al-Harassi, Assistant Director of the Department of Special Education for Educational Affairs at the Directorate-General of Special Education and Continuous Learning at the Ministry, presented a paper titled "The Reality and Challenges of Educational Inclusion in the Ministry of Education". In her paper, she pointed out some of the international and local agreements on the rights of the child, people with disabilities, their care and rehabilitation, local laws in dealing with people with disabilities and providing services to them, as well as the national plan prepared by the Ministry of Education in cooperation with the Ministries of Health and Social Development to educate people with disabilities and building the national strategy for Oman Vision 2040 in education. She also referred to a number of statistics on the number of students with visual impairments, the number of students with autism spectrum disorder, learning difficulties, and those with language and speech disorders in the various governorates of the Sultanate of Oman, and the mechanisms used in the comprehensive integration of students into public schools and partial integration in the Sultanate of Oman, and its justifications as well as the challenges facing this integration, and the development plan for this educational integration.

The Ministry's corner in the accompanying exhibition on the second day included many events and stations. The “Student Companies” station came as (Tamkeen) for students with intellectual disabilities in the education of the Dakhiliyah Governorate, as the "Naseej" project, and the students of the South Al Batinah Governorate as the project "Creations of Bracelets", and the “Ambition and Creativity” company in making bracelets. The “Talents” station displayed a number of artistic talents for autism students in Muscat Governorate Education, whereas the “Scientific Initiatives” station was dedicated for the School of Intellectual Education. The “Scientific Village” station provided by plastic arts teachers at the

School of Intellectual Education to disseminate the culture of people with intellectual disabilities, the method of teaching them, the educational services provided to them, and supportive services. The “Village of Colors” station, was an interactive art circle in the field of drawing and shaping with materials (paper, fluff, cork), while the “Diagnosis” station came to acquaint visitors to the exhibition with the diagnostic procedures and services provided by the Ministry to students with disabilities, such as curricula for people with visual disabilities, the educational aids initiative for teaching mathematics to the blind, magnifying books for visually impaired students, the Gregorian calendar in Braille, modern methods of printing curricula in Braille, and aspects of cooperation with the relevant authorities such as the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Social Development.