News & Event

The Ministry of Education, represented by the Directorate-General of Curriculum Development, celebrated  the ceremony of handing over certificates to students who succeeded in international exams in the subjects of the French and German languages. The celebration was held under the auspices of Prof. Dr. Saleh Al-Busaidi, Dean of the College of Education at Sultan Qaboos University, in the presence of HE Ambassador Veronique Olanyon, Ambassador of the French Republic, and HE Thomas Friedrich Schneider, Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany, and a number of general directors and directors of departments in the Ministry’s general diwan, subject teachers and parents of students. The ceremony took place in the theater of the musical band for scouts.

The ceremony began with the students welcoming the patronage of the ceremony and the audience, in French and German. Then Salem Al Kharousi, Director of the Humanities Curriculum Department at the Directorate-General of Curriculum Development, delivered the ministry’s speech in which he said: “The Ministry of Education started implementing German language teaching at the beginning of the academic year 2012/2013, then implemented the teaching the French language in the following academic year. It is gratifying and pleasing to see that our students are eager to learn these two subjects with passion and self-motivation, believing in the importance of learning elective subjects that suit their tendencies, orientations, and future plans, and keen to acquire a second foreign language besides English. This had a positive impact on the results of their academic achievement and their passing of the international tests (DLEF test and Fit & DUTCH test) with high levels and marks.”

“The number of students studying the German language in the grades 11 and 12 during this academic year reached (132) students, while the number of students studying the French language in these two grades reached (365) students, and the Ministry has planned to expand in the teaching of these two subjects, as they will be applied in the future as optional subjects, starting from grade 9 to 12, taking into

account the increase in the application area to include a larger number of educational governorates during the coming years,” he added.

The Director of the Humanities Curriculum Development Department concluded his speech saying: "The Ministry is keen in pursuing the professional advancement of teachers through intensive and continuous training programs in cooperation and coordination with specialized institutes, especially the Omani French Institute and the German Goethe-Institute, and the fruit of this cooperation is evident in the honorable results of our students. This cooperation extends in that the Ministry of Higher Education, Scientific Research and Innovation represented by the Unified Admission Center and the Directorate-General of Scholarships has included in the student’s guide a number of scholarships for German-speaking and French-speaking countries as a mother tongue, and has taken into account the student’s study of the German language or the French language as a criterion for resolving competition and preference over scholarships offered, and this in turn enhances the opportunity for students studying these two subjects to obtain a study seat in university scholarships.”

After that, the students of Dohat Al-Adab School presented a song in French, then the students of Al-Hassan Bin Hashim School and Baraka Bint Thalabah School presented a short theatrical show in German, after which the patronage of the ceremony honored the students who succeeded in the international exams in the subjects of French and German, and the teachers of both subjects.