News & Event

The Ministry of Education, represented by the Department of Innovation and Scientific Olympiads, in cooperation with Oman Shell, concluded the announcement of awards for the fourth edition of the NXplorers Shell program, under the patronage of HE Dr. Jokha bint Abdullah Al-Shakiliyah- CEO of the Omani Authority for Academic Accreditation and Educational Quality Assurance, and in the presence of HE Prof. Dr. Abdullah bin Khamis Ambosaidi, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Education for Education.

The closing ceremony included an exhibition of the projects of schools that qualified for the final evaluation stage in the Senior and Junior program categories. The Ministry of Education’s speech and Oman Shell’s speech were delivered and the NXplorers Shell program operetta was presented. The attendees and students participated in a dialogue session with HE Prof. Dr. Abdullah bin Khamis Ambosaidi, the Undersecretary of the Ministry for Education. At the end of the ceremony, the winners of the NXplorers Shell Program Awards were honored.

Yaqoub Al Balushi, Head of the Innovation Department, delivered the Ministry of Education’s speech, in which he said: “Every year, the Ministry of Education celebrates the achievements of its students participating in various programs, including the Shell NXplorers program, which comes with the support of partners who believe in the value of investing in the minds of young people and the energy of tomorrow for Oman; may this support continue and contribute to providing our students with a lot of skills and knowledge. Many thanks to Oman Shell for its continued and ongoing support for the implementation and expansion of the program, to accommodate every year a new batch of our students, and to present to us in each round, amazing work that always achieves wonderful results at the local and international levels.”

He stressed in his speech that the Shell NXplorers program has witnessed continuous development in the way it is implemented. After starting with ten government schools distributed in some governorates, during the 2018/2019 academic year, it has expanded to include other schools where the number reached

thirty-four public and private schools in the 2022/2023 academic year distributed across all governorates of the Sultanate of Oman, and implemented at two levels, for grades five through eight, and nine through twelfth, in order to ensure fair competition among students.

The awards for the fourth edition came in the Senior category, with Al Amal School from South Al Batinah Governorate, and its Hope in Drop Project, taking first place, Al Asmaa Bint Al Harith School for Basic Education from North Al Batinah Governorate and its Sawan Project, taking second place, and Umm Al Fadl School for Basic Education from Al Dakhiliyah Governorate with its Green Gold Project, taking third place. From Al ADhahirah Governorate, The Golde Benefits Banana Project from Fatima Bint Qais School for Post-Basic Education came in fourth place, and Sultan Qaboos School for Basic Education from Al Buraimi Governorate, the project Defeating the Nematode Worm came in fifth place.

In the Junior category, Safiya Umm al-Mu’minin School for Basic Education from Al-Dakhiliyah Governorate with the Safi Project won first place, Sur Al Sahel School for Basic Education from South Al-Sharqiyah Governorate with the energy for them and us project won second place. The third place went for Al-Buraimi Governorate with the Smart Harithah Project from Al-Farouq School for Basic Education, where Al-Siddiqa Bint Al-Siddiq School for Basic Education from the North Al Batinah Governorate, with its project on growing organic vegetables, came in fourth place, and the Al Takween Private Schools from the South Al Batinah Governorate with a project, “Together for a Better Healthy Life with Healthy Food,” came in the fifth place.

It is worth noting that the Shell NXplorers program created opportunities for students to think in different ways that are not typical of the challenges that the world currently faces in the most prominent areas of sustainable development to come up with innovative scientific solutions, namely water, food, and energy. The program contributed to drawing the students’ attention to the challenges and encouraged them to research, investigate, use scientific methodology in thinking, and find practical solutions to them. It also strengthened in them the spirit of challenge, positive competition, and team work to reach the best solutions.