News & Event

The Ministry of Education, represented by the Omani School Sports Association, in cooperation with the Directorate-General of Special Education and Continuous Learning, is organizing a two-day school sports festival for people with disabilities, at the Al Amal Club for the Deaf, with the participation of the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Youth, Sultan Qaboos University, and the Omani Special Olympics.

The school sports festival for people with disabilities targets more than (300) students from the Intellectual Education School, Al Amal School for the Deaf, and Omar Bin Al Khattab Institute for the Blind, to participate in a number of events and sports competitions, such as bocce competition, athletics, skiing, table tennis, bell (goal) football, and futsal football. The technical conditions for these games were prepared in terms of the number of players, field measurements, the laws of the game, and how to implement them, in addition to holding a number of events and entertainment games.

Yousef bin Awad Bait Saleem, Chairman of the Technical Committee of the Omani School Sports Association, said: “The organization of this festival comes from the standpoint of what sport offers in the lives of people with disabilities, and its importance in building the character of the disabled, increasing self-confidence, and integrating them into the community. This festival also works to reveal the abilities and skills of people with disabilities in various games.”

On the importance of such festivals, Iman Al-Farsi, a school sports teacher at Al-Amal School for the Deaf, said: “The festival develops the spirit of competition and group participation among students, and gives them the motivation to integrate into society. Students, as well, have a desire for such events, because it is an outlet for them and an escape from the general routine at the school.”

Muhammad Al-Hammadi, a school sports teacher at the Omar Bin Al-Khattab Institute for the Blind, said: “The festival is a distinguished occasion for students with disabilities, through which they can demonstrate their individual and collective skills. It is also a pioneering outlet to highlight their abilities, on the sporting level that contributes to introducing society to the capabilities possessed by people with

disabilities, and the care and attention they receive. In addition, it serves this group socially, and enables others to closely observe the interaction of this group.”

The school sport festival aims to provide the opportunity to reveal the skills and competencies of people with disabilities in various games, introduce those working in the field of sports to group and individual games for people with disabilities, encourage them to highlight their sporting abilities, and integrate them into the surrounding local community.