News & Event

The Ministry of Education seeks to develop education policies, build curricula, design textbooks, develop mechanisms for evaluating student performance, supervise work progress in schools, and provide technical and administrative support to the teaching, administrative, and technical cadres in schools. The educational directorates in all governorates also work to implement the ministry’s plans and the Ministry is gradually granting more administrative and financial support to these directorates.

The number of teachers in government schools reached (60,618) teachers, with an Omanisation rate of (87.5%), distributed in (1,268) schools. The number of administrators and technicians in government schools also reached (10,612), of whom (4,587) are male and (6,922) are female, with an Omanisation rate of (99.8%), while the number of teachers in special education schools reached (284) teachers, with an Omanisation rate of (93.5%), and the total number of administrators in special education schools reached (65) with an Omanisation rate of (85.4%). During this year, the Ministry of Education completed the procedures for appointing (5,693) teachers who passed tests and personal interviews, including (740) male teachers, representing (13%), and (4,953) female teachers, representing (87%) of the total number of those appointed to meet the actual need of educational bodies in various specializations.

The application of technical and vocational learning comes with the aim of providing students with professional knowledge, skills, and values, providing an attractive environment that enhances entrepreneurship skills, preparing graduates who are capable of competing in the labor market, strengthening partnerships with economic sectors, and enhancing society’s culture of the importance of vocational and technical education. The Ministry began implementing this type of education in the specializations of business administration and information technology in the current academic year 2023/2024 in (4) schools (2) for males and (2) for females in the educational directorates in the governorates of Muscat and North Al Batinah, targeting (200) students, at a rate of (50) students in each school. In the next academic year 2024/2025, the Ministry will offer (6) engineering and industrial specializations, in partnership with the energy sector, in specified schools in the same two governorates, targeting about (600) students, at a rate of (300) students in each

governorate. The Ministry seeks to gradually expand the application of this education in the rest of the governorates, and to increase the number of students and specializations, in partnership with various economic sectors, and in coordination with other relevant government agencies.

The issuance of the School Education Law by Royal Decree (31/2023) follows the issuance of the Higher Education Law by Royal Decree (27/2023) in order to enhance the governance of the educational system in the Sultanate of Oman, and to confirm the directions of Oman Vision 2040, and to support the implementation of its most important priority, which is education and learning within the human and society theme, and its strategic direction with the aim of providing “comprehensive education, sustainable learning, and scientific research that leads to a knowledge society and competitive national capabilities.” The School Education Law, which includes (10) chapters containing (97) articles, represents one of the most important mechanisms and tools regulating school education in the Sultanate of Oman to anticipate the future of school education through its principles and provisions that confirm that the greatest goal of school education in the Sultanate of Oman is to achieve comprehensive and integrated growth of the learner’s personality in its mental, emotional, spiritual, and physical aspects.

The Ministry of Education, represented by the Directorate-General of Curriculum Development, has issued (17) new curricula to be implemented in the current academic year 2023/2024, which comes with a new vision aimed at developing education and raising the quality of the educational process, as part of persistent efforts aimed at keeping pace with global developments, providing students with the skills, knowledge, and values necessary for the current era. Among the most prominent new curricula for this year are the mathematics and science series curricula for the grade 12, the English language and information technology series curricula for the grades 3 and 4, a religious values curriculum for the grade 7, My Beautiful Language curriculum for the grade 5, and individual skills subjects curricula for grades 1, 2 and 7, all of which contribute to building and raising the level of knowledge and skills among students. During this academic year, (260) books were printed for all grades, including the student’s book, the teacher’s guide, and activity books. All of these curricula have also been uploaded to the Omani Curriculum Library website, so that the beneficiary can access them as quickly as possible.

Students of the Sultanate of Oman participated in many competitions at the regional and international levels during the last academic year 2022/2023, in which they won many awards, including the Gulf Observatory for Artificial Intelligence Hackathon Awards, which was held in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Students of the Sultanate of Oman were also able to obtain the First Global Challenge for Safety

Award, and Social Media Challenge Award. In the Third Arab Mathematics Olympiad, which was held virtually at the headquarters of the Arab League of Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization in Tunisia, the Sultanate of Oman obtained two silver medals and one bronze. The Sultanate of Oman, in the Gulf Arts Festival for Education, obtained the best theatrical performance, and also obtained three silver medals and five bronze medals in their participation in the Gulf Olympiad of Mathematics and Chemistry School in Bahrain. In the 14th Arab Robotics Championship, students from the Sultanate of Oman won first place for promising innovator, first place for the jury, and first place for design.

In addition to the external participations of the Department of Innovation and Scientific Olympiads for the academic year 2022/2023, the Sultanate of Oman won the silver and bronze medal in the ninth Gulf Mathematics Olympiad in the Kingdom of Bahrain, and the silver and bronze medal in the first Gulf Chemistry Olympiad in the Kingdom of Bahrain. Student Al-Rabee bin Habib bin Hamoud Al-Dhafri received the silver medal in the Abu Al-Rayhan Al-Biruni International Chemistry Olympiad in Uzbekistan, the bronze medal in the 64th World Mathematics Olympiad in Japan. The Sultanate of Oman won the fourth place in the field of environmental engineering at the International Science and Engineering Exhibition (ISEF), and special awards in the field of biomedicine.

The Directorate-General of Scouts and Guides was keen to organize Arab and Gulf summer camps under the slogan “Future Skills: Innovation, Challenge, and Sustainability.” The 25th Arab camp for Girl Guides and the 22nd summer camp for Girl Guides and applicants were organized with approximately 250 participants from various Arab countries such as Libya, Qatar, Jordan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Sudan, Lebanon, and Egypt, at the permanent scout camp in the Mount Ashur in the Governorate of Dhofar. In the same field, the Directorate established the Gulf Summer Scout Camp for the advanced scouting stage, with the participation of (265) from various Gulf countries, including scouts, leaders, and distinguished students. Coinciding with these camps, a meeting of the heads and secretaries of the Gulf Scout Associations was held, which reviewed the decision of the Ministers of Education regarding the Gulf Scouts and Guides Committee and the internal regulations of the committees, agents, technical committees, and teams in the General Secretariat, and followed up on the recommendations of the 33rd meeting and the 31st Arab Scout Conference.

During the meeting, the Sultanate of Oman also reviewed the study of the reality of strategic plans in the Gulf Scout Associations. In terms of external participation, the Sultanate of Oman participated in the 25th World Scout Camp in Korea with the participation of (35) scout leaders and scouts from various educational directorates in the governorates, as the camps are most effective fields

for training in leadership, and in providing the opportunity for individuals to study and conduct experiments through observation and viewing. The Directorate also organized the Oman Challenge Program for the Advanced Girl Guides stage in cooperation with the Oman Challenge Foundation this year with the participation of (17) Advanced Girl Guides. The program included hiking, exploratory trips, and various skills. The Scouts participated in the second Oman Youth Ship, which headed to the state of Sur in Al Sharqiyah Governorate this year. The participation aimed to consolidate the principles of teamwork, the arts of leadership and their applications, and to instill the concepts of self-confidence in the participant, in its seventh edition.

In the Ministry of Education, represented by the Directorate-General of Projects and Services “School Transport Department” keenness in maintaining students safety from overcrowding in school transportation, the steady increases in the number of students, and the accompanying growth in the tributaries in the various governorates of the Sultanate of Oman; additional financial funds were approved after discussing the needs of the educational directorates in the governorates for school transportation for (825) new school transportation vehicles, and contracts were made with their owners, with the need to provide an automated system for them for monitoring the movement of school transportation, and sensors for students’ movement while entering and leaving it to avoid accidents of being run over and forgotten. The Ministry of Education has worked in partnership with private sector institutions, and in coordination with the Royal Oman Police to train a number (497) of school transportation drivers in the defensive driving course with the aim of giving them experience and skill in driving, following traffic safety procedures, familiarity with highway skills, and dealing with various emergency situations to reduce traffic accidents.

The Ministry of Education, represented by the Directorate-General of Projects and Services, worked to restore, and maintain more than 80 school and administrative buildings for more than (1.8) million riyals in various governorates of the Sultanate of Oman, and began replacing all school air conditioners in several stages, amounting to (92) thousand air conditioning units. A committee was formed to develop a systematic plan for the maintenance of all school buildings, including daily, annual, and preventive maintenance, and to determine the mechanism of the maintenance plan and how to implement it regularly to ensure the sustainability of the buildings’ assets.

The Directorate-General of Special Education and Continuous Learning has prepared checklists for preparing individual educational plans for students with intellectual disabilities. It is a reference for the special education teacher in the school of intellectual education and some integrated basic education schools that

have students with intellectual disabilities. It aims to support the special education teachers and help them in preparing educational plans for these students. The directorate also implemented the program for identifying gifted students (Tharwa 2), which is the second version of the programs for detecting gifted students, in a number of schools in the educational directorates in the governorates of the Sultanate of Oman. This national program aims to lay the foundations for the process of discovering gifted students and caring for them in schools. The program targeted more than (13,000) students in (116) schools. The directorate adopted the application of the professional inclinations scale to gifted students in order to outline the features of giftedness and determine the path of gifted students’ inclinations that would facilitate the provision of appropriate care programs for them.

The Professional Inclinations Scale was applied to the category of students who passed the Creative Abilities Profile (PCA), and the Arab Giftedness Scale. By applying the scale, a database was prepared for students according to their professional inclinations, and a guidebook for enrichment activities for gifted students was prepared. (8) discussion sessions were held to introduce the guide to a number of (84) trainees from the category of teachers, senior teachers, and educational supervisors. A decentralized training program was also adopted for (10) educational governorates on how to prepare enrichment activities for gifted students, and developing a strategy for discovering gifted students and caring for them in school by developing a comprehensive, long-term national plan to discover gifted students, and their care in school, which includes special programs prepared for them, and to be a road map for implementing programs and specialized activities included in both the National Strategy for Education and the Tenth Five-Year Plan in accordance with a sound scientific methodology, and specific, clear-cut stages based on national priorities in the areas of investment and knowledge economy. The strategy included three themes: discovery, care, and investment. In developing the adult education strategy 2030, the directorate developed a long-term development plan to improve the adult education system in the Sultanate of Oman in all its aspects, based on regional and international theoretical and applied frameworks in the field of adult education, and meets the future needs of adult education, and reducing the illiteracy rate in the Sultanate of Oman through expanding the opening of classes that attract illiterate people in the various governorates, and the programs provided to them. The illiteracy rate decreased according to the statistics of the National Center for Statistics and Information to become (0.44%) in the category (15-44) and (2.40) in the category of over (10) years and (2.63) in the category of 15 years and above.

The Ministry of Education, represented by the Directorate-General of Information Technology, issued guidelines for the use of artificial intelligence applications in education, and organized Artificial Intelligence Day to discuss future

visions for the uses of artificial intelligence in education, implement an awareness campaign, train on the use of artificial intelligence applications in school education, and build a national program for using artificial intelligence in education, in addition to forming an artificial intelligence team in the Ministry’s General Diwan and the educational directorates.

The Ministry launched the Professional Community Initiative for Artificial Intelligence, which allows the participation of all segments of society in this interactive digital community, with the aim of introducing artificial intelligence applications in the educational process and providing many visual materials and practical evidence in the field of using artificial intelligence applications in education. The Ministry worked to develop its new systems in the digital transformation project by integrating artificial intelligence technologies into these systems with the aim of benefiting from them in providing interactive smart services to users.

In the same context, the Omani National Commission for Education, Culture and Science, in cooperation with the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, implemented a training seminar entitled: “The Role of Artificial Intelligence Applications in Enhancing Progress towards Achieving the Fourth Goal of the Sustainable Development Goals: Pioneering Experiences and Practices,” to learn about the latest tools and platforms of artificial intelligence used in e-learning, and countries’ experiences in this field.