News & Event

The Sultanate of Oman has guaranteed education as a basic right for every citizen since the beginning of the renaissance and has harnessed all potential and resources for this purpose; until learning became a characteristic of the Omani people, and those with disabilities among them were equal to their healthy peers in their pursuit of knowledge and science, as opportunities are equal for all. Education, learning, scientific research, and building national capacities are a priority that Oman Vision 2040 seeks to achieve with confident steps, based on the philosophy of education that has been developed to keep pace with developments in Omani society and to build a generation capable of managing the development movement, developing society, and facing the challenges of the future.

The Ministry of Education, represented by the Directorate-General of Special Education and Continuous Education, is concerned with building educational programs for some segments of society that do not fall under the umbrella of regular education, due to their different educational circumstances, such as: elderly learners in literacy classes, elderlyeducation, learners in care homes, correctional institutions (prisons), and people with disabilities (special education).

The Sultanate of Oman has stressed that illiteracy is a complex social and cultural problem; therefore, its elimination can only be achieved through the combined efforts of all governmental, private, and civil sectors. The Ministry of Education has worked to build bridges of cooperation with all relevant parties, whether internal or external parties, believing in the importance of accelerating the elimination of illiteracy among all its citizens. The Ministry has also worked on developing and modernizing the field of elderlyeducation, through which students who wish to continue their education to higher grades complete their studies to achieve their ambitions.

The Ministry has provided a set of facilities for students in literacy classes, including providing curricula (first, second and third) prepared specifically for students in literacy classes, qualifying teaching staff from Omani graduates of the General Education Diploma or higher to teach in literacy classes, granting a certificate of freedom from illiteracy to studentswhich qualifies them to join the study system in elderlyeducation, opening classrooms, supervising their progress by specialized supervisors, and registering students electronically in the literacy system via the educational portal.

The Ministry has implemented a number of programs and projects in literacy, such as the Learning Villages Program, the Cooperative Schools Program, the Literacy Project for Illiterates Working in the Ministry, the Literacy Project for Illiterate Omanis Working in the Private Sector, the Literacy Project for Residents of Islands and Sea Villages, and the Literacy Project for Illiterate Omanis (People with Disabilities).

The Educated Village Project is one of the innovative formulas to overcome illiteracy in its various forms. It aims to contribute and combine the efforts of the local community in all its segments to contribute to eradicating illiteracy with a firm conviction. This is done by identifying a geographically limited village that has no outskirts outside its surroundings with a high illiteracy rate, and in which or near it there are service institutions. The Directorate-General of Education in the educational governorate cooperates with the office of the governor of the state in which the village is located and conductscomprehensive survey studies of various aspects related to the village. The program was launched in 2004, and the total number of educated villages reached (30) in (203) educational divisions. The number of students in these villages since the launch of the program reached (2438) students in various educational directorates in the governorates of the Sultanate of Oman.

Among the literacy programs that the Ministry is working on is the Cooperative School Project, which aims to benefit from schools spread across the governorates of the Sultanate of Oman to adopt a group of literacy classes (whether inside or outside the school) in terms of supervising their management, or having teachers volunteer to teach in them, or by supervising and training one of the graduates of the General Education Diploma to teach in these classesthat the school supervises. The project was implemented as an experiment in the academic year (2003/2004), and in the academic year (2006/2007), the project was generalized in the educational governorates to benefit from this pioneering experience in the field of literacy, and the number of cooperating schools in the academic year (2023/2024) reached (50) cooperating schools.

The Sultanate of Oman participates with the countries of the world and UNESCO in celebrating the International Literacy Day, which falls on (8) September of each year. On this day, the Sultanate of Oman, represented by the Ministry of Education, seeks to shed light on the most important efforts, and highlight the projects and supportive programs it is making to eradicate illiteracy. This year comes under the slogan “Promoting Multilingual Education: Literacy for Mutual Understanding and Peace.” This slogan aims to highlight the importance of multilingual education in enhancing communication and dialogue between different cultures and building more peaceful and tolerant societies. The Ministry also seeks to statethe illiteracy and reading rates that have been reached in the Sultanate of Oman during previous periods, as it has worked hard since the academic year (1973/1974) to combat illiteracy and eliminate it in all its forms, whether reading, writing, cultural, or civilizational.