News & Event

The national campaign to raise awareness of the dangers of climate conditions and tsunamis kicked-off start this week. It is implemented by the National Emergency Management Committee in partnership with the Ministry of Information, the National Center for Early Warning of Multiple Hazards, and the Civil Defense and Ambulance Authority, in cooperation with the Office of the Governor of Dhofar, the Directorate-General of Education, the Directorate-General of Social Development in Dhofar Governorate, and the Youth Center in Salalah. The campaign is set to continue until October 7, 2024.

The opening ceremony of the campaign was held at the Sultan Qaboos Youth Complex for Culture and Entertainment in Salalah, under the patronage of HHSayyid Marwan bin Turki Al Said, Governor of Dhofar, in the presence of Dr. Maizoon bint Bakhit Al Shahriya, Director-General of the Directorate-General of Education in Dhofar Governorate, and a number of officials and interested parties.

Dr. Ali Al-Jahwari, Advisor to the Minister of Education for Security Affairs, presented a working paper entitled: “School Security and Safety Procedures,” in which he said: “The Ministry of Education attaches great importance to the issue of security and safety in schools; to ensure a safe and healthy educational environment for students, teachers,and all school staff. The Ministry is also working to implement a set of procedures and policies that aim to maintain the safety of everyone within educational institutions, including emergency and evacuation plans, where students, teachers and school staff are trained on emergency plans and rapid and organized evacuation in the event of fires, natural disasters, or any other emergency incident. There are specialized security and safety teams in schools to follow up and implement security and safety standards in schools. Moreover, to prevent accidents, schools are equipped with the necessary safety means such as: fire extinguishers, monitoring, and protection systems, in addition to placing instructions and guidance boards in appropriate places.”

He also explained that the Ministry of Education has created a department for risk management, in addition to implementing the electronic system for risk management and activating it in its experimental phase in a group of schools in the educational directorates, with the continuation of training employees at the Ministry’s General Diwan and in the educational governorates on risk management, as well asimplementing a number of awareness exercises and programs in schools. In addition, the Specialized Institute for Professional Training for Teachers, in cooperation with the Risk Management Department, implemented a training package targeting school administrations and teachers.

The campaign’s opening ceremony included an accompanying exhibition, which was organized by the Directorate-General of Education in Dhofar Governorate. The two-days exhibition includes an introductory corner for one of the student projects: “The Water Level Alert Device”. It also includes visual presentations of the top three places for students’ work in the Best Awareness Photo Competition using AI Tools and the Best Awareness Video Competition using AI Tools, in addition to implementing a simulation scene of an existing danger resulting from climate conditions and how to deal with it. The exhibition also highlights the efforts of the Emergency Management Sub-Committee in the educational directorate in Dhofar, and the evacuation plans being implemented in various schools in the governorate.

At the end of the ceremony, HH Sayyid Marwan bin Turki Al Said, Governor of Dhofar, honored the students who won the first three places in the Best Awareness Photo Competition using Artificial Intelligence Tools and the winners of the first three places in the Best Awareness Video Competition using Artificial Intelligence Tools were also honored.

It is worth noting that the campaign aims to raise community awareness about weather, climate, and tsunami risks, and to introduce the early warning system for multiple risks. The campaign is set toinclude all the Wilayats of Dhofar Governorate.