News & Event

The Ministry of Education, represented by the Directorate-General of Private Schools, organized the first forum for pioneering educational initiatives in private schools, under the patronage of HE Prof. Dr. Abdullah bin Khamis Ambosaidi, Undersecretary of the Ministry for Education, in the presence of the Directors-General at the Ministry’s General Diwan. The forum targeted two hundred private school principals, government schools, and teachers, and was held at the Sultan School Theater in the Wilayat of Seeb.

Nabil Al-Khanbashi, Director of the Private Schools Programs and Curricula Department, delivered the Directorate’s speech, in which he said: “The private school education sector has received increasing attention in recent years, due to the quantitative and qualitative development witnessed in this sector at the same time, as it is a qualitative tributary to the educational process. Private schools have become a major contributor to building students’ skills and providing them with modern knowledge, according to the highest international standards, through the diversity of international programs and their curricula applied in many private schools. The importance of this educational forum, through which we celebrate the pioneering educational initiatives, comes in highlighting the development witnessed by our private school educational institutions that seek to provide quality education that is consistent with the goals and outcomes of these international programs and their curricula, and keeps pace with the requirements of the labor market, and anticipates a future full of opportunities and skills. Education is no longer limited to transferring knowledge and sciences but has become an integrated experience that aims to build the student’s personality and enhance his abilities to think critically and creatively.”

Seven pioneering educational initiatives were presented in forum. The first initiative, entitled: “Implementing the Philosophy of High-Performance Learning”, addressed the strategies adopted by the school to improve academic achievement and enhance students’ critical and creative thinking skills. The second initiative, entitled: “Student Leadership and Development of Personal, Social and Emotional Curricula”, addressed the International Baccalaureate program applied in the school to include educational outcomes to achieve personal, social, and emotional skills (PSE) needs through the curricula and the (IB-PSE) project. The third initiative, entitled: “Virtual Data Room”, reviewed the establishment of the virtual data room, which was built to ensure that all academic and behavioral information for students is entered periodically. The fourth initiative, entitled: “The School Education System: An Introduction to Value Education”, addressed the school’s efforts to develop moral values to enhance children's psychological and emotional development, and to ensure personal balance during the different years of growth in the school environment through several educational practices, including the development of STEM skills. The fifth initiative was entitled: "Student Development Center", and aims to support a wide range of students, including gifted students and those who face challenges, such as: stuttering, weak personality traits, and low academic level. The sixth initiative, entitled: "Visual Thinking Routines: How to Enhance Understanding and Independence in Learners", addressed documenting ideas visually, enhancing collaborative inquiry, and using assessment tools that are consistent with the nature of the desired learning to measure progress and develop self-awareness. The seventh initiative, entitled: "Enhancing Knowledge and Real Knowledge in Students", reviewed the integration of different disciplines in a way that enhances critical thinking, creativity, and problem solving which contributes to preparing students to face future challenges, and to creating an interactive educational environment that encourages exploration and experimentation, and the use of innovative educational methods.

The forum recommended that private schools continue to present their constructive initiatives, work on developing and sustaining them, benefiting from them and their results and applying them in other private schools, in a way that enhances the development of the skills necessary for innovation and creativity among students, and the possibility of applying them in other government schools by creating a kind of integration between educational systems, activating the role of enrichment programs in developing students’ personalities, skills, and achievement levels, and benefiting from the application of these initiatives to support student learning in international programs, and enhancing initiatives that are concerned with preparing students to engage in the professional path.