Muscat: The return to school for the new academic year 2024/2025 began on Sunday, with supervisors, members of educational bodies, related jobs, and supporting groups starting their work in various schools in the Sultanate of Oman in preparation for ringing school bells to welcome students next Sunday (1 September, 2024).
The number of teachers this year in government schools reached 61,195 with an Omanisation rate of 87.6 percent, distributed over 1,269 schools.
The number of administrators and technicians in government schools reached 10,652, of whom 4,306 were males and 6,346 were females with an Omanisation rate of 99.8 percent.
As for the number of teachers in special education schools, it reached 220 teachers with an Omanisation rate of 93 percent, and the total number of administrators in special education schools is 52 with an Omanisation rate of 83 percent.
During the past period, the Ministry of Education completed the procedures for appointing teachers who passed the written tests and personal interviews for this academic year, including 691 male teachers, representing 21.3 percent and 2,542 female teachers, representing 78.7 percent of the total number of those appointed; to meet the actual need for teaching staff in various specialisations.
Saif Al Julandani, Director-General of the Directorate-General of Educational Supervision, said: “Teachers are the cornerstone of the educational process, as they play a pivotal role in educational work; by providing their students with knowledge and various skills, and providing them with life experiences inside and outside the classroom; to refine their personalities, and prepare them in the best way for life and work. Thus, teachers receive increasing attention in various educational systems due to the human value they represent in contemporary societies.”
He added: “In this context, the Directorate-General of Educational Supervision targeted all new teachers who joined the educational work in the academic year 2024/2025 in various specialisations, and focused on supporting new teachers and assisting them in performing their duties, and introducing them to their roles according to the systems and regulations governing the work, and the ethics of the teaching profession, including the concepts, principles, and foundations that frame the teaching profession, and the most important characteristics that must be available in teachers, their rights and duties, and planning for daily and semester teaching.”
“The new teachers programme also includes the concepts of planning for the teaching process, its types, and its importance, with the presentation of applied models for the types of planning, introducing new teachers to the electronic preparation platform (Classera) and how to employ it, employing assessment tools to measure student learning, defining the concepts of measurement and assessment and its types, and the mechanisms for employing these tools in the teaching and learning processes, explaining the concepts of supervisory visits and their objectives.
“It also includes psychological containment in the classroom environment, procedures for containing learners psychologically, and procedures for applying it in classroom situations, defining the curricula in the Sultanate of Oman, how to employ the curriculum study plan, employing modern platforms and technologies in education, the role of technology in improving the quality of education, and its positives for the teacher and the student, as well as practical applications in activating the Ministry’s platform (Classera) when activating distance learning in the schools of the Sultanate of Oman.”
Khamis Al-Hadidi, Director-General of the Directorate-General of Projects and Services, spoke about the Directorate’s preparations for the new academic year 2024/2025, saying: “Sixteen school buildings have been received to be operated at the beginning of the new academic year. Construction of 15 school buildings has also begun, in addition to starting to tender for 20 new school buildings. The Ministry has been keen to provide the operational requirements for the educational process according to the latest technical and scientific specifications to ensure the provision of a suitable atmosphere for the school environment; as it is one of the most important aspects supporting the teaching and learning processes, such as the educational additions project.”
“During the fiscal year 2024, the actual cost of additions was committed to 25 schools, in addition to implementing additions in 50 schools, and the renovation project for the Directorate-General of Education to renovate a number of its schools during the fiscal year 2024, and to prepare and refurnish 83 science laboratories in schools, as the preparation and refurnishing of 60 science laboratories has been completed, and an amount has been allocated to improve the educational environment by establishing and preparing sports fields, canopies, and cafeterias.”
He added: “An annual amount has been approved to provide 800 new school transportation vehicles, renew contracts for more than 20,000 school transportation vehicles, and sign an agreement between Karwa Motors Company and the Oman Development Bank to replace old school transportation vehicles under the sponsorship of the Ministry of Finance.”
“Nearly 5,000 means of transportation for students will be replaced for a period of five years, provided that 1,000 school transportation vehicles are replaced every year starting from 2024/2025, distributed across the governorates of the Sultanate of Oman according to actual need.”
“A number of 24,000 air conditioning units were supplied and installed in the second phase, and the work is assigned to companies to supply and install 44,000 devices for the third and fourth phases.”
Abdullah Al Fouri, Director-General of the Directorate-General of Education in South Al Sharqiyah Governorate, said: “Preparations for the new academic year began early, as the Directorate was keen to implement its administrative and technical plans. An administrative decision was formed to determine the needs of schools to prepare for the academic year, and to form executive and technical committees to determine the readiness of schools, the extent of completion of maintenance work, and to prepare the first batch of school books, furniture, and educational tools, and to receive them according to the distribution plan, and to the formations received from the Planning and Development Department, with emphasis on all schools receiving their share before the start of the new academic year.”
The Director-General said: “The distribution of new senior teachers to schools has been completed according to need, the training programmes provided to new teachers have been followed up, a plan for professional development programmes for supervisors has been prepared, a programme for preparing new delegates to the position of assistant school principal has been prepared, and the vocational guidance specialist has been distributed to schools according to need,
and proposals have been made to fill vacancies in the schools.”
Regarding new educational projects and additions, the Director-General said that the Projects and Services Departmenthas received all new educational projects since the beginning of this year in addition to receiving new additions, as the project to add 8 classrooms and a bathroom to Bilad Bani Bu Ali School has been received, and the project to add 7 classrooms, an improved physics lab, a teachers’ room, and two bathrooms to Al-Aija School has been received.”
“Additional projects are being implemented in Al-Imam Al-Salt Bin Al-Qasim School with 8 classrooms, and Al-Janan School with 4 classrooms and a teachers’ room. The procedures for assigning 7 addition projects in a number of schools are being completed, namely: Munir Bin Al-Nir, Laali Al-Ilm, Al-Suwaih, Al-Asalah, Al-Tasneem, Al-Jawabi, and Sur for basic education. Projects are currently being implemented to prepare and furnish 18 laboratories in the governorate’s schools as well.”
Shabib Al Farsi, a chemistry teacher at Al Khalil bin Ahmed Al Farahidi School in South Al Batinah Governorate, said: “With the beginning of the 2024/2025 academic year, I am filled with enthusiasm and optimism. Welcoming the new academic year is an opportunity to renew activity and regain enthusiasm for education and teaching, with full readiness to face challenges and achieve the desired goals.”
“This time of the year always brings with it hope and excitement, as it opens the doors to new opportunities and stimulating challenges, which motivates me to do my best in order to succeed and excel. I am excited to return to work and interact again with my fellow teachers, as they enhance my motivation to learn and develop. The enthusiasm of the students, the readiness of the teachers, and the stimulating educational environment are all factors that make me optimistic about a bright future full of successes, and it will be an exceptional year.”
Wafaa Al-Maashani, an IT teacher at Nasheb Basic Education School in Dhofar Governorate, said: “On the first day of the school year, my feelings are mixed between longing, joy, and a little anxiety. This anxiety soon disappears when I meet my colleagues and the smiling faces of the students. As an IT teacher, when I receive my school schedule, I look at the semester plan, prepare my curricula, or modify my previous preparation that I have saved in the iCloud, and add some means to help me prepare to implement the curriculum perfectly. I also review what is new in the curriculum, especially since IT curricula are developing remarkably in line with the digital development that we are witnessing.”
