The Majlis Ash’shura on Sunday hosted Dr Madeeha bint Ahmed al Shaibaniyah, Minister of Education, who gave a statement on education plans and programmes being implemented by the ministry.
The session was held under the chairmanship of Shaikh Khalid bin Hilal al Maawali, Chairman of Majlis Ash’shura. The Majlis reviewed various topics related to the standard of education in Oman, including promotions of teaching staff, vocational education courses and general education.
The minister underlined the achievements made in the education sector in the past four decades and various strategies adopted in the five-year plans that focused on quality of education, curricula, legislation and policies for regulation of private schools in the Sultanate. Replying to specific questions, the minister said that promotions for teachers for 2010 have been not yet approved by the Ministry of Finance, and added that the number of public schools for year 2015/2016 stood at 1,068 against 574 private schools in the country. She added that 90 per cent of the budget is spent on salaries, followed by 5.8 per cent on transport and the rest 4.2 per cent on examinations. She also pointed out the challenges faced by teachers due to many holidays (110) in an academic year.
Regarding mass resignations submitted by teachers, the minister said that the ministry has decided not to accept any resignations during the current academic year and added that the resignations submitted this year are similar in number to the previous years and 85 per cent of them were in the first and second cycles and were submitted by teachers who have completed 20 years of service and that is ‘normal.’ Several members raised the issue of the poor standard of education among students in the country.
Khalid bin Yahya al Farei, Head of Education and Scientific Research Committee, spoke of high expenditure at the Ministry of Education and added around 27 advisers are getting total salaries amounting to of RO 60,000 per month in addition to 154 experts, including 14 foreign experts, the salaries of whom cost RO 250,000 per month.
He also noted that some advisers and experts get salaries between RO 5,000 and RO 6,000.
Al Farei said some bilingual schools do not teach compulsory subjects such as Islamic studies and social studies.
“There are over 10,000 expatriate teachers employed in various schools, which means that Omanisation of the sector will take another 20 years.”
Source: OmanObserver