As part of the Unesco’s efforts to provide quality education along with lifelong learning for all, September 8 is observed as International Literacy Day, every year. Although the day passed off without much ado in the Sultanate, the educational vision for quality, equity and sustainability in Oman is facilitated by Unesco programmes. Oman’s adult literacy rate reached 94.8 per cent in 2015 from 81.36 per cent in 2003 growing at an average annual rate of 3.69 per cent.
“Despite high literacy rate in the country, there is still the need for an increasing focus on attaining high-quality education to understand the international business culture and acquire skills to succeed in a globalised market,” feel experts.
Adult literacy rate is the percentage of people aged between 15 and 24 years and who can read and write as well as understand short simple statements about everyday life.
According to Unesco, “Literacy is now understood as a means of identification, understanding, interpretation, creation and communication in an increasingly digital, text-mediated, information-rich and fast-changing world.”
Despite the significant drop in oil prices, the government has earmarked a generous expenditure of RO 1,586 million in the 2017 budget for education sector.
“There is a steady growth in the allocation of funds to provide quality education to the youth in the country. At the same time, the authorities need to make its youngsters skilled so that they can be easily absorbed into jobs,” said Faisal al Lawati, an educationist.
Reforms such as a mandatory 10 years of basic education, an increase in the number of school days, encouragement to private higher education institutions, growth of special needs education, and the setting up of teacher training colleges, among others, have further assisted the development of the Oman’s education landscape.
With Unesco’s support, pilot schools have been established in all governorates in the country with each school community, with the involvement of all stakeholders identifying two principles to target initially.
“These schools offer an alternative model of education, whereby school communities identify their individual goals, devise their own solutions, test, evaluate and revise whilst maintaining the best interests of every child as the modus operandi,” points out Wajeha al Ani, a Sultan Qaboos University scholar, in a research paper.
As of 2016, the Sultanate was home to over 1,068 schools in 2016, with a growth of 2.7 per cent compared with 2011, while the number of students has reached 500,000 students in the same year.
The education system registered enrolments to the tune of more than 778,000 students, recording an overall Gross Enrolment Ratio of 79.2 per cent in 2014.
This year, the Literacy Day focused on Literacy in a Digital World, and how digitisation has evolved literacy across the globe.
Figures from the UN’s International Telecommunications Union suggest that, in 2016, 53 per cent of the world’s population was not using the Internet.
According to Unesco, nearly two billion people did not use mobile phones, and almost a half billion lived in areas outside mobile connectivity.
SAMUEL KUTTY
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