Sultanate has more than 70,000 schoolteachers

The total number of schoolteachers in the Sultanate stood at 70,285 in the academic year 2018-2019, and of them 56,742 worked in government schools, according to the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI). This was revealed as the Sultanate, along with other countries, marked the World Teachers Day, which falls on October 5 every year. The number of schools in the Sultanate in the academic year 2018-2019 reached 1,927, with an increase of 119 schools compared to the previous year, the NCSI said. Al Batinah North governorate had the largest percentage of government schools in 2018-2019 with 17.2 per cent of the total schools in the sector, followed by Muscat and Dhofar governorates with 14.9 per cent and 13.5 per cent respectively. The number of private schools in the academic year 2018-2019 was 730, compared to 636 schools in the previous year, with an increase of 14.8 per cent. Teachers in private schools numbered 10,186. There were 45 international schools in the Sultanate in 2018-2019 with 63,400 students, representing about 7.9 per cent of the pupils in the Sultanate, with 3,044 teachers. At the higher education level, 80.4 per cent of the students who had graduated with General Diploma in 2016-2017 were enrolled in higher education institutes for the academic year 2017-2018. In all, 1,985 students were attached to universities and colleges abroad in the academic year 2017-2018.