Back to school

Over 700,000 students will return to government schools on Sunday, marking the start of the academic year 2022-23.

It may also be noted that students from low-income and social security families will be eligible for special support under the school supplies and nutrition initiative, which was launched after the Royal orders of His Majesty Sultan Haitham bin Tarik.

While teaching and non-teaching staff in all governorates of the Sultanate of Oman returned to work last week, 741,000 students from 1,422 government schools will resume classes after the summer break in various governorates. Officials have confirmed that all preparations, including availability of textbooks and arrangement of school buses, have been made.

Around 130,000 students will also be attending 800 private schools and kindergartens.

Preparations for the new school year began last week with the return of 57,033 teachers, including 39,637 female teaching staff, in addition to 10,834 technicians.

The ministries of health and education said students' health would be given top priority, as vaccinations will be provided as per the school health programme.

Royal Oman Police (ROP) has issued guidelines for bus drivers to ensure the safe transportation of students. The instructions are significant because speeding, negligence, bad behaviour and not keeping a safe distance are among the main causes of road accidents in the country, according to the latest statistics.

Col Khamis bin Ali al Battashi, Assistant Director-General of Traffic, said, "ROP has taken many measures in coordination with the Ministry of Education and in line with the Traffic Law and its executive regulations. The roads will witness traffic congestion, especially at peak times, and therefore traffic patrols will work to facilitate traffic, especially in places with more congestion than others. Traffic patrols will facilitate the movement of buses, give them priority in traffic, and monitor the extent to which the bus driver adheres to traffic rules and regulations and the number of students allowed on a bus."

He said all public and private school bus drivers must be careful when approaching students gathering places and move only after making sure that all students have crossed the streets.

They should stop buses in designated places, whether in front of schools or after work is completed.

Meanwhile, the Director-General of Curriculum Development said that most textbooks would be available on time this year, apart from two books printed abroad.

He said there are some changes in the curriculum for the 11th grade for certain subjects.

"Both institutions and parents have been demanding for expansion of humanities curriculum."

On teaching of French and German languages, he said it has not yet been expanded to all governorates of Oman, but only to some specific schools.

"There are agreements with Omani-French Institute and the German GuTech Institute for teaching these languages. The Ministry of Education has received three of the five approved school buildings in Liwa, which will become functional during the academic year (2022/2023) to keep pace with the expected growth in the number of students.

"The number of students expected at government schools in Al Dakhiliyah Governorate is 106,784, including 10,592 students for class (1) of basic education schools."

The total number of teachers, administrators and support staff is 9,040 for 160 government and four evening schools. The number of teachers deployed in the Governorate of Al Dakhiliyah from other governorates is 368, both male and female, while the number of teachers transferred from Al Dakhiliyah to other governorates is 318, and the number of newly appointed teachers is 354.

Meanwhile, several parents told the Observer that special care should be taken as the day temperatures are still very high in some governorates.

"The operations of school canteens should also be regulated and monitored so that children are provided with an appropriate and nutritious diet at an appropriate price. School canteens are not for the purpose of making profits," a parent said.

The Consumer Protection Authority (CPA) is making efforts to ensure the availability of school supplies at affordable rates, as prices of imported items have touched the rooftop due to various external factors.

Despite the assurance from CPA and back-to-school promotions by retailers, prices of school supplies have been witnessing inflationary pressures like never before.

Students of families whose monthly income does not exceed RO 400 are eligible for school supplies and nutrition initiative, which was launched after Royal directives. This was decided at a joint meeting of officials from the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Social Development in Muscat on Thursday.

@vinot_nair