author - oman observer

SALEH AL SHAIBANY - saleh_shaibani@yahoo.com - Private companies in Oman are not doing enough to help children with special needs and official statistics prove it. The government’s statistics in the...

Oman dropped a packet of cigarettes and a child picked it up for him. They did not know each other because they were both walking on the street but separate ways. On a table outside a roadside café,...

SALEH AL SHAIBANY - saleh_shaibani@yahoo.com - The 2018 fiscal budget has all the ingredients to spur growth and kick-start the development needed this year to push the economy in the right direction....

I was not sure whether I was at the right place or not when I turned a corner and stepped into a place completely isolated from the rest of the neighbourhood. There were 16 beds, a long table, 22...

SALEH AL SHAIBANY - saleh_shaibani@yahoo.com - Oman must step its privatisation efforts to attract much needed foreign investments into the country to diversify away from the oil income. Privatisation...

A mother’s job is the hardest one in the world and perhaps the most sensitive. I was looking at three-year-olds running around at the Wave Muscat last weekend. Their fathers were happily drinking...

SALEH AL SHAIBANY - saleh_shaibani@yahoo.com - Local farmers are struggling to keep their farms defeating the government’s efforts to promote locally produced crops. Farmers now make up only 12 per...

When I decided to take my folding chair to the beach this week, I saw more than the rushing waves of the sea rolling on the white sands. I saw life at its simplex form. A child was running to the arms...

SALEH AL SHAIBANY - saleh_shaibani@yahoo.com - The job market in Oman is flooded with graduates and employers are spoiled for choices when it comes to recruit degree holders but not all of them fit...

While I was enjoying a nice cup of coffee at a café in the Muscat City Center Mall with my cousin, a man walked towards us and sat at the same table. While we were chatting, his wife came over to say...

Athird of borrowers struggle to meet their monthly repayments as local banks easily extend personal loans to Omanis. The alarming amount of money the local banks loan to citizens could destabilise...

Muscat, Dec 5 - House owners want stiffer action taken against contractors who fit substandard electrical wiring in new homes to prevent deaths. Last week, eight people, most of whom were children,...

SALEH AL SHAIBANY - saleh_shaibani@yahoo.com - A reliable database of jobseekers is badly needed and it is very essential for employment policy and job generation planning. Up to date employment...

I had my students completely confused when I started the class with an explanation of two different but contrasting moments in life. I told the youngsters that how a moment of magic can be so...

My heart missed a beat when I saw a woman walking opposite me. She reminded me of my mother who I had lost six years ago. I slowed down so I could get a good look at her. She sensed something and gave...

No matter how strong it is, nothing lasts. I was in one of those moods as I enjoyed the sheer pleasure of being well and alive. I watched the wind touch everything around me. I saw the grass dancing...

I was waiting near a construction site looking at builders going about their business. The noise of the machine they were operating was deafening. I wished the racket would stop and I was not the only...

The unemployment queue can be reduced if graduates get the opportunities to set their own businesses. However, at the moment aspiring entrepreneurs find out they have to go through a complicated red...

SALEH AL SHAIBANY - saleh_shaibani@yahoo.com - A well-organised public transport will significantly reduce road congestions and fatalities as well as cost saving to the maintenance of the highways....

Through a dirty window pane of a fast food restaurant chain, I saw a very familiar face. The man was sitting on the deck, dining with two small children and a young woman. She was a foreigner of Far...