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Oman Education
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Sultan Qabus University at Al Khawd, west of Muscat
Courtesy Embassy of the Sultanate of Oman, Washington
Sultan Qabus ibn Said Al Said presenting gifts to the
first graduates of Sultan Qabus University
Courtesy Embassy of the Sultanate of Oman, Washington
As in other sectors of Omani society, the education
system
was radically altered after the accession of Sultan Qabus
ibn
Said. Prior to 1970, there were only three primary schools
in the
sultanate--in Muscat, Matrah, and Salalah. These were
reserved
for approximately 900 boys personally selected by the
sultan from
among many applicants. Additionally, in Muscat there was a
religious institute with an enrollment of fifty boys,
three
private schools for Hyderabadis (Indians), and one United
States
missionary school serving fifty foreign girls. Sultan
Qabus ibn
Said initiated a shift in the government's policies and
priorities from neglect to expansion of the school system,
increasing the public's access to general education.
The education system is guided by the policy-making
body of
the Council for Education chaired by the sultan and
operated by
the Ministry of Education and Youth. General education is
divided
into three levels: primary (grades 1-6); lower secondary
(grades
7-9); and upper secondary (grades 10-12). Teacher-training
colleges provide training programs for primary and lower
secondary school teachers.
Education accounted for a modest 11.2 percent of the
government's current expenditures in 1990, up from only
2.4
percent in 1975 but still considerably less than the 28
percent
planned and less than the proportion recorded by other
countries
in the process of expanding their school systems. By the
1989-90
academic year, the percentage of students enrolled in
primary
schools was almost 100 percent in the respective
age-group,
compared with 53 percent in 1977-78 (see
table 32,
Appendix). The
percentage of girls attending primary schools also rose
rapidly
during this period, from 37 percent in 1977-78 to 97
percent in
1989-90. The student-teacher ratio at the primary level
was
twenty-seven to one in 1988-89. Secondary school
enrollment
lagged behind primary school attendance and rose from 8
percent
of secondary-school-age youth in 1977-78 to 48 percent in
1989-
90. In 1986 Sultan Qabus University opened at Al Khawd,
west of
Muscat, with faculties of agriculture, education,
engineering,
Islamic studies, medicine, and science. Faculties for
commerce,
economics and the arts are planned.
Rapid expansion and enrollment have exceeded the
capacity of
the ministry to plan and administer the system. This has
produced
problems in planning, budgeting, curriculum development,
and
teacher training. Often, inappropriate sites for
facilities are
selected, and programs are of poor quality or unavailable.
Lower
secondary education remains underdeveloped, contributing
to the
low enrollment rates in upper secondary school,
particularly for
females.
The government emphasizes teacher training for Omanis,
in
order to create an indigenous teaching force. The
dependency on
foreign staff, and hence the high turnover rate and lack
of
continuity, further compromises the quality of education.
In the
1980-81 academic year, 618 of a total 5,663, or 11 percent
of the
teaching staff, were Omanis. By the 1985-86 academic year,
the
number had increased to 18 percent. The majority of
ministry
employees (55 percent in 1990) are non-Omanis, of whom
more than
70 percent are Egyptians; the balance consists of
Jordanians,
Pakistanis, Sudanese, Indians, Filipinos, and others. As
of 1990,
there were six teacher-training colleges providing a
two-year
program and enrolling a total of about 700 students.
Secondary
school teachers receive training at the Faculty of
Education at
Sultan Qabus University.
The government's medium-term objectives are to ensure
that
all six-year-olds are enrolled in primary school and to
expand
access to primary and secondary education in rural areas.
The
government also seeks to expand teacher-training
facilities; to
increase the number of trained nationals staffing schools
by
increasing the number of teacher-training colleges; to
improve
teacher-class ratios and school-building operations; and
to
introduce student testing and new programs.
Data as of January 1993
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