Oman’s renaissance programme started in 1970. From an agrarian society without any sort of infrastructure, the country has been transformed into a thriving modern state over a relatively short span of a couple of decades. This has been achieved through the judicious design and implementation of successive Five-Year Development Plans. Currently the Fifth Five-Year Development Plan (1996–2000) is under implementation.

Each Five-Year Plan has accorded top priority to the development of human resources, for both strategic and socio-cultural reasons. Basic Education for All being central to human resources development has been a key component of every Five-Year Plan, and has received due priority in all of them.

The Fourth (1991–1995) and Fifth (1996–2000) Five-Year Plans have given still more emphasis to improving the quality and efficiency of the general education system, while continuing efforts to achieve the goal of universal access to basic education and eliminate gender or regional disparities. To this end, the Sultanate of Oman provides free basic and secondary education to all people aged 6–18 through the general education system, and to men and women above 15 years of age through literacy and adult education programmes.

In addition to continuing the relentless effort to provide basic education to all Omanis, the Government has made commendable progress in the fields of children’s and women’s health care. It has also made progress in promoting preschool education, by encouraging the private sector through incentives, developing preschool teacher education and supervisory training programmes, and regulating the expanding preschool education system which is run by the private sector. The Ministry of Education has recently designed and developed preschool education curricula and materials, which are supplied to all preschool establishments (KGs) at production cost. Over and above all this, the Government has paid some attention to the education of disabled.

The following sections present the development trends and progress made in the areas related to the six dimensions of EFA from 1990 onwards. However, before proceeding with the numbers, a note on the education authorities and the composition of the Omani and expatriate population is in order.

The general education system in Oman includes both public and private schools.? The public schools account for the largest share and cater for both Omani and non-Omani students. The private schools are regulated and supervised by the Ministry of Education, and also cater for both Omani and non-Omani students. Most of the private schools are located in Muscat. According to the 1997/98 Educational Statistics Year Book, in 1997 there were 93 primary and 6 preparatory schools run by the private sector, accounting for nearly 23% of all the primary schools and just over 1% of the preparatory schools.

The major structural dimensions of the general education system include: the education authority (public, private), the education level/cycle/stage (preschool, primary, preparatory, secondary), school gender (male, female, co-ed.), pupil sex (male, female), and pupil nationality (Omani, expatriate) variables. Then, there are dimensions of location (urban, rural) and geographical/administrative regions.

Basic education (the basic cycle or stage) comprises both primary and preparatory cycles. Before the onset of the current educational reform programme, basic education involved nine years of schooling: the primary stage (Grades 1–6) and the preparatory stage (Grades 7–9). Under the reform programme, the basic education cycle has been extended from nine to ten years (Grades 1–10). The official entrance age to Grade 1 of the primary cycle is 6 years. Basic education normally caters for the population aged 6–15. Basic education (Grades 1–10) has been divided into two stages: stage one (primary) comprises Grades 1–4, and stage two (preparatory) includes Grades 5–10.

The following sections present the growth of schools (primary, preparatory, secondary, and total) followed by the growth of teachers, and finally the growth of students.

Table G1 presents the growth of schools in each education cycle according to school gender. The total number of schools in each cycle and the grand total of all cycles from 1990/91 to 1997/98 is displayed in Figure G1.

Source: Statistical Year Books, 1990/91 to 1997/98, Ministry of Education.

Note: Decreasing number of Primary Schools is because of the fact that as and when preparatory grades are added to a primary school it is classified as a preparatory school.

Figure G1 reveals the following facts about the growth pattern of schools in the Sultanate of Oman from 1990/91 to 1997/98.

In 1997/98, the total number of primary schools was 411, i.e. a good number of 25 schools fewer than seven years before. This should explain the total number of schools in 1997/98 being less by 6 than it was a year earlier. The following analysis will explain this phenomenon.

In searching for the causes of the decline in the number of primary schools, we examined the disparate distributions of public and private primary schools over the last 8 years. We found that while the number of private primary schools had more than doubled, reaching 93 in 1997/98 from 45 in 1990/91, the number of public primary schools had decreased consistently from 386 in 1990/91 to 318 in 1997/98. A look at student enrolment in the primary cycle found a steady increase.

This has all happened for very good reasons. In the past, when the MOE increased its efforts to spread primary education, the demand for schools far outstripped the supply. In order to meet the ever-increasing demand for student places, the MOE opened schools in rented buildings, in improvised and wooden structures, and so on. Most school buildings housed two schools operating under the double-shift system, one in the morning and one in the afternoon.

This necessary rapid expansion of the education system took its toll on quality. Most schools were too small to be equipped with essential school facilities. Double-shift schools had their own problems, such as a shorter school day and the difficulties associated with it.

At the beginning of the 90s, the Government focused on improving the quality and efficiency of the general education system, whilst continuing its expansion policy. The education development plan gave priority to the construction of schools and providing essential school facilities, such as general science laboratories, libraries, multipurpose workshops, multipurpose rooms, etc.

As a result of this drive, double-shift schools were amalgamated and housed in new custom-designed, well-equipped school buildings with adequate learning facilities. Groups of small schools operating in temporary structures and various types of improvised plants were combined and accommodated in new school buildings. This operation contributed to reducing the number of primary schools.

The way schools are classified into categories such as primary, preparatory, and secondary is another factor that results in reducing the number of primary schools. For instance, as a result of natural growth, when preparatory grades are added to a primary school, it is counted as a preparatory school, even though it also includes all the primary classes. Likewise, there are secondary schools which have both primary and preparatory cycles. Since the primary cycle exists in many preparatory and secondary schools, the number of schools that have only primary classes has steadily declined, while the number of primary students has naturally increased.

The Ministry’s relentless drive and sustained campaign to raise people’s awareness of the importance of education in their lives resulted in ever-increasing enrolments at all levels of education. This progress is demonstrated by the primary, preparatory and secondary cycle enrolments, which are reported in Table G2 and graphed in Figure G2.

It can be seen that enrolments have increased at all three levels but at widely different rates:

Along with the growth in the number of schools and students, the number of teaching staff has increased almost proportionately. Since there was a lack of a broad base of educated cadres, the Sultanate was obliged to build the education system with large numbers of expatriate teachers, contracted from other Arab countries. The proportion of Omani teachers has been increasing gradually due to the sustained efforts to produce quality teachers for all levels of education in increasing numbers.

The growth in the number of teachers, regardless of nationality, is reflected by the numbers presented in Table G3 and graphed in Figures G3a, G3b, G3c respectively for Primary, Preparatory and Secondary cycles, comparing the relative growth of female and male teachers in the 90s.

Source:

Statistical Year Books 1990/91 to 1997/98, Ministry of Education.

The respective figures for the Primary, Preparatory and Secondary cycles lead to the following conclusions.

2. The rate of teacher growth varies along the successive cycles.

Source:

Statistical Year Books 1990/91 to 1997/98, Ministry of Education.