In response to the complexities and diversities of basic learning needs, and in line with the goal of human resources development, the Sultanate of Oman has adopted intersectoral strategies for early childhood care and development.

Since the development of child health starts at conception, and is influenced by the pregnant mother’s health, complementary measures involve maternal health, prenatal and postnatal care, as well as parenthood education and training regarding sanitation and a healthy environment. Immunization is necessary for protecting children from various fatal and permanently disabling diseases. The provision of nursery services and preschool education facilities have also become requirements of wholesome child development.

The multi-pronged early childhood care and development approach adopted by the Government has achieved phenomenal success in the provision of child and maternal health care. This approach has been implemented in a coordinated fashion by the Ministries concerned and government and private institutions, within the framework of successive Five-Year Plans, especially the Fourth and Fifth Plans which cover the 90s.

The population of Oman is a young population. 15% of it is under 5 years of age, and over 47% is under 15 years of age. Only 4.5% of the population is 60 years and over. Almost one-fifth of the total Omani population consists of females in the reproductive age group (15–49 years). The Total Fertility Rate (TFR) for Omani women in 1987 was estimated to be 7.8 children per woman aged 15–49 (Child Health Survey, 1992). According to the 1993 census, it had declined to 6.9. It is estimated to have been 5.2 in 1996, and was expected to fall further to 4.8 children per woman in 1997.

Infant mortality has shown a dramatic decline over the past years. It dropped from 118 per 1000 live births in 1972 to 18.3 per 1000 in 1996. This was further reduced in 1997 to 18 per 1000 live births. The Crude Birth Rate has gone down by 50% over the past 7 years.

The priorities of the Fifth Five-Year Plan (1996–2000) include:

1. Taking action to prevent communicable and parasitic diseases, and eradicating them, especially among young and school age children.
2. Promoting increasing community involvement in health care activities.
3. Formulating and implementing strategies and programmes for combating the diseases of mothers and children, especially: malnutrition, diarrhoea, acute respiratory diseases, diseases controlled by EPI, Measles, and all types of viral infective Hepatitis.

Several research surveys conducted by the MOH include the Oman Child Health Survey (1988/89) and the Oman Family Health Survey (1995). The latter – using a sophisticated two-stage random cluster sample of 264 Primary Sampling Units (PSUs) defined as census Enumeration Areas, and 25 Omani households randomly selected within each PSU (6,103 households comprising 51,653 residents) – identified a total of 6,551 ever-married women under 50 years of age (1.073 per household). Of these, 6,418 were successfully interviewed. The survey collected valuable detailed information in four critical areas:

1. the household questionnaire, which gathered information on the general health of all members of the household;
2. the household socio-economic status questionnaire, which measured the environmental conditions and socio-economic status of the household;
3. the reproductive health questionnaire, which collected information on reproduction, child care, maternal health and birth spacing;
4. the child health questionnaire, which gathered information on all children below 5 years of age regarding child care, morbidity, immunization and physical growth.

The following are some of the impressive achievements of the synergic effect of the various types of activities, campaigns and focused programmes successfully executed by the Ministry of Health. Included in this list of achievements are numerous other programmes and activities designed and implemented by the Ministries of Education and Social Development, the mass media, various women’s organizations, and other national and international NGOs and UN organizations, including UNICEF, UNESCO, WHO, UNFPA, the Arab Gulf Programme for the United Nations Development Organizations (AGPUNDO), the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development (AFESD) and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).

Table EC1 presents the immunization coverage of children aged 12–23 months at the time of the survey.

Almost all children aged 12–23 months (99.9%) were reported to have an immunization card, although the card was actually produced by 95.4% cases at the time of the interview. Virtually all of them had received the BCG vaccination, and more than 98% of them had had three doses of DPT. Oman is now at the forefront of universal childhood immunization.

Oman has succeeded in achieving a dramatic reduction in infant and child mortality rates over a relatively short period of time.

As Table EC2 shows, the infant mortality rate during the 4 years just before the survey had dropped to 14 per 1000 live births from 47 per 1000 during the 10–14 years before the survey, i.e. it had decreased at an average rate of 3.3% per year. During the same period, the under-5 mortality rate fell from 61 per 1000 live births to 20 per 1000 live births.

The MOH initiated a school health programme, in collaboration with the MOE, in late 1990. The school health programme continued through the Fourth Five-Year Plan. In the Fifth Five-Year Plan (1996–2000), school health programme activities were merged with primary health care services. School health activities included: auditory check up, eye refraction and other diseases, and immunizations to school students in the first year of each cycle (Primary, Preparatory, and Secondary), as well as monitoring the health aspects of the school environment. Immunization coverage has reached 100% of all school children. During 1997, health examination covered 99.9% of the primary students, 99.6% of the preparatory students, and 99.8% of the secondary students in Oman.

Nurseries (the responsibility of MOASLVT) are a new phenomenon in the Sultanate of Oman. They are few and far between and limited to big cities. According to the 1993 census, the economic activity rate for Omani women (aged 15+) was only 6.7%, whereas the illiteracy rate among women aged 15 or over was 53.9%. Since then, however, the situation has steadily improved: both economic activity and literacy rates for Omani women have substantially increased. According to a socio-economic survey conducted by the Ministry of National Economy in 1996, the female illiteracy rate (aged 15+) had fallen to 43.3%, a decrease of over 10% in a short span of three years.

Given the prevalence of the traditional extended family system and relatively large household size (8.45 persons: 8.57 in urban and 8.24 in rural areas, Oman Family Health Survey 1995: Preliminary Report, p.5), the high rate of illiteracy and low activity rate of women, it is reasonable to assume that almost all children under 4, and at least 95% of 4–5 year olds are looked after at home by mothers and/or other members of the family. This accounts for the near absence of nurseries, as well as for the slow rate of the growth of preschool education (KGs).Yet another reason for slow progress in this field seems to be that nurseries and KGs have been left entirely to the private sector, which is relative-cost-effectiveness conscious. Table EC3 presents the account of nurseries by the gender of children looked after in each nursery in each region, from 1990/91 to 1997/98.

Source:

Ministry of National Economy, Statistical Year Book 1997, Table 23-19. Ministry of Development, Statistical Year Book 1995, Table 29-19. Ministry of Development, Statistical Year Book 1994, Table 29-19. Development Council, General Secretariat, Statistical Year Book 1991, Table 28-19

As can be seen from Table EC3, nursery services have generally remained limited to the Muscat Governorate. In 1991, 14 out of the total number of 16 nurseries in the country were located in Muscat, another in Al Dhahirah and one in Batinah. After seven years, in 1998, while the number of nurseries in the country has increased from 16 to 28, the growth has been largely in the Muscat region, where the number has risen from 14 in 1990/91 to 25 in 1997/98. Over the seven years from 1990/91 to 1997/98, the number of nurseries has grown by 75% (from 16 to 28), while the number of children attending the nurseries has grown by 118% (from 486 to 1,058).

In 1997/98, the Net Enrolment Ratio was 1.05% for male children, 0.95% for female children and 1.0% for both male and female combined together.

In December 1998 shows the total number of Nurseries reached 41, of which 18 were private, 11 were run by Women’s Development Centres, another set of 11 was run by Omani Women’s Associations in different regions, and one was run by the Children’s Village. Altogether they catered for 1,631 children (796 female), with a female/male ratio of 0.95, that is, 95 girls to 100 boys.

The provision of preschool education (KGs) and nurseries is the responsibility of the private sector and voluntary organizations. Nevertheless, the MOE has maintained a constant interest in and concern for the expansion and quality of preschool education. This is reflected in the active measures adopted by the MOE in regulating the quality and standard of KG establishments, equipment and materials, and the provision made for the training of KG teachers and supervisors, as well as encouraging the private sector to develop and expand this important area of preschool education. The MOE has designed, developed and produced the Preschool Education curriculum and materials, which are supplied to all KGs at production cost.

In the early 90s, KG education was predicted to be the fastest developing field, but as Table KG1 shows, KG education did not grow as expected. Nevertheless, the number of KGs has grown from 59 in 1990/91 to 109 in 1997/98. This is an 85% increase in 7 years, with an average annual growth of 12.1%. This figure does not include the KG sections included in the Nurseries run by the 11 Women’s Development Centres which had 999 children (509 female), and another 11 KG units run by Omani Women’s Associations with a KG enrolment of 1,443 (695 females) throughout the country. Also there is one KG with an enrolment of 54 (28 female) run by a child welfare society in Khwair, Muscat. If we include this latest information, then there are 132 KG facilities in the Sultanate. This accounts for a 123.7% increase over 7 years, with an average annual increase of over 18%.

With the general spread of education due to the determined effort of His Majesty the Sultan’s Government, and particularly of the MOE, the public is becoming increasingly conscious of the importance of education in social and economic development, and the importance of the role of early childhood development and preschool education in pupils achievements and progress during later years of formal schooling. An increasing number of educated parents are sending their children to KGs. This growth trend is reflected in Figure KG1, which displays the number of KGs, KG classes and KG total enrolment over the years from 1990/91 to 1997/98.

It can be seen that the number of classes has doubled from 178 in 1990/91 to 356 in 1997/98, an increase of 100%.

This figure does not include the 23 KG units run by Women’s Development Centres and Omani Women’s Associations. The number of KG-going children has increased from 3,682 in 1990/91 to 6,989 in 1997/98, a growth of almost 90%. Moreover, if we include the 2,496 KG children served by the 23 above-mentioned KG units, then the growth is 158%.

The net enrolment rates in KGs, estimated on the basis of population projections derived from the 1993 census data for male, female, and combined Omani pupils, are given in Table KG2 and depicted in Figure KG2. It can be seen that the combined NER has steadily grown from 2.45% in 1990/91to 5.85% in 1997/98. If we include the 2,496 KG enrollees in the 23 KGs run by voluntary organizations to the 6,232 figure in Table KG2, then the number of KG pupils increases to 8,728, giving us a NER of 8.2%. On the same basis, the NER for male pupils rises to 8.6% and for female pupils to 7.7%.

Source:

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

Table KG3 and Figure KG3 both show that male enrolments are consistently higher. The F/M enrolment ratio varies from .77, i.e. only 77 females per 100 males, to .84, i.e. 84 female children per 100 male children enrolled in KG classes. There is a slight but positive trend towards narrowing the male–female enrolment disparity; from .77 in 1994/95 the F/M ratio has seen an increase of 7 points to .84 in 1997/98. Almost all KG teachers and most administrative staff in KGs are females.

Given the fact that Oman had a legacy of an agrarian economy with a relatively high rate of illiteracy, in the two and a half decades of the renaissance the education system has made spectacular progress. From only three elementary schools with a male-only enrolment of 909 pupils in 1970, today the Sultanate can boast of universal access to primary education with near perfect gender parity.

Primary education comprises Grade 1 to Grade 6. The official entry age to Grade 1 is 6 years of age.

Basic education included Grades 1–9 (Elementary Grades 1–6 + Preparatory Grades 7–9) which, in the new structure of basic and secondary education, has been extended to include Grade 10, in compliance with the 10-year comprehensive education reform plan "Reform and Development of General Education" currently under implementation. This started with 17 selected schools spread throughout the country, has now been expanded to 42 schools, and more schools will continue to be added each year.

Basic and secondary education is free for all. Entrance to secondary education is, however, conditional upon successful completion of the basic education cycle, where success is determined by examination at the end of the preparatory cycle (Grade 9). To further facilitate universal access to basic education, the MOE has constructed schools in all inhabited areas of the country, and provides free transportation to and from schools wherever required. In very sparsely populated areas, separate hostels are constructed for those girls and boys who cannot commute daily.

The Government is sparing no effort to make basic education easily accessible for every school-age child, as well as to every citizen who was not able to attend school, for whatever reason. In 1998, the budget of the Ministry of Education (which is not responsible for tertiary education) was 14.7% of the total national budget (excluding defence and national security).