Staff Reporter
Muscat, Jan 27
The Ministry of Education and Omantel signed an agreement on Wednesday to develop a IT and coding courses for primary school students at a cost of RO 50,000.
The agreement was signed by Dr Madeeha bint Ahmed al Shaibaniyah, Minister of Education and Talal bin Saeed al Maamari, CEO of Omantel.
The agreement aims to develop an educational curriculum to provide students with the skills of the future and the fourth industrial revolution in line with Oman Vision 2040, which aims to create a knowledge-based economy. The curriculum will be applied to students in grades 1-4 in public schools, single-language private schools and schools The Diwan schools, the Royal Omani Orchestra and the Royal Oman Police schools for a period of three academic years, starting from the academic year 2021/2022.
The Minister of Education said, “The process of developing national competencies and capabilities is one of the main pillars of Oman Vision 2040 alongside with the aim of building the capabilities of citizens. In addition to that is preparing them with a high degree of scientific and practical competence, arming them with strength and will to build a prosperous society capable of facing Global challenges and changes, and equipping them with the skills required for the future in light of the tremendous technical development. Given the rapid technical development and change in many future jobs and the skills needed for them, the Ministry of Education must rely on international standards that are forward-looking to the nature of these jobs.”
Al Maamari, CEO of Omantel said, “this agreement comes within Omantel’s social responsibility programmes, in which education is one of its pillars. Our social responsibility resembles investing in young people, enhancing their skills in the field of information technology and programming, and meeting the aspirations of Oman 2040 vision and the needs of digital transformation in the Sultanate.
Adding to that is contributing to building a generation that possesses scientific knowledge in the field of information technology and programming at an early stage of school education.”
He added, “While we are keen to provide the latest technologies and services to the various categories of our subscribers, we are aware of the responsibility entrusted to us as the first leading company in the telecommunications sector in the Sultanate. We also seek to harness our capabilities to support digital transformation and support various national efforts and initiatives aimed at building a knowledge-based economy in the Sultanate.”
The CEO of Omantel expressed his gratitude to the long-standing partnership with the Ministry of Education through many initiatives aimed at supporting the efforts made to develop the education system in the Sultanate.
It is worth noting that the implementation of the development of information technology curricula for grades (1-4) is the first stage of the development project.
The stage of the development project will include grades (5-11), where the curriculum is based on advanced skills in text programming, artificial intelligence, the Internet of things, three-dimensional modelling, e-commerce and information security that enables students to pursue university studies in various disciplines of computer science or join the labour market in public and private sectors.
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