854,540 students start new academic year today

MUSCAT: The new academic year (2025/2026) begins on Sunday in public and private schools across the country. The total number of students has reached 854,540 students enrolled in various schools across the Sultanate of Oman’s directorates of education.
Dr Madeeha bint Ahmed al Shaibaniyah, Minister of Education, congratulated the students and teachers on the occasion of the new academic year.
The minister delved into the ministry’s plan for the next phase, saying: “The priorities of the upcoming plan will focus on several educational areas to improve the quality of education, as follows: Improving teacher performance: This goal can be realised through qualification and training programmes that contribute to developing teachers’ capabilities, enhancing their professional competence, consolidating their academic and educational standing, and supporting the building of effective professional learning communities that enable the exchange of experiences and foster a culture of continuous improvement.
Curriculum development: This will enhance students’ national identity and equip them with future skills that enable them to adapt to contemporary developments and compete regionally and internationally, thus contributing effectively to the national development process.
Developing educational assessment: This will build a comprehensive framework for assessing student learning for grades 1-12, aligned with the latest Omani curricula and international standards, while also building capacity in educational assessment.”
The Ministry of Education seeks to complement digital transformation in schools and provide digital infrastructure enablers according to a comprehensive phased plan covering all schools, such as mobile labs, interactive whiteboards, improving the efficiency of school communications infrastructure, and providing interactive digital content, the minister said.
Given the fact that artificial intelligence has become one of the most prominent transformational tools of this era, the ministry is keen to utilise AI applications to enhance student learning and enhance their cognitive horizons. This is achieved through clear governance, policies, and ethical frameworks that ensure its use as a learning tool without compromising the core values of the education system, she said.
The ministry continues to expand vocational and technical education by offering a travel and tourism major in a number of schools in the governorates of Dhofar and Al Dakhiliyah, in addition to the existing majors in this track, namely: engineering and industrial majors and information technology and business administration. This brings the number of vocational majors in the vocational and technical education track to nine, the minister said.
As the ministry of education strives to achieve its strategic goal of developing an integrated educational governance system and evaluating it according to national and international standards, this year, the ministry will launch a qualitative phase in evaluating school education. This phase will start by the Oman Authority for Academic Accreditation and Quality Assurance of Education implementing the National School Performance Evaluation System as a first phase, on 100 public and private schools in the governorates of Muscat, Al Dakhiliyah and Al Batinah South, according to precise standards and indicators. This phase also includes the continued construction of new schools and expansion of existing ones. This year will witness the opening of 16 new schools in a number of governorates, while work continues on the construction of 64 schools, which are expected to be completed in the next academic year. The aim is to meet the growth in student numbers, reduce the number of schools operating on a double shift system and replace old schools, the minister said.