MUSCAT: HH Sayyid Bilarab bin Haitham al Said on Wednesday auspices the opening ceremony of the Educational Initiatives Forum 'Towards Achieving Oman Vision 2040'. The two-day forum is organised by the Ministry of Education represented by the Directorate-General of Education in the Governorate of Muscat.
The forum aims to keep pace with Oman’s Vision 2040 in moving towards strengthening the foundations of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and artificial intelligence.
It also aims to present the most prominent educational initiatives at the level of schools in the Governorate of Muscat to generalise them and encourage the rest of the schools in the governorate to follow the same approach in adopting, developing and instilling initiatives as a solid culture, in addition to achieving partnership with public and private sector institutions in supporting and developing educational initiatives and projects of a sustainable nature.
The forum also seeks to honour school administrations with individual initiatives at the governorate level.
At the beginning of the forum, HH Sayyid Bilarab toured the exhibition accompanying the forum. The exhibition showcases the participating educational initiatives.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr Ali al Jahwari, Director-General of the Directorate-General of Education in the Governorate of Muscat, said: “Oman’s Vision 2040 has placed at the forefront of its priorities the interest in education, learning, scientific research and national capabilities and His Majesty Sultan Haitham bin Tarik has affirmed the continuation to pay attention to education, making it a national priority during the next stage, and providing it with all means of empowerment as the basis through which students will be able to contribute to building the requirements of the next stage. In an effort by the Ministry of Education to translate the lofty directives, its strategic plans included everything that would contribute to the development of the educational structure at all levels to achieve the desired goals.”
Dr Al Jahwari pointed out the keenness of the Ministry of Education to empower the teacher scientifically, cognitively, and skillfully. He said: “The ministry has created various training programmes for teachers and provided them with appropriate opportunities for creativity and innovation, as well as finding modern educational methods that help them to perform their duties to the fullest. The Directorate-General of Education in the Governorate of Muscat has intended to fuel the spirit of honourable competition to create fertile educational environments for innovation and continuous renewal.
"This two-day forum is a summary of the most prominent applied educational initiatives that have proven their effectiveness in improving and developing education. It includes 16 educational initiatives in various fields, including technology, academic achievement, community partnership, and innovation in education, achieving partnership between education and technology. It intends to motivate the leading educational cadres in the field of activating technology in education and seeks to enhance sustainability through hosting or inviting CEOs of important economic sectors in the country to adopt and develop these initiatives in the future.”
In this forum, 16 educational initiatives were selected from among 126 participation initiatives at the level of schools in the Governorate of Muscat, in the areas of technology, academic achievement, community partnership, and innovation in education.
The first day of the forum also included presentations of 6 educational initiatives at the level of schools in the Governorate of Muscat. Malak al Ghailani, a teacher at Al Mahamid School for Basic Education, presented her initiative titled 'The Digital School', after which Ali Hamad al Barzanji, an assistant coach at Steam Centre Muscat presented an initiative about 'The Steam Centre Muscat Experience'.
Following them, Samia al Wahaibi, Director of Rowad Al Ola School for Basic Education presented the 'Live Educational Broadcast' initiative, and Aida al Salmi, Information Technology teacher at Al Ithra School for Basic Education presented an initiative 'Technical competencies', and Fakhr al Amiri, a physics teacher at Ahmed bin Al Numan Al Kaabi School for Basic Education, presented the 'Social Intelligence Applications' initiative.
As many as 10 educational initiatives will be presented on Thursday.
The opening ceremony was held at Majan Hall at Al Bustan Palace Hotel in the presence of Dr Madeeha bint Ahmed al Shaibaniyah, Minister of Education, and a number of ministers, members of the State Council and Majlis Ash'shura. - ONA
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