Right to education in focus as new academic year begins

With a week left for the new academic year to begin in the Sultanate of Oman, there is a need to look at the new School Education Law that was promulgated by the Royal Decree No 31/2023 to ensure the right to education for all children in the Sultanate.

It may be noted that there are 2,133 schools in the Sultanate catering to nearly 900,000 students and 72,845 teachers in 35,639 classes.

The new law has 97 articles, and one of the key articles is Article 24, which states that basic education is compulsory for all children who reach the age of six.

The student's guardian shall abide by it, and the age of acceptance may be lowered according to the rules indicated by the regulations.

Article 26 states that the student's guardian must enrol him in the first grade of the basic education stage during the specified date when he reaches the age (6 years old) prescribed for admission.

The guardian should follow up on his regularity in the study until the completion of this stage.

Article 30 states that those who have completed the post-basic education stage shall be granted a certificate proving that they passed this stage successfully.

Article 92 states that if the parent fails to register the child as mentioned in Article 26 of this law without an acceptable excuse within 14 days, he shall be punished by imprisonment for a period of no less than a month, and not exceeding three months, and a fine of no less than RO 500.

It does not exceed RO 1,000 or one of these two penalties, and no penalty shall be imposed if it is due to negligence (unintentional).

The law states that the school administration must notify the student's guardian of the student's irregularity in accordance with the procedures in the regulations.

Article 91 states that the members of the educational staff shall notify the school principal or his representative of any crime committed within the scope of the school, who shall report to the nearest police station, in writing, within 24 hours of his knowledge of the occurrence of the incident.

In the event of a violation of the provisions of this Article, the violator shall be punished by imprisonment for a period of no less than 24 hours and not exceeding ten days, and with a fine of no less than RO 200 and not exceeding RO 1,000 or one of these two penalties.